With the start of my sophomore year of college, I made a goal of becoming more involved on campus than I had been my freshman year. Even though I am only a little over a month into the year, I can pat myself on the back for being successful.
First, a friend convinced me to join a committee for student government. At the University of South Carolina, these committee positions are pretty low stress opportunities to get involved on campus and voice your opinions on whatever topic your committee is discussing. I am officially a member of two, one dealing with scholastic standards and the other with health services, which is also a benefit to my resume since I am going into healthcare. During high school, I was never involved with student government, it just didn’t seem like my thing so I participated in other things. Now,even though I never saw myself doing it, I am involved and I am enjoying it. I like the idea of making decisions that will benefit not only me and my fellow Gamecocks but future ones as well.
The second, and probably most life changing, decision I have made is that I have joined a sorority. This was a pretty impulsive decision but over the summer when I was with some of my friends who had gone through recruitment, it made me really regret not going through it. But I decided not to do it as a sophomore for various reasons one of which is that it can be very expensive at my school.Then during the first few weeks of campus I kept passing this light blue tent. When one of the women there mentioned that it was for a social sorority, I later googled it to learn more and I decided to go to an interest meeting to find out more, because “why not? it can’t hurt.” and that resulted in a weekend filled with recruitment activities.
Pi Beta Phi was rechartering it’s SC Alpha chapter on the USC campus. The women who would accept bids after recruitment would be members of the charter class and set the foundation for the future generations of women who would become Pi Phi’s. This sorority appealed to me in numerous ways. The first and most obvious being that it was a social sorority and it offered me an experience that I thought I had missed out on. Then I learned about the sorority’s goals and philanthropy, as well as met the representatives and I felt like it was a group of women that I wanted to be a part of. And finally, I met the other women going through recruitment. Many of them were like me, interested in starting something and making an impact but not interested in the Greek stereotype from the media or fitting into a mold carved by a sorority’s reputation on campus. We all loved the idea of being the first class and creating a positive reputation. On Saturday night, when I got the email telling me “Congratulations!” on getting a bid to Pi Beta Phi, I felt like I was walking on air.
Although there have only been a couple of meetings so far since bid day, I am starting to meet my new sisters and I cannot believe how much I already love it. The women I have met so far are fantastic and I know in my heart that this is not an experience I will regret. And this is my lesson for all my fellow college students or for those high school seniors about to venture into this new world. Don’t be afraid to get involved but make sure it feels right and it is something you are truly interested in, even if you have never done it before or shown an interest. College is about change and expanding your horizons, so meet people, grow, and find whatever organization allows you to do these things while being yourself.
I'm Just Sayin' 