Every year when sorority recruitment rolls around, you often find mixed opinions about Greek Life. Whether it is squeals and clapping; happy exclamations about excitement, or the complete opposite. “Why would you ever want to do that?” “I like to find my friends the old fashion way, rather than paying for them?” And anything else along those lines. But what most people don’t understand, joining a sorority isn't paying for your friends or even for boosting your social status. Joining Greek Life is so much more.
You Join A Community
The transition into college is always a tough, confusing road to go down. It’s learning to wake up early without your maternal alarm clock. It’s being without that said maternal alarm clock and all the family connected to her. It’s starting bad habits and trying to fix them. It’s a million changes happening at once. Your community you are used to at home is no longer available and it’s a shock many young people don’t prepare for. Luckily, you learn to build new communities with her roommates, professors, friends, etc. Joining a sorority is the perfect opportunity to find your fit. You dive into a new group of individuals, who are all different but have bonding aspects. They all want to love and support you, intertwined by common values. You find people who are there for you at any time of the day and love you no matter what you do. Not only do you find a community within your sorority, but at my small liberal arts college, we are lucky enough to have a strong bond within the Greek Life community.
You Make Connections
We are all in college for the same reason. We want to better our future and become successful one day. The best advice for the real world is to make and build connections. Yet, often times those connections may be hard to form when you don’t know anyone, but luckily, in sororities, alumnae love to support their chapters and help girls that are following in their career footsteps. You never know the people you can meet from all over the country that share your love of your sorority.
You Strengthen Your Values
Recruitment is all about figuring out your values and finding your home in a sorority that connects with your values and helps you become the person you want to be. You will find values of the entire sorority that relate to you as a person, and sometimes you may want to rule out an entire sorority because you know one person who isn’t like you. That is not always the best idea because as people we are all different, that’s the best part about the world. Uniqueness is never a reason to bail. Instead, look for different ways to strengthen your personal values within a sorority, but still keep an open mind into gaining new values. As to answer the opening remark of “I like to find my friends the old fashion way, rather than paying for them?” What is a better response to a person’s character than putting a “down payment” on their values and morals?
You Make Lasting Relationships
I cannot stress this enough. If I were to have never joined a sorority, I know for a fact I would have never become friends with the people I now hold so dearly to my heart. It’s not because I am friends with them because I “have” to be, it’s because I am so different than many of my sisters that our paths would have never crossed. Like I’ve said in my other article, some of my best relationships within my sorority come from my family: my Big Sister, Little, Sister, Twin, and more. Friendships made within my sorority are incredibly loving and lasting.
So now that the time for recruitment is here, don’t just see the stereotypical views or bias opinion of joining a sorority. You can receive the most rewarding college life if you open your eyes to the wonderful world of Greek Life.
