I've grown up in the age of media, where everything is at our fingertips and judgments are too easily made based on how the entertainment industry portrays things. Growing up, I was warned that Greek life was all about parties and drinking and sleeping around.
By adults, I was told that being in a sorority would jeopardize my influence as a Christian woman.
By movies, I was told getting drunk on a Tuesday night and having pillow fights is all sororities do.
By music, I was told that objectifying women and young girls based on the clothes they wore or the activities they participated in was completely normal and acceptable.
The truth is, all of these things are lies.
My faith can only be jeopardized by what I allow to taint it, getting drunk isn't even close to what sororities at Longwood University are all about, and objectifying women (or men, for that matter) is always wrong.
I'll be the first to tell you that I am a true introvert, and I didn't think that a sorority fit with that mold of being an introvert who strives to be liked by people but is never truly comfortable in new conversations.
This is the belief that I let keep me from experiencing the rushing process during my freshman year. I was involved in clubs but I stayed away from Greek life because I didn't think I'd fit in.
I chose to rush this year because I saw and heard about it from good friends that were rushing last spring, friends that are a lot like me.
They're achievers and go-getters and enjoy the same things that I do. I got to be a part of their pledging experience last year, even though I wasn't rushing because they'd tell me whatever they could about the process and shared what it was really like.
Thanks to them, I got an understanding of what rushing is really like at Longwood University. My preconceived judgments based on media and stereotypes were proven wrong, at least at my small college in the heart of Virginia.
Because of that, I decided to rush this year and attend mock recruitment, which is basically a replica of what the first day of formal recruitment will be like.
I showed up on a Saturday morning for registration, nervous and a little bit terrified to talk to people I'd never met before. And, I'll be honest, before showing up, I had absolutely no clue what mock recruitment was going to be like. That probably made my nerves worse, to tell you the truth.
But I'm really glad that I participated in mock recruitment because it furthered my understanding of the process and also just proved those stereotypes even more wrong.
I was able to meet at least one or two girls from all nine sororities on my campus and each and every one of them was down-to-earth, nice, and had something in common with me. It was a bit intimidating at first, but I met a bunch of new people and heard about each sorority's awesome philanthropy and service opportunities.
These Greek organizations are about much more than the partying and hooking up that the media chooses to pin on them. They're about service, leadership, fellowship, and leaving the local community a little bit better than you found it.