For those that don’t know, during sorority recruitment there are usually “rho gammas”, or recruitment guides, that help the potential new members find their new homes and to answer any and all questions they may have. Rho Gammas disaffiliate from their sorority, which means they give up their letters so the new members can have an unbiased experience while trying to their new homes. At first, we were only supposed to disaffiliate for a few weeks, but then Hurricane Irma hit and messed everything up.
Long story short, recruitment got pushed back to this last weekend, so a few weeks turned into 2 months where I couldn’t wear my letters or anything with my sorority name on it. Anyone who knows me, knows that I LIVE in my sorority clothes, and you’ll rarely see me on campus without rocking my letters. This was the hardest struggle of all. There were countless days that I almost walked out of my room in my sorority flip flops, or almost wore my giant Comfort Colors sweatshirt to Starbucks during my study times.
While I was allowed to say hi to my sisters on campus, I wasn’t supposed to be hanging out with them in public, making it known that I was close to them. I had to do my study hours by myself, and I couldn’t sit and chat with sisters in the cafeteria if they were wearing letters themselves. I always had to give them the awkward smirk and keep walking. That was a real treat lol.
I don’t want to act like having to be disaffiliated for two months was the worst thing ever, though. I honestly got a lot closer to other rho gammas who were going through the same thing as I was. I finally started wearing the things in my closet that I haven’t touched in forever, and I figured out how to be “Kayla” again. I honestly would do it over and over if I could. While I am so happy to say that I am a PI BETA PHI again, I wouldn’t ever change helping those new babies find their home.