I can transform ya...

No I am not strolling to Chris Brown as I write this! I'm saving that for Friday...

I briefly touched upon this in a response to Jackie's post the other day but I would like to reiterate. Not to be blunt but sorority recruitment has the tendency to be fake. Recruitment round tables have the tendency to be boring and women tend to only look out for their own chapter. One of my goals is to improve these issues and lay down the ground work for friendships between the chapters. At the most recent table I asked the women to tell me what they expected from me. I also asked them to come up with ideas to make our time together more enjoyable. I told them about how PHA is re-working our meetings to bring out the meaning behind what our community does and told them how their options were never ending. They all smiled and looked at me kind of funny. Then I stood there with my arms wide open and said, "Anyone?"... No answer. I clearly took them by surprise so I took another approach. I explained to them they are the leaders of their chapter. As the leaders of a chapter it is essential to exemplify leadership qualities and prove that our "Greek system" (sorry Tyler) is a community, not just a bunch of different chapters. The breaking down of barriers starts here, with the Recruitment Chairs. With the women who are responsible for recruiting quality women into their chapters, into our community. 

Personally, what can my chapter change? My chapter can start out by initiating conversations, friendships, and events with men and women of other chapters, and not just social and drinking events might I add. We have many strengths as a chapter, its not all bad things of course. In 3 winter pledge classes Alpha Epsilon Phi went from 40 women to 100 women. I was a member of the first of the three classes and it has been remarkable watching this change. I think an advantage we have is that we still have that "small house feel". I know every single woman in my chapter by name, nick name, hometown, major and so on. But now that we are a large chapter we will have to work on the sisterhood that comes with it. 

Panhellenic - oh Panhellenic. I could not be happier to be in this position. It has given me opportunities that I would never have dreamt of having. We have great strength as an association. We just added two more chapters to our 14 and I think we are improving now more than ever. The Sorority Women Redefined campaign has been a phenomenal addition for us. It is so beneficial in breaking down the stereotypes that all the women of PHA are the exact same "cookie-cuter sorority girl". Our efforts to join all 4 councils is also improving - especially within these 52 weeks of us becoming friends and learning together. Anyone who is a part of PHA whether its delegates, officers, or the executive members, we are always trying to improve. I think as a council we need to improve the communication. But before that can be improved, we all need to be FRIENDS. I can't understand sometimes why this word is so frightening. Why can't a member of sorority ABC tell a member of XZY their secrets of recruitment? The purpose of recruitment is to allow new women into our community right? Oh wait no... to some people its chapter based only. I am going to respond, "not cool."

As a community we stand for great things. As we have said again and again, the Greek Community offers things that other organizations do not. First, we are lifetime brothers and sisters. Ten even twenty years from now, we will all still be considered members of our organizations. Organizations that stand for brother/sisterhood, diversity, rituals, service, philanthropy (there is a difference!), and so on. We are so fortunate to be a part of this. I am unaware of another type of organization that can all go out and raise money for AIDs awareness, then dress up in all the same clothing running down 15th to make it to the O before 2 am, and then all get to go home to the same house and at the end of the night still call each other a brother, or a sister. This is all well and good and WE know what WE stand for, but do others? Does an outsider's perspective match ours? No, most likely the two opinions are completely different. Our community needs to work on our reputation. But before we can change that, we need to work on ourselves. As a community we need to carry out what we promise to carry out. We need to be cohesive and bond with each other to make others feel our love. 

Jeff Pelletier said this the other day during one of our meetings and it really stuck with me so I would like to leave it with all of you. "Are our Rituals a secret because we are scared for others to find out what we are supposed to be living up to?"

AFLV

This e-mail was received at 5:45 am Tuesday morning:

Hey!

Just checking; erin told you to keep all of your documents right? and minutes? (for AFLV award:)
julie 

Yep, its true. I woke up Tuesday morning - a snow day might I add - to an e-mail from Julie about AFLV, because we are always prepared. 

AFLV was so much more than I expected. I read Julie and Amanda's blogs and they made me LOL, literally. I made strong connections with a lot of the people who attended the conference which was an important aspect of going. But what really meant the most to me was getting to know everyone from Ohio State on a much deeper level. The people I met there and the connections I made are all well and good. I'm sure they will come in handy one day and I will look back always remember where I met them. But the students I went to the conference with are the most important to me. Getting to know everybody from the bus ride, to the hotel rooms, to eating meals, was where the real fun was. Everyone can learn a lot from seminars and from people who are there to teach. Its the people who are there to learn that teach the most.

 

Maggie and Tyler - it was awesome and if I could do it all again, I would in a heartbeat. 

Everyone else - you guys are awesome and I wouldn't want to road trip with anybody else.

Although I am a vegetarian and haven't eaten meat in two years, I would LOVE to hit up McDonalds any day of the week with you guys. In fact I would even LOVE to watch everyone eat chicken for every meal for an entire weekend again, while of course Ashley and I eat soggy pasta. 

You guys are the best and I will say this once and probably never ever again - I am looking forward to a class that takes place on a Friday afternoon at 4:00pm. Don't tell anyone outside of the blog I admitted to liking a class that takes place on a Friday!

Be Ready To Stroll!!!

Strive to Live

I keep learning more and more about myself, my council, and my community as this class continues. I would like to start this blog with a short story from my sorority's elections last Monday evening. Before we began my president, Jodi asked us to raise our right hand. She then asked us to repeat everything she said. What we repeated was an oath that whatever was said in that room, stayed there. The way our elections work is whoever is elected for the President position or a Vice President position goes into another room while the other candidates are speaking. All of the candidates for one position will sit in another room together while the rest of the chapter speaks about who is the best woman for the position. I wouldn't say that "terrible" things are said about the women of our chapter, but things are said that one wouldn't necessarily want to hear about herself. 

The oath we took was to promise that nothing we said would get back to the candidates. The following Tuesday our New Member Educator called a woman to ask her if she wanted to take a little this quarter. This particular woman responded via text message, "Do not call me, I know what you said about me during elections when I was running for the Vice President of Operations. For the good of this sorority I will be civil with you, but do not call me." The New Member Educator ran into my room and read me this text, I was appalled. What does she even consider "for the good of this sorority" if she prefaced that statement by proving she broke an oath taken the night before?

What good is an oath if one doesn't live up to it? This individual also took an oath to the national sorority of Alpha Epsilon Phi, if she took this oath as lightly as the last, who am I to boost about the good my sorority has done? We pride ourselves on sisterhood, philanthropy, and ritual. It was proven to me that Tuesday night that not everyone will take the oath as seriously as others. How do we fix this problem? I think the answer lies in our class we take every Friday at 4:00 pm. How do we show people how important this oath is? How can we prove to others how important this oath is to us? How can we break down these stereotypes? Lastly, how can we change the world?

An oath to me is something I take very seriously. As said in class, we read everything in a contract before we sign it. This is on a similar level. As a new member you learn what it is to be in an organization such as the ones we are a part of. You have time to think hard about the situations that lead you to where you are and you have time to think about what will keep moving you forward. Breaking promises is not something that will keep one moving in a positive direction. 

This leads me into my values schpeel (Yiddish word that refers to the story or the scoop, you must excuse me). Something I truly value is trust and integrity. I uphold these by carrying out what I promise to do. If I make a promise or an oath, it sticks with me forever. Whether its to the sorority as a whole in the very beginning or just during elections that takes place every year. 

Some other things I strongly value are my friends and family. These people are the single most important things in my life, without them, I have no idea where I would be. A family to me are my brothers, parents, and dogs back home in New York. My family also consists of my sisters that I live or have lived with. My family also includes my three best friends from home that are studying abroad in Europe, with out me might I add. My friends are everyone around me (well I like to think everyone, but in reality probably not). The men and women that keep me going, that I trust and hope that they trust me in return. I value the relationship aspect I have with all of these people. 

One of the reasons I joined a sorority is because I have three boys at home, I have never had a sister even though I've wanted one for most of my life. If an immediate family that you were raised with is based upon values such as trust and love, so should a sorority filled with sisters. If a sister goes against the values WE hold or an oath WE took, then who is the WE?

As far as PHA goes, a women from Alpha Epsilon Phi may not realize she is a sister with a woman from Kappa Delta, Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Xi Delta, or a Tri Delta but we are trying to change that as an executive board. We may not have the same secret Ritual but I believe it is safe to say that we have all similar rituals and standards. As a board we went over our values together. As a board we learned that the difference between our organization and all others is that we took a lifetime oath. Now as a board we are teaching our delegates, and hopefully the delegates teach their chapters. Paying it Forward?! 

We have the raw materials to show everyone how interconnected we are. Now all we have to do is use them to make us a stronger, more achieved organization. Tying it together with the last statement of our creed "strive to live". What does this mean? As a board we all had some sort of an idea, with help from Tyler of course but we were able to answer it. We then gave the question out to the delegates. They answered in such a way that it showed us that our raw materials were paying off, the product of this is going to be so worth it. Striving to live is something that everyone should think about - what does it mean to you?

Soooo... I couldn't add the video because I'm a little slow with computers, don't judge. I think everyone will really like this youtube. I am not going to lie I saw the commercial and thought of you guys, check it out :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kStT_VvLXg0

Happy midterm week!

Secret Thoughts?!

To be honest, when I first wanted to join a sorority I didn't realize the importance of rituals or anything "secretive" about Greek life. When I was a new member I started to understand some of the importance but I still didn't take it too seriously. When I became a member and learned the "secret" motto and heard our Ritual for the first time I was like man, this is cool. But again I still didn't really know why some of the older girls were so crazy about it. Now here I am, about 2 and a half years later and yes, I am one of those crazy older girls who loves (R)ritual. Yes big and little r. 

Another point to be honest about, I have never heard the big, little r dilemma before. Now that I have, I like it. I was taught what it meant to others, now it is time for me to make my own opinions about it and pass it on to women in my chapter and others around me. I think one of the most important people to pass it on to are the new members of my chapter. After class on Friday I ran upstairs to the New Member Educator's room and asked if I could talk to her. I asked if it was okay if I spoke to the new members about rituals. I felt kind of weird asking, as if I was stepping on her toes but I couldn't help it. I feel even she, the New Mem Ed, could benefit from hearing what I have to say. The things I would be saying and teaching to the new members are all the things I have been learning from my peers in this class. Its going to be difficult when the time comes because I honestly don't know how I am going to put everything into words (its a good thing I have some preparation time!)

All in all, my secret thoughts? My thoughts aren't so secret, well not anymore. The things I've learned from myself after speaking about this last week and the things I've learned from the students around me are going to be the things I pass on to the new members. The difference between Ritual and ritual, the importance of representing our individual letters, our councils, and our community as a whole. 

So.. umm.. thanks guys! I am now considered a crazy older girl in the chapter. Which I think is a good thing, it just means that I am passionate about something and am capable of rubbing off on other girls. To help the young girls learn faster and facilitate their guidance of respecting and living their and our Rituals.