Despite the fact that Santa Clara University does not formally recognize Greek life, off-campus Greek life, governed by Santa Clara Panhellenic, has a wide presence and continues to expand. Prior to this year, Santa Clara Panhellenic consisted of only four sororities: Alpha Phi, Delta Gamma, Kappa Alpha Theta, and Kappa Kappa Gamma. This year, Santa Clara Panhellenic welcomed Alpha Delta Pi as its fifth sorority.
Alpha Delta Pi currently has 140 chapters across the country and is continuing to grow with 7 colonizations this year. After an application process headed by the National Panhellenic Conference, ADPi knew in May 2012 that Santa Clara Panhellenic would be one of its newest homes.
Although ADPi was only established at Santa Clara recently, the sorority has already brought a lot to both the campus and Greek community.
“ADPi has provided a home for women who were interested in a new sorority opportunity. Also, it provides an opportunity for creative leadership for the women who really wanted to start something new. It allows women to not only join a sorority but also found and build their organization,” said Andrea Farnan, ADPi’s Senior Leadership Consultant at Santa Clara.
Lara Moulton, a sophomore Alpha member, agrees with this statement. “I regretted not rushing last year so I planned to rush this year. Once I heard about the new sorority coming to Santa Clara, I knew that’s what I wanted to be a part of. It was a clean slate and offered the chance to make a name for yourself on campus. We get to kick start everything, which may be a ton of work, but I’d say the end product would definitely justify the means.”
There are about 100 Alpha members, or new members, in ADPi. However, through recruitment, ADPi plans on being comparable to the other sororities in size. ADPi will be holding informal winter recruitment this year and will be hosting a recruitment open house on Thursday, January 10, 2013.
“We’re looking to meet more freshman who are getting more adjusted to the Santa Clara community and want more in their extracurriculars. We’re also looking to meet juniors who are coming back from being abroad,” said Andrea.
In the couple months that ADPi has been here, they have had several events and have been working hard to build their colony as it prepares to become a chapter.
“We’ve had some fun sisterhood events and have been working in colony committees to make sure everyone has their ideas heard. We also have colony meetings every week, which will eventually become chapter meetings. In addition to that, we plan on having more Panhellenic exchanges and social events, as well as our philanthropy event, Lion’s Share Challenge,” said Andrea.
As a Senior Leadership Consultant, Andrea helps in establishing ADPi at Santa Clara. Her experience here has been really great so far and she loves that some of the sororities in Santa Clara Panhellenic are younger chapters. Kappa Alpha Theta colonized in 2003 and more recently, Kappa Kappa Gamma was established at Santa Clara in 2009.
“My experience has been wonderful so far. This campus is a resort! It’s really beautiful here and I’ve received such a warm welcome. It’s been such a great experience to come onto a campus that has had so many expansions in recent times because some of the women who are in current chapters here, and are now “big sisters” in their sororities, were founding members of their sororities. They have that special connection.”
When a sorority is first established at a school, it starts out as a colony and is later installed as a chapter. When ADPi arrived at Santa Clara, they began marketing to figure out how to reach students who would be great assets to the organization. They became a colony through their recruitment process, which was the week after Santa Clara Panhellenic’s. Right away, they began forming their sisterhood.
“We started having our colony meetings and colony activities. We’ve tried to come together as much as possible to form a cohesive group out of all of our new members,” said Andrea.
In February, the new members will be initiated and ADPi will become a chapter, which ADPi’s new members are really excited for. Alumnae international officers, Grand Council members from all over the country, and collegians from nearby schools such as Berkeley, Sonoma State, and Chico will be attending this very special event for ADPi. The weekend of initiation, a banquet will be held that Andrea describes as an event that “really honors the hard work you have to put in to be a colony.”
ADPi has accomplished a lot this year already, and you can expect them to continue doing so throughout this year. Andrea believes ADPi will be “an asset to the greater sorority community with women who are really creative in their ideas. You can expect a lot of spirit, sisterhood, and a bunch of great girls thriving as sorority women.”
For more information on Alpha Delta Pi at Santa Clara, you can email Andrea Farnan at scadpi@alphadeltapi.com or message her through Alpha Delta Pi’s Facebook page!