As my sorority, Chi Omega, at The University of Denver just recently obtained our new, and our first own house, there is a lot of responsibility and hard work that goes into making a fully functional sorority house. In Chi Omega, we have a student who puts her own time and effort into running our new house of about 30 girls. Her official job title is the Facilities Manager. This student’s name is Sierra Furie and she is a senior from Boulder, CO. She is an art major with minors in French and English.
So, what exactly does the Facilities Manager do? She assigns us chores each week and makes sure the house is kept clean and running. Sierra states, “I make sure the house is a safe, fun, and healthy living experience, whether that’s fixing what’s been broken, or coming up with games.” Lists must be made of shopping lists for the house of cleaning supplies, food, and decorations. Other lists involve parts of the house that need a fixing up. For example, the fire alarms, Wifi, or window screens. Some of the more fun lists that Sierra gets the opportunity to make are, like she mentioned, games for all the girls to play and movies for us to watch together. We recently made a sorority themed movie list to watch, which includes movies such as Sydney White and So Undercover.
Having a positions such as Facilities Manager, one learns a lot from time management to the literal running of a house. Sierra says that the biggest lessons she has learned from holding this position are, “a lot of patience. Also, not to take things too personally, and to efficiently mix being approachable with getting things done.” With so much responsibility, one can easily how getting frustrated is inevitable, but you want the girls living in the house to know that you are there for them to come and talk to, about the house, or anything personal, because they are still your sisters after all. All this considered, no one can get special treatment. You are in a power position over your friends, which can be difficult, but the house needs to run smoothly, chores need to get done, and you must be respected.
Similar to all of the positions on a board of a sorority, Facilities manager is a lot of work. Sierra states, “The most unexpected thing coming out of holding this position is how one week my job might be nothing more than checking chores, while the next week is an overload of work. It always keeps me on my toes.” With a completely new house this year, anyone would assume that there are a lot of changes going along with this job. When asked about what is different working with the new house, plus a new year of girls living in, Sierra exclaims, “Working with a chef. Understanding what’s needed and not anymore. Understanding that this house is a permanent presence and because we have sororities right down the street, we finally get to be a bigger part of the panhellenic community. We are in the house now and before we were trying to get to this house” We are all very excited about the new house. “This is a permanent way to be connected with future Chi Omegas, and what we do here and now starts a tradition, which is pretty cool” Sierra says.
So, there you have it. A little insight on what it is to run a sorority house, and get a new one up and running for recruitment and the new school year.