Reflections on Going Greek

Last Monday, I received 31 new sisters into my sorority—Phi Mu. While I screamed and cheered with excitement as our new members ran toward us, I also laughed thinking back to a little over a year ago when I was doing the running.

Let’s just say, I am NO sorority girl, and all signs pointed away from my donning Greek letters that day a year ago. I have always held myself to the ideals of self motivation, independence, and individuality, and, coming into college, Greek life seemed like the bane of all those traits. During the first few weeks on campus, however, I noticed something interesting—the strongest, most outspoken, independent female leaders on campus that I met all wore Greek letters. I then decided to give this whole Greek thing a shot.

I went through recruitment, and met amazing women--women who shared my ideals, whose actions were driven by a self-motivation to achieve greater goals not just for themselves, but for the betterment of the campus, the community and the world. Cheesy? Maybe. But, Greek life is honestly different here. It is constructive. It is academically focused, emphasizing leadership and service over partying and running around in togas, bunny costumes and what have you (though, we do have fun, don’t get me wrong).

When I ran to my sorority, like these girls were doing on Monday, I knew these women would not only encourage my free-spiritedness, but also enable it. I cannot count the number of times in the past year when these women, sometimes the most unlikely of them, have helped me achieve my individual goals, regardless of whether or not they personally agreed with them. I haven’t lost a shred of my individuality or independence. Instead, I am able to express those traits more openly with a solid support group, who not only accepts my peculiar quirks, assertive opinions, and hefty goals, but also encourages them, because all those things are so inherently Amanda.