The Many Benefits of Sorority Membership

Six Reasons to Join a Greek Sisterhood in College

Sorority membership greatly enriches the college experience for the vast majority of women who join. Finding a place to belong on campus is just the start. Joining Greek life by choosing to join a sorority also opens the doors to other opportunities. The motivations for joining a sorority vary, but lifelong friendships, academic support and achievement, leadership development, community service, social activities, networking,  are key advantages that offer value beyond the college years.

• Lifelong friendships: The motivator for joining a sorority is friendship. When going to a large college campus, finding friends can make a huge difference in feeling a part of school life versus feeling like a number. A sorority provides a family consisting of a group of supportive women who will offer encouragement during hard times. From this connection, most sorority women develop some lifelong friendships that continue long after college is done.
• Academic Support and Achievement: Academic standards for sorority membership encourage sorority women to take their academic effort seriously. The sorority sisters share this high standard knowing that their sorority's good reputation is a reflection of their academic success. This is a motivating factor for good grades. Also, sisters help and encourage one another toward each doing her best in academic endeavors.
• Leadership Development: Leadership development is a natural part of being in a sorority. While a few women will go on to hold highly visible chapter offices, every sister will lead in some area. Sorority women take on responsibilities within the sorority community and chapter organization.  Committee assignments, recruitment planning and execution, and representing the chapter on campus all provide opportunities to develop public speaking and presentation skills, motivational skills and organizational skills. With the guidance of alumnae, chapter members oversee the budget and running of the house itself, significant responsibilities rarely given to college students in other situations.
• Community Service: Each national sorority supports a philanthropy. All the chapters serve in their own way. Sorority women tend to be very service oriented and enjoy participating in community activities that benefit others. A sorority woman will have many opportunities every year to serve and support good causes.
• Social Activities: Joining a sorority provides a multitude of social opportunities: Greek Week, Formals, Homecoming, tailgating parties, Mixers, Parents Weekend, fraternity parties, and more. Sorority women love their social events and Greek women are very creative in planning fun social events with creative themes. Social events may involve fraternities, but many are only for sorority sisters. There is always plenty of social life when you are in a sorority.
• Networking: You'll find that Greeks fill many leadership positions in college. If you are Greek, you will find that doors will open allowing you to meet leaders and develop connections for networking. When college is done, usually sororities encourage continued networking. Some have networking pages on their national websites to help sisters with job searches, relocation, etc. Also, each sorority also has a network of alumnae chapters in the US and abroad where sorority sisters come together post college.

Some drawbacks of joining a sorority are that it is a time and money commitment, so if you are considering Greek life as part of your college experience be sure to ask each house what they anticipate the expenses will be beyond dues (the amount of money you must pay to be in the sorority) just so that you know what you're getting into before you join. The social benefits of being involved in a sorority can also contribute to some of the drawbacks. It can be difficult to meet other people or do activities outside your sorority because so much of social life will revolve around the house.

Membership in a sorority is a commitment, but most sorority sisters find that the benefits far outweigh the sacrifices and they appreciate the opportunities that it offers.  The benefits of getting involved in a sorority can be particularly significant at a big school since it's an easier way to make friends within a smaller community. When it comes time to select a major or if you have questions about college life, you have a built-in resource of older girls you can go to for advice or mentoring. Sororities are known to have a thriving social scene and many are focused on philanthropic events, so it's a great opportunity to meet others with like-minded interests, not to mention your social calendar will always be full!

-A Sorority Paddle is an historic reminder of special Greek relationships.  If it is the custom of your chapter to give paddles, then you might want to make your own. You can buy a blank wooden paddle and wooden Greek letters to represent your sorority and make a creative symbol of that special bond. Click to see a beautiful custom designed sorority paddle.   OR

You can have your paddle custom made like the one shown above.  Choose your colors and Greek letters and decide on distinguishing characteristics to make your paddle original.

See ideas for Sorority Paddles

Greek Gear offers special order Greek Paddles for less than $40.  They measure a hefty 21" x 4" and come in vibrant colors as you can see from the pictures on this post.

-See ideas for Delta Sigma Theta Paddles

If you need to find a paddle that is less expensive, Greek Gear also has a paddle that might work.  This paddle has a classic look since it is a basic unpainted wooden paddle with simple but elegant Greek letters and it's sorority crest.  The discount paddle measures  at 22" x 3.5"

NEW Big Sister/Little Sister REVEAL IDEAS

POST UPDATED on March 31, 2009---

I received the following letter of request:

"I am the Sisterhood Development Chair of Phi Sigma Sigma the ** chapter.  I was wondering if you also had any ideas for ways to find out who your big is. Our chapter doesn't have any special tradition, and since I am in charge of it I would really like a good surprising way to find out who your big is!  Any ideas you have would be great, like decorating the littles room or something.  Let me know, I would greatly appreciate it! A Sorority Sister Reader

Some Ideas for Big Sister Reveals:

Each Big Sister can decorate a cute picture frame and include a picture of herself in the frame.  Then the personalized picture frames can be wrapped and given to each Little Sister, who will not know her Big Sister until she opens her wrapped picture frame.

Matching Caps:  Each Big Sister can decorated two baseball caps, one for herself, and one for her Little.  The caps should match in color and design.  The design can include Greek letters, Names, mascot, or anything that relates.  So at the Reveal Ceremony, the Big Sisters are all wearing the caps that they have made.  At the proper time, the Big Sister walks around the group and finally stops beside her Little and places the matching cap on her Little's head.

I love this balloon idea.  Get enough balloons for each Little Sister to have one.  Each Big Sister's name is written on a small piece of paper.  Scrapbooking paper in your sorority colors works great.  You can cut one sheet of pretty paper into the number of pieces you need.  The small paper with the Big Sis names are each inserted into a balloon, one at a time, so that you can be sure to write the name of the matching Little Sister on the balloon after it is blown up and tied. Use a Sharpie marker for that.  The Little Sisters come into a room  full of balloons.  Each sister has to find the balloon with her name on it. Then she pops her balloon to find out who her Big Sister is.  This would be even better with helium balloons.

Pajama Idea: The Big Sisters buy two pairs of matching pajamas, one for herself and one for her Little.  The Littles are given a present which is their new pajamas. In the present is a note that tells them to put on the pajamas and the note has the first clue for  a  hunt that will lead them to another place and another clue.  Each clue tells something about their Big as well as telling them the next place to go.  At last, the Littles end up at a house or place where their Bigs are hiding.  The final clue tells the Little which room to look in.  There she finds her Big wearing the same pajamas that she is wearing.  All this is topped off with a visit to the icecream shop in their pajamas. What fun to see people's expressions when this crew of girls traipses in for icecream in their pajamas!  (this is a fun idea, but it may be too expensive- you could do the same thing with a t-shirt or cap or how about a certain color of nail polish--anything that connects the Big Sister and Little Sister so that it is clear who belongs to whom.

Poems or Quotes are a very sentimental way to conduct a Reveal. Each Little Sister reads half of a poem chosen by their Big and their Big Sister finishes it.

Reveal with a String Hunt.  Each Little Sister is given a clue, that leads to another clue, and another. She finally is led to a string. She picks up the string and follows it until she finds out who her Big is at the end of the string.  The fun part is that the string winds all over the place, back and forth.  Be creative and think of other ideas for the end of the string. It can end with a plastic cup with her Big's name on it or it can end with a tiny "present" that is really just her Big's name written in a fancy or crafty way, and wrapped up like a gift.   You could even do a balloon to be popped as mentioned earlier in this post.

It seems that many sororities are not allowing candles due to liability issues, but perhaps candles can still be used if you plan the Reveal outside.  Of course,  windy or rainy weather would ruin it.

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT if your chapter has tried any variations of these reveal ideas.  Almost 300 people visit this website everyday who would love to hear your ideas.

**************

Calling all sorority sisters.  I need your help for ideas for Big Sister reveals.

Does your chapter have a special tradition that you can share with us?   Please leave a comment below.  Thanks so much!!!

(Thanks to http://www.greekchat.com for sorority reveal ideas.)