Growing up, I never pictured myself as a “sorority girl.” Greek life is not a huge part of my family identity: neither of my parents were involved in it in college and I don’t have older cousins or siblings with connections. Until a few weeks before I came to Davis my first year, I was opposed to rushing even though some of my best friends were planning on doing it at their schools. I had heard horror stories of hazing and how expensive dues were and how girls could be catty and cliquey. A repeat of middle school (minus the hazing and dues), no thank you!
I made the decision to rush after a conversation I had with the mom of a family I babysat for who was active in greek life in her college years. She convinced me to at least go through the rush process to see if I liked it. So, I signed up, bought some nice dresses for the week, and endured the panic of sitting through the orientation in the Sciences Lecture Hall and meeting my pi rho chi group.
Needless to say, I survived the week. Even as an introvert, I occasionally have surges of courage to go and talk to people, and recruitment basically forces you to do that for a week straight. Going through recruitment was my swell of courage. I even met one of my new sisters (even though neither of us knew it yet) and one of my first friends at Davis through my recruitment group. We were both on the quieter side of the group and got lunch together during our break on the first day.
It sounds cliché, but I really can’t imagine my first year at Davis without my sorority sisters. And if you just scowled at the screen judgmentally, for your information, yes, I do actually have friends outside of my sorority and so does pretty much every other girl in the house as well (I know it’s shocking!).
Through my chapter, I have the opportunity to travel to other colleges like UC Berkeley and University of the Pacific to meet members in other chapters and bond over everything from botched formal dates to difficult classes. I’ve gotten to know chapter alumni and even met the founder of the UC Davis chapter. I have the privileged opportunity to be a leader in my own chapter, as I’m currently serving my third quarter as chapter secretary. I get the chance to raise money for a wonderful philanthropy by making desserts, pancakes, and writing letters.
I cannot describe the joy I feel when I see someone I know from my chapter in the CoHo, the Silo, or the library and we both wave and say hi to one another. It really does make a big campus like Davis seem a bit smaller. I can also be painfully shy and get nervous about meeting new people or going to events (even chapter ones) alone. It’s hard to avoid going to events (or come up with an excuse) when someone’s texting you, “Hey you’re coming to this right?” What can I say? It’s nice to have someone tell you they want to see you!
I went through recruitment and joined a sorority because I was terrified of not making friends in college. For a week, I shoved my introverted-ness to the side and spent all day talking to dozens of girls. I consider myself rewarded tenfold. I have a community of over 100 girls who mean the world to me and make up what I think is a truly lifelong sisterhood.
Photos courtesy of author