I been changed

Why did you join a sorority? What have you gained by being a sister? In what ways have being in a sorority changed your life? These are all questions I recently had to answer as Panhell required us to be interviewed in order to create recruitment videos that will be used in the fall. The interview was short and simple and really got me thinking about whom I am now and who I used to be. These questions sum up everything that I have went through and made me think of all changes I have made as a person.

I joined a sorority out of boredom. There was no real reason I just had nothing better to do. I was bored and made no friends. I lived in East with the other entire freshman yet I know no one and had no way of meeting other people. I thought that if I checked out sororities I would make a friend even if I didn’t join one. I did during recruitment I made a friend who was all excited about becoming a Sigma and I decided to join with her. We both got in and in the fall we will be roommates.

As a sister I have gained leadership and people skills. I know have to talk to groups of people and be in charge of things. I was never in charge of things before nor did I talk to groups of people. My next couple years as a sister I will become even more of a leader and eventually I will have enough leadership skills to be able to talk in front of people without getting nervous.

This sorority has changed me in so many ways. I have better time management skills since I am always busy. It has made me more helpful since in high school I was very selfish. Now I have to do community service projects and take care of my sisters. In a surprising twist it makes me drink less. I learned tricks to having a great time without drinking from being a sober sister that I now see no point in drinking.

A Pledge is a Promise

                                    A Pledge is a Promise

            I had a friend who recently was imitated into a fraternity and he was telling me how hard and time consuming it was to pledge. He asked me if it was as rough to join my sorority and I was like no that is too crazy. In my opinion what he had to go through was not pledging it was hazing. The amount of work he had to go through to become a brother did not seem worth the final gain of joining the Greek community. I am unable to understand how people can treat you like that and then call you their brother it just seems illogical. The next question asked was how was my pledge period and what was I required to do to gain sisterhood.

            To start off we do not refer to our future sisters as pledges and we came up with the phrase that pledges are promises not people. From the second a girl decides to be a sister we call her a new member since she is one of us just new to how things work. After your bid is accepted your door is decorated with Sigma letters welcoming you into our family. Next the vice president teaches you all things that you need to know to be a sister and the treasurer meets with you and goes over all of the financial information. Meanwhile you get the opportunity to meet with different chairwomen as they show you their side of sorority life. The whole new member period you receive all the rights as a sister and spend time with us just as you would any of your friends. The week before initation is big/little week as I mentioned in an earlier blog and inspiration week. During I week you participate in various fun activities that prepare you for the sorority. When I told my friend this he said you guys do not know how to have fun, but in my opinion not being tortured is pretty fun.

Panhell

                                                Panhell

                Panhell is a group made of many sorority women to govern different aspects of greek life. It is this council who comes up with rules on how we should do things and plan certain events that are designed to make all of us sorority women better. In general if you are told that there is a panhell event you would get upset and think not again. Even if you do not want to go you have to because panhell events is obviously mandatory and your chapter can get in trouble if it is repeated where your chapter does not show up to events you can get fined.

                Panhell events in general suck and you show up and count the minutes until you can take the short walk from the Hub to South and laugh with your sisters about how bad that event was. Everyone will be on your side because the dislike of Panhell events is universal and I can turn my head to a girl in another sorority and she will show me that she is also sick of these events. The dislike for Panhell unites sisters from everywhere so in a way it is successful.

                This week Panhell was really successful as they planned two incredible events that I a glad to say I attended and that I would love to attend again. The first event was on Monday and one of the models from Dove’s natural beauty campaign spoke to us. Her speech was so inspirational as she told us that we are beautiful no matter what are size is and that we should never feel that we are not appealing. The second was on Thursday and it was a self-defense seminar where we obviously learned different techniques to make ourselves no longer a victim. Even though Panhell usually fails at planning good events this week their events left me feeling like a strong beautiful woman.

Big/Little Week and Initaion

                                                                                Big/Little Week and Initiation

            This week is hands down the best week of being in a sorority. It is the week before they get initiated which will happen on Sunday. The new girls are assigned big sisters who job is simply to help them make the transition into greek life and to be a good friend to them. The week before initiation is called big/little week where the bigs decorate the littles room for three days based on a theme and each day leave presents and a little note.

            You do not know who your big is and during the course of the week you try to guess who it can possibly be. My big left sticky notes in my room with little fun facts of her-self on them and that is something most bigs do. On Friday the identity of your big is revealed and it is exciting to see whether or not you correctly guessed who your big was and I did. Some bigs come up with interesting ways to reveal themselves my big had me in our suite and said your big is behind you and it felt really good to turn around and see my big.

            The bigs decorate your room three days  based on theme and it can be any day during that week. My room got decorated on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and the themes were Candy Day, Flower day, and Family/Sigma day. I had so much candy and flowers all over my room afterward, but luckily for me I got initiated around Halloween so I just gave out half of my candy then. The Last day I just got stuff showing off or family which is the pooh beer family and some Sigma clothes.

            We are ending this week on Sunday with initiation which seems scary, but it is pretty cool we just formally make the girls a sister and without doing any of that crazy cult stuff you see in movies.

Community Service

                Community Service

                When people think of a sorority community service does not come to mind. This is interesting because in order to even be a chapter you have to have some type of philanthropy and Greeks are probably the largest contributors to THON. Throughout the year we participate in many different types of community service activities and we have our own event where we raise money for our own sorority. I recently attended a meeting with the head of Greek life about the importance of community service and how we do it without even noticing.

                When we performed in Greek Sing this fall it was community service since all money raised went to give students in need scholarships. When we canned for THON or even when we stood in the stands during THON weekend that is all community service. In addition to those things my sorority participates in obvious community service events such as hosting blood drives for Red Cross or hosting clothes drives for the Salvation Army. Our next event is Relay for Life which is only a week from Sunday and we will run together and attempt to raise money for the American Cancer society.

                Last semester we did Holiday Lights which is an event where we decorate a fraternity house and bake a gingerbread house. This is community service because it allowed the families of State College to visit fraternities and discover that they are not all bad. We  We also did Greek-or-treat where we held open a booth with a game and candy for the kids of the community. Our game was pin the smile on the skeleton which sounds stupid but the kids had a blast.

To make a long story short being in a sorority allows me to do all types of fun events that unite the greek community with the outside community and I get to meet some amazing guys in the process.