I have always been fascinated by the idea of Greek life. My first exposure to it came when I was about nine years old when my babysitter joined a sorority at her college. For the next five years, along with other babysitters throughout the years, I saw what it meant to be a 'sorority' girl: beautiful beyond compare, heels nobody could walk in, large bags of makeup in stow, and always having a nice dress in your car in case you had a meeting at your sorority house. I saw these young women who I admired in my younger life and said, "That's it, I have to be one of them."

Even in my early preteen years, I knew I would go through recruitment. I soon became familiar with all of the lingo, with chapter, bid day, and knowing most of the Panhellenic sororities by name. In high school, my desire to be in a Greek organization only grew when I saw older friends finally having the chance to where Greek letters of their own choosing. When deciding on a college, I always looked to see if they had any National Panhellenic sororities, finding myself less drawn to any school that did not participate in such.

Fast forward to 2015, and I'm an active member of Delta Delta Delta.

Everything I thought I knew, whether it was my admiration for sorority women or the idea of belonging, changed once I joined my college's chapter of Tri Delta. It was all for the better, though. I soon began to realize that each sorority is incredible, all with amazing philanthropies and virtues and traditions. It would not be a part of NPC if it wasn't. It is, though, the people that make the sorority. With the diversity of each organization, I truly do believe that any woman could find a home in a sorority. Mine just so happens to be Tri Delta.

So thank you, Tri Delta. Thank you for allowing me to better myself as a woman and citizen of the world. Thank you for believing that every woman can not only be great, but extraordinary. Thank you for providing me a network of sisters all over the world, those who recited the same words I recite and participated in the same rituals I do. Thank you for giving me an unhealthy obsession with dolphins, pine trees, pansies, pearls, Poseidon, and anything blue, silver, or gold.

Thank you Sarah Ida Shaw, Eleanor Dorcus Pond, Florence Isabel Stewart, and Isabel Morgan Breed for creating an opportunity for a perpetual bond of friendship. Thank you for the chance to serve St. Jude Research Hospital, an organization that each member has in their heart. Thank you for BodyImage3D, with a special shoutout to Sarah Ida for saying, "Let us found a society that shall be kind alike to all and think more of a girl's inner self and character than of her personal appearance." Thank you for giving me the position to lead and help my chapter grow, all towards the purpose of our organization.

But most importantly, thank you Tri Delta for giving me some of the best friends I could have ever asked for. Thank you for making me feel so incredibly loved and valued by a group of women who all share a spot under the crescent moon with me.

You have made me the woman I am, and you will continue to shape me for years to come. I am forever indebted to you.

DLAM