diamond sisters

sweetie adpi · #1 01-10-2003, 11:47 PM

hey y'all... i was wondering since the other thread in greek life brought this up... are you close with your diamond sister/big/lil?

how are they assigned in your chapter? when do new members receive them? how are they revealed?

does your chapter emphasize prides? (my first pride Rocked!) what kind of activities did you do as a new member with them?
do you have pi pals or lion buddies or violet sisters before new members get diamonds?

nauadpi · #2 01-11-2003, 12:26 AM

Yes, I am very close to my diamond sister(big). The funny part is that we were very randomly put together, cause there were so many alphas at the time that the chapter just ended up starting to put people together. Normally though as a chapter the deltas just mention who they want. We have tried sometimes to have alphas and deltas make lists of there top three choices, but too much of the time because we are a chapter that does much beter at COR then formal we end up needing to match people fairly quickly.

Anyways, back to my big diamond sister. She and I didnt become close till my junior year, but then we became inseprable. Sadly this semester she is student teaching so she isnt up here at school anymore.

Normally we try to reveal diamond sisters as soon as we can. For women who went through formal recruitment they recieve theirs at chapter retreat which is within some many days of bid day according to adpi. Otherwise for girls through cor we just try to assign diamond sisters as soon as possible.

Some ways we have done diamond sis revealing are: alpha reads half of a poem chosen by their diamond sis and the diamond sis finishes it (usually very sentamental way to reveal), the following the string game. Ok...those are all the ways I can think of right now.

As for pi pals, we give girls these as soon as they recieve a bid. For COR's they are the ones who normally deliever the bids. These are the closest contact for the alphas till they recieve their diamond sisters.

Prides have fluxuated in my chapter in terms of improtance. The big things though that we generally do as prides are: dinners, movies at procnow (place on campus to see movies for $2), tv or movie nights in the chapter room, craft nights, etc.

I think I answered everything you asked. Oh but, my relationships with my lil diamond sisters has never been as close as with my big diamond sis, but we do all hang out outside of adpi. I love my family cause we all can find ways to hang out away from anything that has to do with adpi, but then adpi brings us even closer.

ADpiSWT · #3 01-14-2003, 04:58 PM

Last fall, our pledge mom had a great idea to do a pajama exchange.
The bigs bought 2 pairs of matching pajamas and then had to hide them at someone's apartment. The alphas went on a scavenger hunt and received clues about their bigs. Finally they ended up at the house with a clue of the room their big was in. When they finally found her she was wearing the same pajamas as her little with a small present. Afterwards we went out for ice cream in our pajamas. It was funny to see everyone's faces at the shops when they saw about 60 girls show up in pajamas. well that was just an idea and we had a great time!

Pi Love and mine,
Amanda
<>First and the Finest<>

ADPiViolets · #4 01-14-2003, 06:20 PM

I am really really close with my big sister. She is amazing. She is literally the nicest person you will ever meet in your entire life. I am getting married in 2 years, and she will be one of my bride's maids. She even introduced me to the man of my dreams!
As for my little sister...
Her and I were VERY close when she first joined, up till a couple months ago. We hooked her up with my boyfriend's best friend, and since they got together, they have both fallen off the face of the earth, and we haven't seen either of them. I see her only at sorority meetings now. It's really sad. I literally don't know what to say to her now.
~Sigh~

But yeah, my big sister rocks!

ADPi~Ally · #5 01-14-2003, 08:05 PM

My big sis (or diamond sister) and I are really close. We hang out almost every week, and when we can't, we talk on the phone. She is my best friend. She wasn't my big when i 1st joined. I got a big sis when I 1st joined, but like 2 weeks later she went alumn, so I never met her, so I don't consider her my big. Then summer came, and I didn't have a big sis, I was adopted by my now "Aunt" in my family until I got a diamond sister. She made me feel welcomed and took the time to get to know me. The time initiation came, my big sister now was picked to be my diamond sister. So in the end, she turned out the be the best big sis.
I have 2 lil sisters. My 1st one, we get along well, I wanted her to my lil and she wanted me to be her big. She is really is a wonderful sister. And I'm so proud of her because now she is the President of the sorority. My 2nd lil, i just got at the end of last semester. She's a great sister. We're not close, but I wanna change that. So I plan to get to know her better next semester. I think I will not be getting anymore lil's because its my last semester, and I won't really get a chance to know her and it wouldn't be fair to my potenial lil. I am glad of who I got.
For Diamond sister revealing, my 1st lil, we were at chapter retreat, and we got a long piece of string, and wove it around furniture, etc and at the end of the line was me. Then we gave a gift. For for my 2nd lil we had an alphie pass, where someone would start passing a stuffed animal lion and we would sing an ADPi song and whoever held on to the Alphie after so many passes, would be the diamond sister.
We are starting to do prides, since we are getting bigger.

Pi love,
Ally

ADPi~Ally · #6 02-17-2003, 08:37 PM

bump

polarpi · #7 03-21-2003, 09:32 PM

I'm actually a little closer to my little diamond sister than my big diamond. My big <> was great when I joined the sisterhood, and we hung out, but I was only there a year before she graduated, and living in different dorms and her busy with student teaching made it difficult to see her very often. My little <> and I hit it off right away. When I knew that we had picked her up through COR, I told the president that I wanted her as my <>, and I lucked out! Her and I are still really close, and I'm sure that we will stay in contact for many many MANY years to come. What was so cool was that we were the <> sisters who lived the furthest away from each other (I'm from CA and she's from NY).

Normally how we reveal diamond sisters is through a candle-lighting ceremony. The NMC will read a little spiel about diamond sisters and then will read the Alphas' names in alphabetical order, and then their diamond sister will step into the middle of the circle with them and light their candle. Once the sisters have been revealed, we end the ceremony with "Pass It On".

Prides were an important part of our chapter when I first joined, but it kind of dwindled until I tried to reinstate them when I was MEVP, and I don't know if they're still doing them or not (I think they are).

texas*princess · #8 03-21-2003, 10:12 PM

I can't wait till I get my big Diamond sister!!! Since Spring Break is finally over, I think we will have 'Diamond Discovery' soon!!! I hope I hope I hope!!!

Staindadpi · #9 05-19-2003, 11:49 AM

I'm kind of jealous that everyone seems so close to their diamond sisters. I had requested mine the day i became an alpha and was lucky enough to get her. we were pretty close in the beginning, but now i am lucky to see her on sundays at chapter. I also have a little diamond thats the same way. i try and try, but they are two busy girls.
we used to assign diamond sisters to alpha members by who was initiated first. but we changed that this semester. the alpha member gets to choose who they want as a diamond sister. but that hasn't been sucessful and has hurt a few members who are seniors and still haven't recieved a little diamond sister.
since i've been a member (november 2002) we tried the prides once and that wasn't too successful. My pride group met once and it was a good time. but i wish we could have hung out more.
i think that my chapter needs some sisterhood events because before school got out, there were too many cliques and a few people like myself, didn't have any sisters that they were close too. i dunno. any suggestions, please let me know.

AIM screen name is Shortloud01.

PLAM,
Nats

nauadpi · #10 05-19-2003, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Staindadpi
i think that my chapter needs some sisterhood events because before school got out, there were too many cliques and a few people like myself, didn't have any sisters that they were close too. i dunno. any suggestions, please let me know.

Well for trying to get prides to work, I know my chapter has made it that so many pride events must be completed to go to our socials...This has worked fairly well in making sure that we planned events with our prides. As for other sisterhood events that we have done to try to build closeness are chapter retreat and one that I think we should do again is a hike in a cave...The hike in the cave we really had to depend on eachother...especially due to bad planning and lack of flashlights. It was really fun though...Our chapter retreat this year was great, and we got to know our prides at it too. We were working with our prides to complete different activities...One being a huge picture scavenger hunt...Another being a skit to teach the alpha's about the hazing rules and what not...I felt really close to many of my sisters after some of the activities we did...in addition it felt great when one of my older sisters commented that from these events and what not she felt much closer to me...I think my chapter needs to still work on sisterhood some...but events like this have helped a lot...

Staindadpi · #11 05-19-2003, 12:42 PM

Thanks for the suggestions. I wish the chapter retreat would work out. I've been to two of them and although the whole chapter is suppose to spend the night, everyone has some kind of excuse and leave. It leaves about 5 or 6 girls total at the retreat! Its really annoying, thats how everything seems to be going. I really wish our sorority would be much closer. I transferred and sometimes i feel closer to my friends from my old university or even to adpi's from other campuses. I dunno what to do. I will bring up some of ur suggestions though and if they tear them down, at least I tried!

PLAM,
Natalie

polarpi · #12 05-20-2003, 09:23 PM

Natalie,

Keep at it. Prides have been kind of discouraging even when I was a member there, and as MEVP, I tried reinstating prides right before I left office. It's tough, but like nauadpi suggested, maybe there needs to be something attached to prides to begin with, until the other girls realize how much fun prides can be. Chapter retreat is also hard...the only one required is the one in January, and if sisters don't know about it way in advance, it's tough to plan to be there. It will happen, though. I have faith in all of you!

Love and loyally,
JAD

ASUADPi · #13 05-23-2003, 09:55 PM

I wish I was closer to my diamond than I am. What's so funny is that I honestly don't remember rushing with my diamond. I went through spring rush, which is much more laid back than fall. Unfortunately my diamond went alumna that semester I initiated and then I left the university. I'm lucky though because my diamond has recently registered on pride online so I am able to contact her via email. I also was not fortunate enough to take a diamond, which I wish I could have.

I also had a violet sister when I was an alpha. She was a secret through my entire alpha process. She would leave me stuff at the house, really sweet stuff like notes. I found out who she was during the week of initiation. All of us alphas did like a search with clues around the house to find out violet sisters. It was a lot of fun. I also wish I was able to have kept in contact with my violet sister, but again I left the university after one semester and transfered.

I am jealous of all you all who are so close to your diamonds.

FSUadpi02 · #14 05-25-2003, 03:38 PM

My chapter does Bid Day Buddies and Diamond Sisters. When we arrive at the house on Bid Day, our buddies are holding large signs with our names on them. This past year's Diamond Sister reveal was really neat.
All the Alphas went to dinner at a nearby Japanese restaurant and at the end of the meal the NMCs passed out fortune cookies and we opened them together. Inside, it said to hurry back to the house.
When we got to the house we found a candle with our name on it and then we lined up upstairs in alphabetical order. One at a time we went down the stairs and out the front door where the diamond sisters were standing in a semi-circle around the front yard. We lit our candle and passed it to the NMC who said our name and handed the candle to one of the diamond sisters. They sang little ADPi and passed the candle and then our Diamond Sister blew the candle out.
I had never even seen my diamond sister before and I have had maybe a total of 30 min of conversation with her since September. My bid day buddy is kinda weird and I am not close to her at all either.
So pretty much my experience with "special" sisters has been a crummy one.

adpiucf · #15 05-25-2003, 04:18 PM

I got my delta diamond sister on bid day. It turned out to be someone I knew from orientation, but she was transferring to another school later that year, so we never really bonded. I was later "adopted" by another sister, and she is still a really close friend... so it started out a little helter-skelter, but my experiences as a "Big" Diamond far outweigh my time as an alpha diamond!

My first alpha diamond sis was the best friend of one of my closest friends in the sorority. And today, they are BOTH my best friends in the world! The three of us, although separated by 3 time zones, still keep in close touch, do road trips, and for me, really fulfill our open motto, "We Live For Each Other!" I couldn't imagine my life without these women in it!

When I went alum, I came back to help with recs and applications. I saw this one application for a PM who was a junior transfer student, and I thought she sounded really cool. Typically, my chapter doesn't take older girls unless they completely are "ADPi" -- but later on that semester, I went to a Panhellenic meeting and struck up a conversation with one of our new alphas-- would you believe it was the girl from that application! She's since become my "adopted" diamond sister-- when she came home after her initiation, I had decorated (with the help of her 2 roomies) the entire apartment in blue and white, with posters and little pawprint-poems to guide her to her room, where there were presents galore and white and blue balloons to celebrate her initiation!

The best part about my two diamonds is that I also got to take them through Jewel Degree when they graduated. And that through the years we are still great friends!

Oh one last thing-- every year my chapter used to do diamond sis revealing in different ways (my year-- we got flower pots that were decorated and had a ribbon tied around them-- your diamond sister had a matching ribbon. A year later, we did something that is now the standard--- we placed decorated candles in the chapter room and these were lighted and handed out to the alphas, who then came outside to find the older sisters standing in a circle, serenading them. The alphas walked into the inside of the circle. When an alpha came to her diamond sister, the delta would hold out her matching candle and they would light it from the alpha's candle and stand next to one another until each alpha had found her diamond. This went on until each alpha matched with her delta diamond. It is very pretty, and once everyone is matched up, the Zeta Omegas crowd into a huddle and do our special "ADPi Hottie" Cheer! Now, the chapter does the diamond sis revealing at chapter reatreat on the beach in Daytona. It makes for a warm and wonderful memory--- just another reason it is great to be an ADPi!