Going into sorority recruitment this year, my freshman year, I didn't expect too much. I mostly expected surface-level conversations with women who really didn't care whether I was there or not. I expected that the girls would embody the stereotype of a dumb sorority girl.
I could not have been more wrong.
When I walked into the first room on the first day of recruitment week, I was stunned. The rooms were decorated with their specific sorority's colors, and one of the members grabbed me by the arm, led me into their room, and talked to me.
I had at least 30 conversations with the women in each of the sororities that day, and I was amazed. In the 30 minutes I had with each of the chapters, I had genuine conversations about my life, what I like to do, the sorority's involvement on campus, and tons more.
On the second day, I met with only four of the six sororities. The theme for that day was "Philanthropy", which meant that each of the sororities educated the PNM's, or Potential New Members, on what their organization does to better the community and the lives of people. Most of the sororities on campus work with children in the hospital and a couple of the videos made me cry.
I was absolutely not expecting this process to make me cry as many times as it did. That sounds terrifying, but every time I cried it was out of happiness.
On the third and final day, you meet with up to two sororities. The two I met with had been my top two for the last couple days, and I was nervous with a capital N. I wanted to make a good impression so bad, and I wanted these girls to want me SO. BAD.
For this last round, I wanted one of the organizations to really stick out, and to really make me feel wanted. The first organization I met with in the morning gave me almost exactly what I was looking for. I even choked up at one point. I left that room thinking to myself that I wanted to be in that organization. That night, when the time came to meet with the second organization, I was absolutely blown away. I walked into the room and almost immediately started crying. One member read her senior speech, and almost the whole room was bawling, including me.
I had never met this girl in my life, but when she stood in front of her sisters and all of the PNMs in that room, I felt incredibly touched by her words. She talked about how this organization changed her life, how she felt like she truly made a difference in the FGCU community, and how she truly loved every single woman in that room. I sat there and I knew that I was meant to be in that organization.
When my "partner" walked me out of the room, we hugged, I cried. Again. The next day, on bid day, when I opened the envelope and was cordially invited to be a new member of Delta Delta Delta, I finally felt at home. In the five short days that I have been a part of this organization, I have learned what it means to be a good, respectful, loving woman, and I am so incredibly proud of my personal growth in the short time that Panhellenic has been a part of my life.
