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Why Joining A Sorority Completed My College Experience

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Temple chapter.
I always try to explain all the things a sorority is that no one can see to those who don’t 
 
understand what we do or why we do it. It’s more than fancy letters on a sweatshirt or the cute 
 
crafts that we make for each other. Those simple, materialistic things are just a way for us to 
 
represent our respective organization in fun and creative ways. When reading this article, try to 
 
forget about the stereotypes you’ve heard or negative portrayal in the media you’ve seen. It is so 
 
much more than all of those things. 
 
Everyone has his or her views on Greek life, but it’s something you can’t completely understand 
 
from the outside. Greek life is more than anyone expects and I, for one, had that firsthand 
 
experience. 
 
My father is a brother of Phi Beta Sigma, and therefore I lived in a household where my father 
 
constantly talked about the sense of brotherhood within his fraternity. Growing up, I always 
 
knew I wanted to join Greek life because of the stories he told; I just didn’t know what to expect. 
 
During my first semester here at Temple I decided to not go through formal recruitment last 
 
minute. Watching my roommate experience this amazing opportunity, I immediately regretted 
 
my decision. I thought that avoiding clubs my first semester would help me focus on my 
 
schoolwork more and help me receive a high GPA as a freshman. 
 
Although it helped, I was not happy with my college experience. Throughout high school, I was 
 
constantly involved; therefore it was a culture shock when I did not continue this involvement at 
 
Temple right away. When the spring semester sprung forward, I noticed that I was not happy 
 
with my college experience so I decided to become more involved. I became a staff writer for 
 
Her Campus and went through with what I really wanted – joining a sorority. 
 
Although many may think that a sorority only fits me because it’s something I always wanted to 
 
do, this is not the case for everyone. My friend and fellow sister, Meghan Hill, also went through 
 
recruitment with me last spring. Ironically, she didn’t want to at first. Originally, when I asked 
 
her to rush with me she said, “No I don’t think so. It’s not something that interests me and it’s 
 
not for me.” 
 
Currently, Meghan is on our Executive Board, continues to be involved in our sorority, and loves 
 
being apart of Alpha Xi Delta just as much as we all do. Although it might not seem like 
 
something you would be interested in, you never know until you take the time to see what Greek 
 
Life is all about. It is something that you fall in love with and something that immediately 
 
becomes a part of you.
 
Olivia Farkas, a founding member of Alpha Xi Delta’s Iota Chi chapter here at Temple and the 
 
future president of this chapter shares her experience. “Before Alpha Xi Delta, it’s hard to think 
 
of who I was beforehand. I look back, and I can’t even recognize that girl. The woman I was 
 
when I came to college was one who was afraid of new experiences, someone who was stuck in 
 
her normal routine, and someone who was content with following a ‘basic’ path in college. 
 
When I joined Alpha Xi Delta, I was wary about what would come in the future, but I was 
 
willing to take the risk. Joining Alpha Xi Delta was truly the best decision I’ve ever made,” Farkas said.
 
As a new member of Alpha Xi Delta I didn’t realize how important, exciting and life changing 
 
my new member period would be. Throughout this new member period, I spent an exciting 
 
amount of time constantly meeting with initiated sisters. In the end I received a “big sister.” To 
 
me, this “big/little” experience is one for the books. I found a sister in my chapter that I 
 
automatically connected with because of our common interests, common experiences and 
 
common characteristics. 
 
Elena Lynch, who is a dedicated sister of Delta Zeta, says, “I can’t imagine my college 
 
experience being as amazing as it is if I hadn’t joined Delta Zeta. Not only has DZ made my 
 
academic and professional life flourish, but I have met friends who will be by my side for the 
 
rest of my life.”
 
Over the year, I noticed that being apart of a Panhellenic sorority is something to be really proud 
 
of. Becoming apart of Alpha Xi Delta changed me by helping me develop personally in so many 
 
positive ways. I learn different leadership roles every day, and many other girls do too by 
 
running for our Executive Board or different chair positions that our sorority has to offer. 
 
Additionally, holding these leadership positions have even helped me explore my interests for 
 
future career paths. My communication and social skills were also unknowingly enhanced 
 
through being apart of Alpha Xi Delta. 
 
By being in this organization, I learned this sense of sisterhood that my father always talked 
 
about and realized that we all have a strong bond. Through this experience, I made a ton of new 
 
friends and continue to meet new ladies that I have so much in common with. In addition to that, 
 
I had the pleasure to become sisters with 145 other girls. In my opinion, a sorority is all about the 
 
sense of sisterhood and the sense of belonging to something that is greater than yourself. Overall, 
 
being a sorority girl comes with this weird sense of pride when you wear your letters.  
 
Each sorority has its own philanthropy in which they constantly participate in different events to 
 
raise money for something that they are truly passionate about. Recently, my sorority Alpha Xi 
 
Delta has participated in Walk Now for Autism and the AmaXIng Challenge. My sisters have put 
 
in a tremendous amount of work for these events and all proceeds went to our philanthropy, 
 
Autism Speaks. 
 
Walk Now took place at Citizens Bank Park on October 24th. All of the sisters of Alpha Xi Delta 
 
participated in this event. Spending the day with my sisters cheering on the walkers, participating 
 
in the walk and doing arts and crafts with young children was a great way to spend my Saturday 
 
morning. We met amazing families who were impacted by autism at this walk, which made 
 
being there even more inspirational.
 
 Being apart of Alpha Xi Delta, I am always inspired by my sisters and our amazing work with 
 
Autism Speaks. Furthermore, this was the first time I came in contact with other Alpha Xi Delta 
 
sisters from a different chapter. For me, meeting these girls was very interesting because we 
 
immediately bonded with these girls we didn’t know simply because we are all under the same 
 
sisterhood.
 
Marikate Kidd, a very involved sister of Phi Sigma Sigma, says, “Joining Phi Sig made my 
 
college experience 10x better because I was able to meet so many people that I might not have 
 
been able to get the chance to talk with. It made me feel right at home at Temple and helped me 
 
settle in perfectly my freshman year. Phi Sig helped me in so many ways: make awesome 
 
friends, give back to the community and open new doors for me and I am so grateful to be apart 
 
of an amazing organization.”
 
The sisters in the sorority you join will be your sisters for life. Because of the common 
 
sisterhood, your sisters are all easy to talk to, always there for you and will keep you in line. 
 
Becoming a sister of a sorority gave me good structure to my life and taught me many viable life 
 
lessons – leadership, dedication and, most importantly, sisterhood. They taught me things that 
 
are important in everyday life, not just my sorority. 
 
Knowing that my sisters are always there for me, always there to inspire me and always there to 
 
pick out the positives in life makes me even more proud to call myself an Alpha Xi. Overall, 
 
sororities are not trying to make you into something you’re not, they are trying to make you 
 
something more and this is something that a lot of girls do not understand. My sisters of Alpha 
 
Xi Delta helped me realize my potential and continue to encourage me to be the best person I can 
 
be. I had the opportunity for this experience and I am glad that I took advantage of it. I couldn’t 
 
imagine my college experience any way else because it now truly is completed.
 
Fiona Spinelli, a sister of Delta Phi Epsilon, stated, “Being in a sorority means becoming an 
 
overall better person. My sorority taught me how to become more open and outgoing. It taught 
 
me how to network and come out of my comfort zone by reaching out and meeting new people, 
 
not only my sorority, but other organizations as well. It also taught me how to balance my social 
 
life alongside with my other responsibilities. But most importantly, I was able to form lifelong 
 
friendships that cannot be replaced.”
Breanna Perez is a sophomore at Temple University. Majoring at Journalism and being a member of Alpha Xi Delta, Breanna also enjoys hanging out with her friends, traveling and being active.   
Logan is a junior journalism major, and serves as Campus Correspondent.  She is also the proud president of Delta Phi Epsilon, Delta Nu, her sorority. Logan is typically super busy, but still dedicates hours to reading a Cosmo from front to back...twice. Logan loves all things social media, especially following puppy accounts on Instagram. Her dream is to break into the magazine industry and help empower other women to pursue their dreams, whatever that may be.