Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Interest in "XYZ" Sorority

credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEp1HJQmLoY

I never pictured myself in a sorority. I remember my senior year in high school people would ask me if I was planning on rushing a sorority and I would always respond with "Huh? A sorority? I don't know? Maybe? Are you? What's a sorority? What is my name? What day is it?"...or something along those lines. Basically I was never all that interested in sororities and didn't know much about them. The most I knew is that Elle Woods was a part of one, they were typically for Caucasion girls, and that they were very expensive to join.

My freshman year of college I was exposed to the members of various sororities on campus and started to grow some interest in Greek Life. I first met members of the NPHC organizations ("Black" sororities and fraternities). I was so shocked to discover that historically black greeks even existed! I was in awe and would continue to observe the black greeks and greek life. 

Credit: http://bruinnphc.com/rush
Fast forward to my sophomore year of college where I was 100% sure I wanted to be a member of an NPHC sorority. I knew which sorority I felt I most attracted to and began to research, research, research. I would spend hours reading about the history of what we'll call "XYZ" sorority (NPHC organizations stress discretion when you are interested in an organization but are not yet a member. I believe this is mostly a traditional concept but also common practice.) and all about their founders, forming of, and current chapters all over the world. I would watch "probates"/New Initiate Presentations for days straight and looked up images of members and paraphernalia. I shocked myself with how passionate I was in pursuing membership. Like I said before, I never saw myself in a sorority so to be this interested surprised even me.

After discussing with my mom what my interests were, about how much I imagined it would cost, and the steps it would take to pursue membership--I wrote down a step by step savings plan and community service schedule for the summer of 2016. Through research, I knew that NPHC organizations stood for serving others and their community so I volunteered with Habitat for Humanity just as an insurance blanket as I already racked up many hours my freshman and sophomore years in college. I took up as many hours of work as I could and saved about 80% of each paycheck for the sorority dues. I met both my community service hours and savings goals for the summer.

credit: https://www.utdallas.edu/gogreek/nphc/
Presently, as of today, I have attended Rush and had my interview for the sorority and am now currently waiting for a letter of acceptance/rejection to come in the mail. I am SO anxious and have been praying like crazy that I am invited for membership. I am now a junior and will graduate in 4 semesters so I am really and truly hoping to become a member this fall so that I can experience the black greek life for as long as possible before graduating. I have been as patient as one can be at a time like this but I am so nervous and really hoping they see the potential in me to be a member of XYZ. There is an entire voting and verification process that I must pass first. I want this SO badly and really feel it would improve my college experience (I'm not the happiest when I'm at school) and also make great connections for the future. 

I will keep you guys updated as much as I can and when I can.