Being in a sorority is one of the most life-changing things a young woman can go through. I don’t care about the negative movie stereotypes that portray sorority women as unintelligent, wild party animals because they are utterly false — speaking from the perspective of a member of a Greek organization, there are so many factors that shape someone’s life upon initiation. However, I don’t want this article to be a persuasive piece about why one should go Greek (even though there are countless reasons, such as networking, making strong bonds, an emphasis on community service, etc.). I am writing this article for women who are already members of various collegiate chapters of Panhellenic organizations across the country.

For those of you reading this that don’t know the first thing about the word Panhellenic, it can be defined as “of, concerning or representing all college fraternities and sororities.” Now the beauty of the word Panhellenic is that it can be used as both an adjective and a verb. A Greek woman can both be Panhellenic and act Panhellenic. The problem is, however, that we aren’t and we don’t.

I don’t know what it is, but it seems like as soon as the curtain of recruitment falls and your rush group is corralled into its top choice houses, we lose touch of the bigger picture — that we are all Greek women at the end of the day. We should not be giving each other dirty looks and holding grudges that span back to a time when we weren’t even old enough to know what a sorority is. It’s completely ludicrous that women in other sororities can’t hang out together and be social without the older girls tucking their new members back under their wings and telling them that the other sorority women don’t play well with others.

This being my first year as a part of a Greek organization, I can honestly say that my membership has been the best thing that has happened to me to date, and I know I cannot be alone when I say that. If I stand among a group of people that feels as proud of being Greek as I am, why can’t we all appreciate the fact that this is the common bond we all share?

Some of my very best friends are in different houses than I am, but it has never dissuaded me from going out with them on the weekends or doing homework together. They might not be my sisters in terms of being in the same sorority as I am, but they are my Panhellenic sisters who understand what I go through on a daily basis, because we share that bond of all being Greek women.

We need to embrace our differences instead of looking at them as a negative. Every chapter is unique — unique philanthropy, unique mission, unique women. It’s time to remember the real reason we all went through recruitment in the first place — to create lifetime bonds that’ll never be broken, both in our own sorority and in the Greek community as a whole.