Everyone has heard of #TotalSororityMoves- there's a fantastic website dedicated to caricaturizing and sometimes honestly reporting on the behaviors of sorority women across the world. More often than not, though, the stereotypes surrounding things sorority women do are negative (though I will admit the ones about glitter and Starbucks are rooted in truth), when in reality sorority women do great things for their sisters, their communities, and causes they believe in on a daily basis. Here are 12 actual sorority moves I experienced in my first year as a member of the Gamma Lambda chapter of Delta Delta Delta.
1. Spending an embarrassing amount of my monthly food budget on Starbucks. Like, really embarrassing.
A girl's gotta get through 10am classes and finals somehow! And yes, I do struggle to stay awake during 10am classes. Please keep your judgement to a minimum.
2. Raising money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital at my chapter’s annual philanthropy, Delta Idol, in which we challenge each fraternity and sorority on campus to sing their hearts out and make Simon Cowell proud.
Seen here are the ladies of Tri Delta with the performers from Phi Delta Theta, who won the fraternity competition this year.
3. Almost burning my dorm down by leaving my hot glue gun plugged in for 36 hours straight while crafting for my big.
There's a hole melted into the desk that will always remind me to pay attention to what flammable materials I have lying around the house at any given time.
4. Volunteering at the crack of dawn for the San Diego Mermaid Half Marathon.
5. Tripling the number of t-shirts I own in my first six months in the chapter. Nobody warns you how quickly the philanthropy and event shirts accumulate.
Between formal shirts and pass-downs and buying shirts for other chapters' events, I will never have to buy another t-shirt as long as I live.
6. Raising more money and awareness for St. Jude during Sincerely Yours, our letter writing campaign for the kids of St. Jude.
Yep- we really do care about our philanthropy partners and really will be up at 8 on a Sunday to write letters to encourage our family and friends to learn more about St. Jude and donate if they can! (Shameless plug: 75% of St. Jude's operating costs are covered by public donations- for more information and to donate to an incredible cause, click here.)
7. Drowning my room and bed in glitter in the process of making tutus for my big and her friends for their senior bar crawl. I’m still finding it in my clothes.
8. Being slated Panhellenic Delegate as a first year while I was still a new member- I hadn’t even been initiated yet and my chapter entrusted me with an officer position.
I signed up to run for an officer position not expecting to be slated for a position- but as the saying goes, the office seeks the member and now I am part of Officers' Council and get to help lead my chapter alongside other incredible women.
9. Staying in the library until 4am helping one sister write a paper and studying calculus with another. Of course we went and got McDonald’s after that.
Some of the best bonding occurs when you've been in the library for ten hours straight and somehow you're panicking about ancient religion and derivatives and eating donuts all at once.
10. Playing a 40-person game of Never Have I Ever (aka the best bonding moment you could ask for) at retreat in Big Bear.
What happens in Big Bear stays in Big Bear- except the cute pictures, of course.
11. Partaking in Fat Talk Free Week to encourage our community members to love themselves and their bodies.
Tridelta seeks to empower its women and encourages us to focus on keeping our mind, body and spirit healthy. How awesome is that?
12. Gaining 100+ shoulders to cry on, Starbucks dates, study buddies, impromptu donut run partners, and sisters the second I opened my bid card.