Serving the University of Toledo community since 1919.

It’s all Greek to me

I never thought my sorority would become my home

Courtesy of Corey Hodgson

Members of Delta Phi Epsilon pose for a photo outside of the Toledo Museum of Art.

Alexandria Saba, Community Editor

My eyes were on the floor as I walked down the hall questioning every decision that brought me to this moment. I had no idea what I was doing or why I was doing it. I was completely nervous, but something was pulling me forward and forcing me to walk in. I saw that I wasn’t alone waiting, and that helped me to lift my head a little higher as I walked through the door.

Even before I entered the room, the questions circling my head stopped. Every fear or nerve I may have had left me as I stepped inside, because what I found on the other side wasn’t what I had expected.

It was so much more.

I saw 30 unique women staring back at me, smiling. I saw women who today I call not only my friends but my sisters.

Some would say my junior high and high school experience was not very ordinary. Even to me, it was a little strange, going to an all-girls school for six years.

I never realized how much of an effect my high school had on me until my first year of college. I can honestly say that when I got to my first class and a guy sat next to me, I freaked out a little — not only because he was cute, but because I thought he was in the wrong place.

I survived my first year of college, realized what it was like to have guys in my classes again and made friends with people I never thought I would find. Still, there was something missing in my life. What that was, I had no idea until halfway through my first semester of my second year at UT.

One of my friends mentioned she was going to an informal recruitment for a sorority and she thought I should go with her because she didn’t want to go alone. I had never heard of the sorority before or even had thought about joining one but I agreed for her benefit.

Oddly enough, something came up and she couldn’t make it that night but I decided to go anyway. When I walked in the door, I was surrounded by smiling, confident and excited women who wanted to talk to me. I was rushed with ladies who wanted to get to know me on a deeper level than just the superficial. They all made me feel like I mattered to them and that I was meant to be standing right next to them.

Lucky for me, they all felt the same and now today instead of standing in front of them, I stand beside them. I have never felt more at home than I do standing next to 50 unique women.

I found what I had been missing my first year of college.

I found the support of girls who are living and loving the college experience. I found ladies who acknowledge each of our differences and use them to help us grow together. I found women that are now my closest friends and who I could never live without.

But most importantly, I found a place where I belong.

I would have never thought what I was missing was a room full of loudly laughing girls, all different in their own ways but completely connected to each other.

Joining a sorority was strange in the fact that Hollywood has definitely lied to every girl out there. Sororities are NOT like the movies, let me just put that out there right now.

Sororities are about being with each other, supporting each other and supporting others outside of our sisterhood. We do service together, we study together and we hang out together. There is no tearing each other down, there is only building each other up.

I think that this is the one thing I love most about my sorority and my sisters is that no matter who you are, you’re the perfect you and no one can change that.

Sorority recruitment and especially sorority life is a path that I never thought I would go down, but I have never regretted my decision. The thought of not having my sisters in my life is strange to me. Who would I go get lunch with? Who would help me study? Most importantly, who would love me for exactly how I am?

I joined because I found what I had been missing in my college experience: amazing women who are all confident and beautiful in their own ways.

I hope that if you decide to go through formal recruitment, you are able to find a home where you belong, just like I did.

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