SL 101

 

sorority talk!!

Entering college is all about experiences. What you give in college, you will get back. That is something that I like to live up to no matter where I am at. Especially when I joined a sorority. If you are thinking of joining one, do it. You are going to be hearing a lot of reasons as to why you should and shouldn't join one but I am here to talk to you about my experience of being in one. Everyone's experience is different when being in one but there are a couple of things you get to learn more about and skills that you get to practice. 

SororitY History & What is a Sorority?

A little bit of sorority history, they began to be known in the mid 19th century. Women started to create these organizations to provide support networks for higher education. The very first sorority was Alpha Delta Pi which was founded in 1851 and it was firstly introduced as a secret society for women. A lot of the sororities that you see on TikTok and Instagram are obviously not a secret society for women but a support system and each sorority has its own core purpose. A lot of them having those purposes be sisterhood, academics, service/philanthropies, and leadership. Most sororities now are categorized into different national networks/councils (connections to a larger organizations). There are 4 different councils:

1. Panhellenic Council: Traditional governing, social sororities that manages structured recruitment and live in missions that provide philanthropic support to different causes (including women empowerment, domestic violence, breast cancer awareness, court appointed special advocates for children) and so much more. Made up of 26 women's-only inter/national member organizations.

2. National Pan-Hellenic Council: Governs a lot of the historically African American fraternities and sororities. Established to provide unified voices and platform for cooperation. This is most commonly known as the "Divine Nine" (4 sororities & 5 fraternities). Highly focused on community service, leadership, and academic excellence.

3. Multicultural Greek Council: governs cultural based sororities and fraternities (Asian, South Asian, Middle Eastern, & Lantix as examples). Promotes diversity, heritages and education. Raise funds for education, social justice causes, and charity work.

4. Professional/Special Interest Councils: Governs academic based sororities and fraternities. Most common seen in college are STEM or professional focused.

The most common sororities that you see on social media such as Alpha Phi, Pi Beta Phi, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Alpha Theta, Chi Omega, Phi Mu, Alpha Chi Omega (to name a few) are under the Panhellenic Council. Sororities under this council tend to be the most known, do not let that stop you from getting to know the other sororities under the other councils!!

My reasons for joining

Before I started college, I knew I wanted to join a sorority. Well mostly towards the end of my senior year of high school. I didn't really have a preference as to where I wanted to join but all I knew was that I was joining one. I remember getting a video of a "Sorority House Room Tour" on YouTube and clicking on it to see what it was like to live in a sorority house. Little by little I started to watch more videos regarding room tours, big and little week, and lastly a day in my in xyz sorority. Watching these videos got me excited to joining an organization that would support a campaign and raise funds for what they support. As soon as I entered college, I had forgotten about joining a sorority and in my spring semester is when I decided to officially join a Panhellenic sorority. When I joined I had a little bit of knowledge of what I was getting myself into and thought that I was going to get haze but lucky for me, the sorority that I joined has a no hazing policy. Really happy for that as the women that I joined with didn't go through any of that process. 

Is it worth joining?

This is a question that is very debatable and honestly it really depends on the person and their reasons for joining. There are some women who want to join a sisterhood for support and advice, some are transfers and are starting life somewhere new, growing connections and networking. There is a variety of reasons for joining but it all comes down to your reasons. I have met women who want to join a sorority to go to frat parties and a lot of the times these women get rejected but that is a topic for another blog post. I personally think it was worth joining as I got the opportunity to work alongside other women who do things differently and it really helps when you collaborate with a bigger group. But lets be real, there is going to be drama. No matter where you go or what you plan on joining, any club or organization that is mostly women based, there will be drama and it is normal. Do not expect this is to be perfect with no drama whatsoever because that does not exists.