“Here we go,” I can practically see your eyes roll into the back of your head. “Another white, rich srat princess here to sing the praises of her organization as if there’s not anything else like it in the whole wide world…”

To which I giggle, and smile, but I don’t toss my hair because that’s not me, friends. Sure, I love throwing on a dress and hanging out with my girls. Yeah, I’ve wanted to be Greek practically since I found out what a sorority is. But it’s 2016- can we please get over the idea that sorority girls are vapid partiers who get their identity from their letters? Can we, even if just for the next five minutes, pretend that there’s no schism between Greeks and non-Greeks, despite what every college movie ever would have you believe? Awesome. Then let’s continue.

Going into recruitment, I was pulled between two conflicting ideas. My gamma chi, or recruitment counselor, told- nay, begged- us to be our authentic selves, assured us the right sorority would want us for us. Meanwhile, Total Sorority Move articles reminded me that the top tier life was obviously the best life, and laid out exactly what it would take to make it. (Oh, and it wasn’t authenticity.) The first day, though, I was thrown for a bit of a loop upon finding that these so-called “top” girls seemed pretty dang genuine, and the supposedly less popular girls could make me feel just as dazzled as any of the other incredible houses on campus. I had been told from the beginning to trust the system because it worked, and I was not only grounded in that but found it to be absolutely true.

The most prominent label my experience has contradicted is the snap judgment of, well, sororities’ snap judgments. We do not all hate each other because we see the “wrong” letters on a fellow Panhellenic member’s back, and we definitely do not look down on our unaffiliated friends. Do we associate within our organization a whole lot? Well, yeah- that’s why we joined. But you’d be hard pressed to find a sorority girl who doesn’t have friends outside of her house. Moreover, even the most competitive girls are so very supportive of other sisterhoods’ philanthropy events and have even been known to help with other sororities’ homecoming campaigns or help organize campus-wide events together. While judgment is an unfortunate fact of life wherever you go, the Greek community is so much more supportive than television shows and half-baked rumors would have you believe.

Speaking of organizing events, the whole philanthropy thing is not just an excuse to throw glitter and host parties. While there are endless personal and interpersonal benefits to being in a sorority, the service we do in our community is real. My chapter, for example, spent weeks planning a barbecue dinner to benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities and raised over $12,500 in one evening because of our hard work and the support of our Greek and non-Greek community. There is a reason that campuses nationwide dedicate a full round of recruitment week to learning about different sororities’ philanthropies, and that is because it matters deeply to all involved. It’s worth noting, too, that while fraternities get a bad rap for being the source of booze-fueled parties and nothing else, they, too, make a significant impact- take Pi Kappa Phi’s annual Journey of Hope fundraiser, for example, which sponsors a cross-country bike ride to raise funds and awareness for the Wounded Warriors Project.

Greek life on SEC campuses is bigger than the majority of other chapters, and a focal point of nationwide speculation. If we do something wrong, everyone is going to know about it; that said, the positive impact we have is multiplied further by our chapters’ sizes, and is anything but unnoticed by those we benefit. From the influence sisters have on one another to the projects and events we sponsor, we take not just our letters but our role in our community seriously. In a chapter of three hundred (or more!) women, everyone has her primary friend groups, yet even still, the cliché of, “You’ll always have someone to get pizza with, you’ll always have someone to run errands with,” holds true. It’s hard to know three hundred women closely, but there’s something about the very bond of sisterhood that binds us to want the best for one another. One leader put it best, “Friends tell you what you want to hear. Sisters tell you what you need to hear, even if they aren’t your best friends.” It is not the catty, shallow environment movies like “House Bunny” or “Neighbors” portray it as; these women truly make one another better.

My year-and-counting in a sorority has reminded me that I, as an individual, am valuable- and so is every other woman on this campus. It taught me not to write off a group just because I’m “not like them,” because then I’m just as guilty of judgment and stereotyping as any Regina George figure. It taught me that life really is a balance; whether someone goes out every night or would rather help at a soup kitchen every morning, or maybe even both, she is oh-so-valuable for who she is, not what she does. It taught me that even if someone expresses love differently than I do, she still thrives on and deserves affection and that there will always be judgment from both sides, Greek or not, but the abundance of support and affection amongst students is worth so much more. Most of all, my sorority has taught me that perfect is the enemy of good, and that just because there is work to be done, does not mean there isn’t value inherent in the process. I would not trade my experience for anything, and it is my sincere desire that every collegian has the opportunity to fall in love with these discoveries just as I have.