#wr 303

No one likes to have those sit down, face to face conversations that give you the lump in your throat and make you feel like you can’t breathe. 

No one likes to admit when they are feeling sad or depressed or lonely or scared.

No one likes to say, “no, i’m actually not,” when someone nonchalantly asks how you are.

Living in a sorority house with 50 plus other women, I have recently found that it is very hard to not put a smile on every day. Lately, I have been walking around and been a little down in the dumps. Yes of course some of my friends have noticed, but for the ones who have not or the ones I don’t want to talk about it with; putting on a fake smile is harder than it sounds. 

I am constantly receiving unsolicited advice from people I am not totally close with, about my personal life problems that they do not fully understand. Finding a space of my own can sometimes be really hard, especially when this is supposed to be my home away from home. 

I, unlike most of the girls in my chapter, live out of state and going home requires a plane ticket and a ride to the airport. Unfortunately for me, this means that all of my relationships from back home, are strictly kept up by technology. 

One relationship in particular has really been taking a tole from that lately and I have decided to take a step back and look at it from a different perspective.  After reading this article I have realized that this is in fact the right move for me in this moment, even if it is the hardest pill I have ever had to swallow. 

This video gives a real life journey of what really sucks about long distance relationships and how often people don’t think of the big negative side effects they can have on you mentally and physically. 

Every organization has a motto and mission statement that they strive to meet day in and day out. As a new member, it is important to learn this mission statement and really learn what it means to be a new member and what it is going to take to uphold that status. 

“Yesterday, today, and tomorrow, Kappa Alpha Theta exists to nurture each member throughout her college and alumna experience and to offer a lifelong opportunity for social, intellectual, and moral growth as she meets the higher and broader demands of mature life.”

That is the mission statement for my organization. To simplify - We strive to offer social, intellectual, and moral growth while a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. 

Our motto is “Leading Women” and one of the main reasons why I joined my chapter.

I have always seen myself as someone who is a natural born leader. Being a part of an organization that promotes leadership and wants every one to strive to their greatest potential is truly amazing. We are constantly surrounded by people that are only going to lift us higher and want us to go far in life. 

This year my chapter is celebrating its 100 year anniversary since being established on my campus. While this may sound like something small, it is actually a huge accomplishment. 

Every year, since 1917 our members have worked hard to keep our grades up, participate in philanthropies, and overall keep up our reputation around campus.

After many struggles throughout the years to keep the Greek Life system alive on campus, we have survived and triumphed through to finally get here. Celebrating 100 years of sisterhood, friendship, and loyalty to our amazing fraternity. 

Generations of Theta’s will be coming together to look back, or forward, on their time spent as an active member, and the memories that continued as an alumnae. 

This will be a time for our newly initiated members to look around the room and see some of the most inspirational women and know that they can too one day become the mayor of Oregon, or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. 

This will also be a time for our older generation alumnae to recount the stories of way back when, and remember “the good old days” and share their favorite memories from the best four years of their lives. 

Making it to 100 years on any campus is an unbelievable achievement that we as a greek community should celebrate for everyone who is involved. 

This past week, a link to an article published on The Odyssey has been circulating around the twitter-sphere. It has not received a ton of traction with everyone, but most who saw and read the article are a part of Greek Life at varying universities on the west coast. Written by Shannon Sons at Arizona State University, the article has since been retweeted 52 times and liked 386 times since being posted on the morning of October 3rd. 

In Shannon’s tweet, you can tell her excitement for having her first article published on the popular journalistic platform, unfortunately for her, the excitement quickly has turned into criticism. 

To start, Shannon got so many things wrong in her article. Looking at the title alone, she is already not off to a good start. Most college campuses across the nation have stopped using the word “rush” for sororities and have been pushing for the replacement with “recruitment.” This is because rush often comes with negative connotations associated with hazing and over-excessive drinking. 

Her article continues to go on and stereotype sorority women. 

She says they are the girls blonde and tan with perfect white teeth and daddy’s money filling their pockets.

They are the girls with perfect looking Instagram’s, the hottest boys on their arms, the most fashionable closets, and always a full face a makeup on. 

They are girls who buy their friends, act like one of the plastics, and pretend to be happy all the time. 

No. Just, no. Absolutely not. 

In today’s modern age it is shocking to see an article like this that is tearing down a group of incredible women (who are usually the largest women’s organization on most college campuses).

So, Shannon Sons, aka the girl who didn’t rush go through recruitment this year, please do not be bitter or rude or mean or disrespectful to any Panhellenic woman because we are much more than the stereotypes you have perceived us to be. 

To the girl who did join a sorority, you’re amazing. Keep standing up for your sisterhood and your philanthropy and yourself. Because I am a proud Panhellenic sorority woman, and you should be too.

If you do not know what I mean by “the Srat Life” I am referring to Sorority Life. (Fraternity = Frat, Sorority = Srat). Now I do not consider myself an expert in this particular field, but in my going on three years of experience I feel I can share some of my knowledge.  

With this platform, I want to be able to share everything from misconstrued ideas and preconceived notions of sorority women, to staying up all night and laughing so hard you pee your pants while living in a 19,000 square feet home.

Going into college, I was all about the experience. I wanted to experience as much as I could , and saw going Greek as my best opportunity to do just that. My sister was a member of the Chi Omega chapter at CU Boulder, so I have been introduced to the sorority lifestyle, but I was so excited to try it out for myself. 

Many college aged men and women are already a part of the Greek Life community, but for those who are not, I hope to somehow change their minds about this special community. I also hope to inform parents or people of older generations the benefits and reality of Greek Life and how it can and does benefit many people in the long run. 

I also hope this blog can act as a first-hand personal guide for incoming college freshman as they head into their first year of the best years of their lives. I have seen all sides of sorority recruitment so I understand how many questions people have, and that is perfectly OK. Hopefully I can show these potential new members that going greek and joining the Greek Life community will be the best decision they ever make in their four (or five) years in the best college town in the PAC-12! 

P.S. here are some similar blogs that are currently inspiring me! 

http://blog.phiredup.com/