When I first got to New Paltz I remember being nervous. I didn’t know anyone except for the people who I had met at orientation. When I was still at home over the summer I had been mailed a brochure about Greek Life on campus and I scoured through it and went to every organization’s website before arriving on campus. At first I thought it really wasn’t for me, so in the fall I didn’t go to any rush events. When the spring semester rolled around I decided to just go to one rush event and I fell in love. Hopefully you’ll find a place on campus that does that for you and you’ll find this helpful if you too are interested in Greek Life at New Paltz.
1. A Sense of Belonging
When I went to my first rush event, people were so glad to have me there and everyone was having a great time. I remember watching the sisters interact and thinking to myself that I wanted to belong to something like that. There was no animosity that I could feel in the room and everyone seemed to get along with one another. As a freshman on this campus who hadn’t yet declared a major or really been able to make many friends, I knew this was the place for me.
2. The Emphasis on Academics
Many people believe the Greek Life stereotypes portrayed in movies and on television and chalk sorority girls up to party-obsessed airheads. Fortunately reality is nothing like movies and television. On this campus you need to maintain a 2.5 GPA in order to be in good standing within your Greek Organization. There is a huge emphasis put on academics. In my organization specifically we are all very concerned with our grades. You are here to be a student first after all.
3. Giving Back to the Community
One of my favorite things about joining Greek Life is all of the philanthropy I’ve been able to do since I joined. My organization specifically has two philanthropies that we fundraise for year round. However, we do like to give back within the New Paltz community so we get involved with things like Make a Difference Day and Campus/Town Clean Ups. We go to school in this community and it just feels right to give back to it even the smallest bit.
4. Resume Boosting
Although being a resume booster wasn’t a huge factor in why I ultimately decided to go through with joining Greek Life, it was definitely in the back of my mind. Holding a position within a Greek Organization, especially one on the executive board, is looked at favorably on your resume. Employers will see that you can work with others and that you can be a leader.
5. Sisterhood
Last but not least I decided to join Greek Life to experience the sense of sisterhood and camaraderie that goes along with being in an organization. Over my four years in my organization I have seen girls join and I have seen girls graduate,I keep in touch with the one’s who don’t go here anymore just as much as I keep in touch with the one’s who are still on campus and are active sisters alongside myself.
Joining Greek Life wasn’t a no-brainer for me at first. I believed some of the stereotypes at the beginning and wasn’t quite sure if I fit in a Greek Organization. I now know however that there are so many different benefits to joining Greek Life and I wouldn’t trade the experiences I’ve had within Greek Life for the world right now.