Dear Collegiettes,
Before I begin, I want to preface this by letting you know this is not one of those articles where I am going to tell you how amazing Greek life is and how you are missing out if you do not join. This is not a secret promotional attempt of mine to make you sign up for formal recruitment. This letter has no goal, except to tell you about my experience and hope that you find it interesting… or at least enjoy the gifs!
During my senior year of high school, several girls were already talking about going through recruitment at their colleges. I was sitting there looking at them like they had lost their mind. In my head I was thinking, “Have fun being fake and brainwashed, I’m going to go to college and be my free self.” The thought that these girls could conform their individuality to be a part of some cookie cutter society of robots was pretty revolting to me.
Once I came to Winthrop, I indeed did not join one. I made plenty of incredible friends and I had the most exciting year. I did see girls I knew go through recruitment, and while their experience did intrigue me a bit, I knew I did not need it. The “Go Greek” pages annoyed me, the advertisements annoyed me, girls posting pictures with their big (and like, what even is that?) annoyed me. I already had everything I wanted: best friends, fun and new adventures. I found a solid niche at Winthrop and I was having the time of my life.
Well, that school year ended and within a few months of summer, some of my friends decided to transfer to other schools. Others took a break from college. A few lost touch with me and we did not keep up like I thought we would. Even my main friend group started arguing a lot. Things started feeling a little weird, so I was apprehensive about starting my sophomore year.
My hesitations ended up being true. When sophomore year started, things were different. My friend group of 4 and I were living together in Thomson and one of them ended up backing out due to the summer tension. Everybody else lived in different residence halls, some of which were pretty far from each other. It was hard to get together and see each other. A few people even got in serious relationships and no longer had as much time to devote to their friends.
And while I was still close with most of my friends from freshmen year, I definitely felt a strong sense of change and it was not a good one. I felt really sad and even thought to myself that if I went to a bigger school like UNC Charlotte or USC Columbia, I would meet a limitless amount of people. I would never feel alone.
This is when I started noticing that those girls that joined sororities freshmen year had no problem adjusting to these changes. They had 80+ girls that were down to hang out whenever. There was consistency in their lives and I lacked that. At this point, I still was anti-sorority and quickly shuddered away my thoughts. It was not until one of my friends dragged me to a sorority information session (mainly so she wouldn’t go alone), that I realized how different sororites at Winthrop were.
Winthrop itself is a liberal arts school. The vibe here is not the same vibe at a large southern football university. But I never expected Greek life to be any different. After I came home that day, I told her I might try it. She was so surprised and excited that I was open to it and I was very suprised too.
I hesitantly signed up for recruitment. This was in the fall and that year, some sororites were doing informal recruitment. I went to the parties and honestly loved all of the sororities. They all had incredible people, really awesome philanthropies and amazing sisterhoods. It was not until I went to the last party of the week though, that I felt something. I walked into this sorority house and I immediately felt a sense of home. The people around me were very laid back and approachable, which made me feel so comfortable. I did not even feel nervous or anxious to be there.
The first thing I told the girl I talked to was that I couldn’t believe I was doing this. She laughed and said “I can’t believe I’m here either, but it’s the best thing I did. If I went to large school, I probably would not have joined a sorority. Here it’s more like a large group of girlfriends who have your back, eat pizza with you all the time, cry with you, support you and most importantly, accept you for who you are. And on top of that, you get to help people. You get to impact the community and that is the most rewarding thing.”
She then went on to say that she’s seen friends come and go throughout her years at Winthrop, but she has always had her sorority sisters through it all. She said the organization made her develop leadership skills. She said it helped her with networking for a job. She was telling me all these great aspects and in my head all I was thinking was, “I need to be here, I need to be here, I need to be here.”
I went home after the party and I told my friends about my experience. They were all joking with me because of how opposed to sororities I was. I got offered bids from different sororites, but after my last party I had made my decision. When I got the call from them I accepted with no hesitation and was so excited. The next few weeks flew by. I met people from all over the U.S. with different views and beliefs, different religions, different races and different personalities by being a part of the SAME organization. I got to be my full and complete self and be adored for it. I made some of the greatest friends I could have ever imagined and created memories that will last a lifetime.
Post my new-member period, not much changed. I still had the same friends I did before I joined a sorority. I still did everything I was doing before, except now I was also very involved in my sorority. I started seeing my true potential and gained confidence that I never had before. I started off being a Marketing/PR Chair and doing our social media (which helped me professionally as well since its my major). Then, I worked my way up to become an executive officer, the Membership Recruitment Director. This was something I never could have dreamed of doing in high school. I was not involved in anything–much less a leadership position. My ability to do so inspired me to take my leadership skills to other organizations (Her Campus, American Marketing Association and the Mass Comm Student Advisory Board).
Moral of the story, never say never. I went from hating sororites more than Tom hates Jerry, to being responsible for recruiting women to go Greek. Everyone has their own story in this process. Some are great and some are not so good. However, you will not know unless you try.
I am graduating Winthrop this upcoming May and there is nothing I will miss more than the wonderful women I met and the experiences I went through in my chapter. Not everyone needs a sorority, but sororities need amazing women to continue to make an impact on the community and important causes. They need amazing women to continue to instill values of strong womanly character. They need amazing women to uplift each other, give each other confidence and show each other their true potential. So before you block everyone who posts about “Going Greek”, you may want to think again ;)
Sincerely,
A Sorority Recruitment Director