I’ve been seeing a lot of negative things about Greek life in general in the news and it honestly hurts my heart. Sorority life has had such a positive impact on my life and when I see nothing but the negatives in the news I feel like I need to defend it. Scandals sell so of course, any news station is going to be the first to let you know when a fraternity man is arrested because of a DUI or when a sorority is suspended due to a social gone rogue. What they don’t advertise is the thousands upon thousands of dollars these organizations raise for causes throughout the nation and some internationally. Or the number of education programs that are invested in to develop us men and women as people of character in society.
I’m here to let you know that I feel so fortunate to have found my home in Sigma Sigma Sigma (Tri Sigma).
My story ultimately begins the spring semester of my freshman year of college. I had checked out the sorority life during freshman orientation and ultimately decided it wasn’t what I wanted and went along my merry way. Flash-forward to March of 2013 when I was approached by the current chapter president of Tri Sigma.
I wasn’t super comfortable with the situation because everyone tries to get you to stop and see their booth while you’re just trying to make it to your 10:00 a.m. class on time but she seemed friendly enough.
Her: “Hi, have you ever thought about joining a sorority before?”
Me: “Yeah.” (Clearly, I was a major talker)
Her: “Oh yeah? It’s a great opportunity. There are a lot of leadership positions, you make a lot of friends and it looks great on your resume.”
*DING DING DING* That was the kicker for me. Coming from a girl who wanted to be an interior designer and I’ve only ever worked in a shoe store, my resume needed a lot of work.
She now had my undivided attention.
She explained that UNLV was expanding their sorority program (huh?) and Tri Sigma was colonizing on UNLV campus (what?) and we would be the founding sisters of Theta Epsilon (come again?). I honestly didn’t really understand what she was talking about but she invited me to a couple of events Tri Sigma was hosting. I went to one which was a Sweets and Sigma event that allowed me to chat and meet with the girls in the chapter. They explained dues, socials, and the overall concept that we are going to be a new chapter of the national sorority Sigma Sigma Sigma.
(Bella Swan voice) There were two things I was absolutely sure about…
1. I was sick of going from home to school to work on repeat every day.
2. These girls seemed to genuinely like me, and I liked them. They made me feel like I was a part of something more.
Now, this sorority business wasn’t exactly cookie cutter. There were a lot of obstacles I had to cross in order to finally feel like I was in the right place. Ranging from financial obligations, overcoming the fact my boyfriend at the time would never accept me joining such an organization and just an overall uncertainty of what I was getting into. We’ve all seen the news and the movies…
After about a month of waiting around… Okay, I wasn’t really waiting around, they would text me saying they hadn’t gotten to voting on memberships yet (like I had any idea what that meant) and I would try to remember the face of the name who was texting me. I met with a girl who gave me an envelope that contained my bid (a formal invitation to membership in a particular sorority). I was elated and signed with joy.
Honestly, I was still slightly unsure of what a sorority works towards, why we are here, and the difference between a local and national chapter but I pushed through that and jumped straight in. Literally, I signed myself up for two chair roles and blasted off my Sigma career….
My Sorority Story - Part 2: The College Experience
Love love love that you are in Tri Sigma (I think I knew that already from a while back, but I still like to see a fellow Tri Sigma.) My initial meeting of a sorority girl was in a Spanish class my freshman year. She sat next to me and started chatting with me almost immediately. We occasionally ran across each other outside of class and she would invite me to events. I wasn't quite as ready to reciprocate or think about joining a sorority. Something convinced me toward the end of the semester to give it a try and I went through formal recruitment that spring (we had deferred formal recruitment my freshman year of college.) One of the best decisions of my collegiate career was to join!
ReplyDeleteYES! A sister actually told me about your blog WAY back when I first joined because I was thinking about starting a blog and i started following yours for inspiration! That is so great. You just never know when your whole life is going to change :)
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