On September 28th, 2013 (Gosh I'm old) I accepted my bid to become a part of the Alpha Tau New Member Class of the Delta Zeta Chapter of Alpha Xi Delta at LIU Post, and myself, along with my nine pledge sisters began a journey that has changed our lives forever. If you don't yet know the Greek alphabet or the significance of that incredibly long title it's completely OK. When I first joined my sorority I'll admit I couldn't pronounce the "Xi" in Alpha Xi Delta (which makes a "Z" sound). If you're new to LIU Post, an incoming freshman, a transfer student like I was, or even someone whose been here a few semesters and is curious about recruitment then I'm glad to be the one to help. There are so many things that I wish I knew before I joined my sorority and since there aren't enough hours in the day to go through everything with everyone personally, here I am writing my first article on Odyssey, hoping that this helps someone out. So here are ten questions I had before I went through Fall Recruitment, answered.
1. Is your sorority like the ones on TV?
The easy answer to that would be "no." Joining a sorority is so much more than blowing glitter into a camera lens or using pizza to look "relatable." It's more than frat boys, theme parties, matching t-shirts and winning Greek Week. If you're scared that it's all superficial like it is in movies then please try to get that out of your head. Sororities aren't excluding and they're not trying to change you at all. It's not a clique, a club, a cult, or a gang. It's not a group of 60, size two blondes and it's nothing like you've seen on TV or in Movies.
2. What sororities are on campus?
LIU Post has four Nationally Recognized Panhellenic Sororities on campus and each is different than the next. For the longest time, the only two sororities on campus were Alpha Epsilon Phi and my sorority, Alpha Xi Delta, but we're extremely lucky to have welcomed Delta Zeta and Sigma Delta Tau to our campus and we finally have four sororities on our campus again for the first time since I was a New Member. Every sorority has a GPA requirement, sorority colors, a philanthropy that they hold dear to their hearts and a mascot. Each sorority is home to an average of about 50 women and each has different rituals, traditions and unique traits that make them complete. I could go into more detail but the best thing to do would be to talk to the sisters of each sorority because while I know who they are and a little about their organizations only they can tell you how special their sisterhood really is!
3. But my friend is joining a different sorority...
That's OK! If there's something I can stress it's please don't follow your friends to a specific sorority unless you feel that it's right for you. If you and your best friend both fall in love with a sorority and you both want to join then by all means go for it! Joining with a friend at the same time and becoming pledge sisters is so much fun and an incredible experience, but please don't just choose one because you feel like you'll lose a friend if you join a different org. No matter what if they're your real friend you won't lose them because Greek Unity isn't just a tagline that we use to make you join, it's a real thing.
4. Speaking of Greek Unity, it seems pretty fake...
I'm not gonna lie to you and say that "out of the 400 or so men and women that make up Greek Life at LIU Post I'm close personal friends with every single one of them" or that "we never disagree on anything" and "we all get matching manicures once a month." Remember, this is NOT a movie. What I can tell you is that I do have at least one friend in every sorority and fraternity on campus. One really cool thing about our school is that while it is small and that may seem like a negative it's actually not. Going to a small school means that everyone knows everyone and that's so great because I love walking into Hillwood after a rough day and knowing that I'll see 20 smiling faces that will offer me a grilled cheese and a hug. I'm personally not a fan of using the phrase "Greek Unity" because I understand how it can sound fake or forced, but here's the way I look at it: if I like you then I like you. That's it. If you're Greek that's awesome. If you're unaffiliated that's awesome too. If you're in a different organization than me that's your choice, it's not my decision to choose which home you feel happiest in and it's no one's right to get mad at you for choosing where you feel you belong. Not everyone will like you, or me for that matter, but I can promise you that no one that I've ever met at LIU is petty enough to not be your friend because of your letters or their lack of, so no worries and choose what makes you happy!
5. You don't actually do things for "philanthropy," right?
Wrong. At any given time of the year sororities and fraternities on our campus are tabling, fundraising, having Common Hour events and are doing things out in the real world to help other causes. As a campus, we've collectively held car washes, Galas, Winter Carnivals, Milk Shake Fundraisers, Male Beauty Pageants , scavenger hunts, sporting events, and even a pancake house to raise money to donate. It's collaborating with men and women your age to make real changes on your campus by raising life changing amounts of money for philanthropies that range from Relay for Life, Autism Speaks (ΑΞΔ) and The Starkey Hearing Foundation (ΔΖ) to The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (ΑΕΦ) and Prevent Child Abuse of America (ΣΔΤ). It's of course caring about our own philanthropies, but it's also helping out others raise money for theirs as well.
6. So what are the frat guys like?
As someone who grew up a bit of a tomboy, I never thought that I would end up joining a sorority. I always got along with guys better than girls, it was just easier that way, so, of course, I was absolutely thrilled when I met the gentlemen on our campus that make up the Male Greek Population. Just like the sororities, there are four Nationally Recognized IFC Fraternities on campus and I've gotta say that they've been nothing but nice to me since I joined. When you join Greek Life, you're not just picking one pair of letters and sticking to them, you're joining an entire community that genuinely cares about your well-being and wants to watch you succeed. It's finding your home in a sorority that you love dearly, but for me, it was also finding a home with a fraternity that I love more than anything else. Since day one these guys have been the definition of brothers to me. No matter what I ever needed they were always the first ones to be there for me without me even having to ask. They're one of the strongest support systems in my life and have given me confidence, unconditional love, and a pretty cute boyfriend. They're not your typical "frat guys," none of the men on our campus are, rather they represent ideas such as: "Extending a Helping Hand", Promoting Brotherhood, Stimulating Scholarship and Developing Character. They thrive on Love, Charity, and Esteem, and they always put their best foot forward in trying to become True Gentlemen. They're not stereotypical "frats", they're a family and they're the best guys that I know.
7. That all sounds great, but I'm just not a "typical sorority girl."
That's great because neither am I! No one is because saying that someone is a "typical sorority girl" is just a stereotype. When I first wanted to join my sorority some people told me "you can't" or "you wouldn't fit in" and the scariest thing was that I almost listened to them. I wasn't blonde, I was absolutely not stick thin, I didn't look anything like those girls that I saw in the movies, and I believed in my heart of hearts that being in a sorority would be amazing, but "it just wasn't meant for girls like me." I like going to concerts and crowed surfing, I like rolling out of bed and not putting hours of thought into my hair or outfit. I LOVE eating copious amounts of Taco Bell, Moe's, and Chipotle and when I buy a dress I buy it to fit me, not the other way around. LIU Post is filled with some of the REALEST, most down to earth women I've ever met. We've got EMT's and Firefighters, we've got women who have served in the US Marine Core and women who work full-time jobs. We've got girls who double and even triple major (shout out to Dippy) and we've got girls going to LIU on FULL scholarships who make Dean's List every semester. Our ladies have all kinds of majors that range from Speech Pathology to Psychology, Art Therapy, Health and Sciences, Public Relations, and we've even got some Future Teachers of America. Every girl is different- different backgrounds, cultures, interests, talents, dreams- and that's what makes us real. You can join any org that your heart desires, especially if you're not a typical sorority girl because neither are we.
8. What's so great about your chapter?
Now, while I can't speak for the other organizations about what joining has meant to them, I can tell you what joining has meant to me. For me, a sorority, or in my case a "Women's Fraternity," is 123 years of leadership, sisterhood, service, and knowledge. It's meeting a group of women who want the best for you and who will inspire you to fully Realize Your Potential. It's wholeheartedly loving our traditions and our ritual, but most of all at the end of the day it's about being proud of what you stand for and who you stand next to. My chapter, although small when I first joined (home to about 25 women), is an extremely proud one. It was founded on November 8th, 1962, and while it was the second sorority on campus to colonize, it was the first one to be chartered out of all of the original sororities on Post’s campus . When my New Member Class joined, our chapter's total went up to 35 women and today I'm thrilled to say that we have about 50 sisters total (some are studying abroad). While joining a sorority is becoming a part of something nationally recognized all around the country, your chapter at your university is your home away from home, it's your second family that you fit into perfectly and it's where you grow as a woman. It's where you'll form lifelong bonds and it's only as strong as you make it. My favorite quote is "Leave your chapter better than you found it and hope that others do the same." Your chapter is what makes your sorority real, it's what turns it from a group of strangers all wearing the same T-Shirt to a group of women who want not only the best for themselves, but the best for others around them as well. Your chapter will help you get and stay involved on campus, it will turn you into a leader and if you're lucky and you get on your Executive Board then you can make some real changes that can positively impact your community. As cheesy as it sounds joining your chapter is Finding Out How Good You Really Are.
9. So, you don't regret choosing your letters?
As the last member of my pledge class and the oldest active sister in our chapter, I've gotta say that joining as a whole has been an experience that I would never change for anything else in the world. My chapter and my sisters have been there for me through it all, through every accomplishment and every stumble, every celebration and every ugly cry, the whole nine yards. I'm not going to lie to you and say that if you join a sorority that's it, you're set for life. "Join our sorority and you'll be popular, you'll always be happy and you'll never have another bad hair day again." That's not what it's like. It's not always perfect, it's mostly about falling down and learning how to pick yourself back up because life, and especially college is no cake walk. College is designed to prepare you for the real world, it's supposed to help you "adult" and get your life together before you walk down that isle in 4-6 years, grab your diploma and run like hell. When you do leave LIU Post you can leave with cute selfies, a few hundred Instagram followers, more T-Shirts than you know what to do with and a cute stole with your sororities colors on it. OR. You can have great grades, a full resume, amaXing friends that survive post-grad life and a legacy that you're proud of, that you can't wait to come back to Post to visit and to cheer on from the sidelines. I wasn't happy every single day and I can promise you that I never had perfect hair, but my sisters have been there for me through everything and when they couldn't be, my guys were right there to catch me as I fell. So no, I don't regret signing my Bid and pledging myself to my sisters and my letters. The last three years that I've been a sister have been and remain the single most important thing in my life and I feel that's how it should be.
10. But what about after you graduate?
I'm not going to pretend that graduation isn't scary, but the bonds that you form in your sorority and on our campus, in general, are life long. Like I said before, you won't have all 400 members of Greek Life (plus alumni) on speed dial, it's just not realistic, but you will have a great group of friends that you can count on for anything and thanks to my org I know that when I graduate I'll have some very special people by my side. For me it's having a Big Sister that I know I can call no matter what (and she graduated a while ago). It's having not one, not two, but THREE little sisters that I thank God for every day, and that I care for just like they're my own children. It's having a best friend that stayed by my side when I got sick and had to take a Medical Leave of Absence for a semester, a friend that I know I'll never let go and that will absolutely be at my wedding. It's having a Pledge Sister that spent five uninterrupted hours of her life helping me save something that I loved more than anything else. It's having a Panhellenic Little Sister in a different organization and being so proud of her for making her mark as a Founding Member of one of LIU Post's newest sororities on campus (slay little). It's having a boyfriend that I love with every part of my heart, that I only met thanks to his brothers in my favorite fraternity. It's bonds that I'm not worried about losing after I graduate because they mean absolutely everything to me.
If you're genuinely interested in recruitment or even if you're still on the fence here are some last minute pro tips to help you out during rounds: When going through recruitment just try to be yourself and have fun, dress how you feel comfortable and don't try to be someone that you're not. Speak honestly, don't be fake when talking to sisters because just as much as you're trying to impress them, they're trying to impress you as well. Please stay off of your cell phones during rounds because we only get a little time to get to know you during recruitment and we want to make the most of it, but more than anything else follow your heart. College is incredible no matter what sorority you join or even if you decide not to join at all, I personally believe that college, and life really, are only as good as you make it and for me, joining AXiD is what truly made it unforgettable. If you do follow through with recruitment then I promise you'll find the sisterhood that's right for you and at the end of it all you'll love it. So if you're a girl (or guy) at LIU Post whose interested in Greek Life on our campus I highly suggest giving recruitment a chance because there are some pretty amazing homes to choose from. Go into it with an open mind and only accept a Bid if it feels right. Maybe you bleed Kelly Green and White, or Rose and Green, or even Cafe au Lait Old Blue; LIU's got four incredible sororities to choose from so no matter what you'll be OK. As for me, I'll bleed Double Blue and Gold until my last dying breath and I am so incredibly proud to be able to say that.
GOOD LUCK!
