People don’t believe me when I tell them that there was once a time when I had absolutely no interest in going Greek. Growing up, I never had any older family members or friends who had gone through recruitment and joined sororities and fraternities. My perception of the Greek community was heavily influenced by pop culture and the horrifying hazing stories my mom would read in the news and tell me about.
I never really considered Greek life for my view on the entire Greek community was extremely negative.
When I came to college in the Fall of 2015, I didn’t really think too much about going through recruitment. The first week of school itself was full of Greek promotion events in which various fraternities and sororities were tabling and holding mini events all around campus to encourage students to consider going Greek. I ignored most of the invitations I received and went on with my life. I thought I had the entire Greek system figured out. My first quarter went by and the thought of Greek life didn’t pass my mind even once… until finals week.
I was invited to an info night for one of the Panhellenic sororities on campus, and decided that I might as well go. I mean, there was free pizza and I’m a broke college student. Why not? To my surprise, the event changed my entire understanding of Greek life. I was given the opportunity to meet many young women in the sorority as well as many other women who were interested in participating in recruitment. I learned a lot about that particular sororities ideals and got a lot of insight on Panhellenic in general. Most sororities and fraternities have been around for over a century, so a lot of the ideals each chapter shares have long lasting significance to its members.
To these women, going Greek wasn’t a way for them to receive invitations to every party on campus. Going Greek was a lifetime commitment to sisterhood and making the world a better place.
These ideals really stood out to me because of my decade long experience of being a Girl Scout. Some of my favorite experiences growing up were in Girl Scouts. I started to tie the similarities between the Girl Scout program and Greek life together and was starting to really consider going Greek. I spent the next month researching the different chapters on campus, and talking to members of different sororities and learning about their individual experiences. My school runs on the quarter system and Fall quarter is the only quarter that offers formal recruitment. During the Winter and Spring quarters, some fraternities and sororities take part in informal recruitment. Luckily the sorority I had my sights set on was one of the chapters holding Winter recruitment. I reached out to the recruitment head of the chapter and was officially registered to go through the informal recruitment process.
Ever since receiving a bid to join the chapter, my experiences with my sisters have been extremely refreshing. I am inspired daily by my sisters and am constantly in awe of everything each individual member has achieved. To me, going Greek meant opening myself up to new experiences and trading in my prior flawed judgements for a newfound sense of whole sightedness.
Going Greek meant being the best version of me who I could be.
As a member of the Greek community, I get to help raise money for various philanthropies around the country for numerous causes including AIDs, Alzheimer's, cancer, arthritis and domestic violence. It makes me proud to say that as a member of the Greek Community, trying to lend a hand is part of my daily routine. In addition, going Greek has given me a sense of individuality as well as sisterhood. Although we all share similar views on life and the world, we are all extremely different personalities, which makes every single experience an exciting one.
I have been blessed with over 70 inspiring ladies in my chapter and thousands of women worldwide who also made the lifetime commitment of joining this chapter who I am lucky to call my sisters. Being part of numerous secret rituals specific to the chapter and having a lifelong bond of sisterhood is an experience that no one can put a price on.
I had finally opened myself up to going Greek. And once I did, I never looked back.
