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.

Recruitment

                                Recruitment

                Why did you join a sorority? I get asked this question often and it is a very important question. The answer though is silly it was August I had no friends and nothing to do so I joined a sorority and I am glad I did. People join a sorority for many different reasons and now that it is the season for recruiting new members it is very important for us to know why people join. We actually have meetings where we examine why people join a sorority so that we can gain more girls. Penn State requires us to have a certain number of girls and if we do not reach this limit we will lose our suite which makes it so hard to have meetings and causes problems for future recruitment.

                There is two types of recruitment which are formal that happens in the beginning of September and informal which happens any time after formal. I joined through formal where you visit all the sorority’s suites and you pick which ones fit you best and the sorority picks the girls they see fit. It is a long process since there are 19 sororities on campus and it is really hard and awkward, but in the end I joined a great sorority filled with amazing women. The other type is informal which happens every Monday and Wednesday at 8 pm, feel free to stop by, and girls who are either interested in joining our sorority or is just curious is invited to come to our suite meet girls, eat snacks, and chill. If a girl feels as though the sorority is a good fit for her she fills out the paperwork which goes to the HUB to be processed just because if you’re in a sorority you need a 2.5 gpa. After that the sorority votes on the girl and if a majority wants her as a sister we have a new sister. If interested please feel free to contact me for further information or I can just see you on Monday.

Housing

                Living on the Floor

                I am pretty sure that housing is a big issue for everyone now that housing contracts has either been extended or denied. Guaranteed on campus housing for as long as you are in a sorority is one of the many reasons I decided to join my sorority in the first place. When you’re in a sorority you know exactly where you are going to live and don’t have to worry about the ridiculous lottery system placed for all the other kids on campus. I find it really nice to be able to live on a floor filled with friends and there are a lot of benefits to the way housing works for us sorority girls.

                The most obvious is that everyone else on your floor is a sister. That gives me the ability to just randomly walk into someone’s room ask them if they want to go to dinner or whatever. This is great because last semester I lived in East and it was so hard to make friends with the other people on my floor. In addition since we are like a big family they can give me clothes when I have nothing to wear and they will give me their opinion on my clothes so that when I go out I will look my best. I would never go back to living in regular dorms even though it cost 250 more per year to be in a sorority I feel as though it is worth it.

                It will really be worth it when the Greek Village is finally completed over the summer. The Greek Village is a set of buildings in South and Pollock that is only available for sororities. These buildings are being remodeled so that when we come back we are going to be living in what is pretty much a suite. The new dorms will all be carpeted with air conditioners and their own bathrooms. I am looking forward to that since I hate shower shoes. All in all living on the floor with my sisters is awesome and well worth the 250 especially since they are about to be redone.