Re: Another story
 

Good for you for taking him! May he work hard and have the opportunity to join the org of his choice.

I have learned a lot from this thread. Thanks for sharing.

To build a tradition and not rest upon one. :cool:
also for networking.

My family is West Indian, so growing up I knew no black Greeks whatsoever. I think my first exposure even to the IDEA of black greek life was the movie School Daze, and the stereotypes of sororities in that movie. I saw that movie when I was 8 and I carried those images around with me for a good long time, thinking members of x org were all like this and y org were all like that.

Then I had my first real job, and it was something of a nightmare. I hated working in that law firm, and throughout my whole experience there was one friend I had who was kind to me, and in large part kept me going throughout. She was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, and completely changed my mind about what it meant to be a part of such a wonderful organization. The sisterliness that she showed to me when she was under no obligation touched me deeply, and throughout the years I have tried my best to model that behavior- always giving a hand up to people, regardless of what we share or don't share.

When I got to college, there were no active NPHC sororities. Both had gone dormant. My sophmore year there were rumblings that two would be coming back to our campus. I was still torn because of the stereotypes that I'd assumed for so long were the truth as a child, but I did my research, and was blown away when I realized all of the women that I considered to be my idols who were members of Alpha Kappa Alpha (not to leave out other organizations- I had a similar sense of pride in black women, and wonder at all that we do reading about the history of every sorority in the D9). Ultimately, it was a matter of personal experience. I didn't have any with members of Delta Sigma Theta, but I had a very special place in my heart for AKA.

And that was it for me.

The funny thing was that looking at my line, we broke every steroetpye on record. We range from dark to light, short to tall, slim to 'thick'. Some are very 'ladylike' and some are unconventional in many ways, but we all had incredible ambition, drive and I have rarely been in the company of a more intelligent and learned bunch of young women. I respect that immensely.

hardyharharharrrrrr...and goonygoogoo......

This is an old post but Phasad is still a sucka. :p

I joined my NPHC org because I got dropped from the Deke line. :(

I became interested in the fraternity, because of the commitment that Alpha Phi Alpha has to uplift the community, as well as the bond and brotherhood which I witnessed amongst its members. When I was a freshman, I was looking for an organization of substance that would aid in my personal growth into manhood. I read about Alpha Phi Alpha and soon I became more and more interested in the fraternity. Another source of inspiration came from my good friends who entered into the fraternity three years ago. Witnessing their experience in Alpha gave me a more in-depth view of the organization not only from the social point of view, but from the business end as well. Ever since then, my desire for membership into the organization had greatly increased. Now three years later, I am a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha and it has been the best thing that ever happened to me in my life. I thank god for this gift and change in my life. What I desired to bring to the fraternity is my commitment and loyalty for my community and my peers. As stated before I am very thankful for this gift, and understand that I must graciously serve others. "To whom much is given, much is expected in return" In the year of our Centennial Celebration, I will continue to uphold the foundation which our 7 Jewels set a hundred years ago! MAINLY DEEDS, SCHOLARSHIP, and LOVE FOR ALL MANKIND.

my story, is pretty similar to those mentioned above, plus i've mentioned it in bits and pieces here on GC. but im gonna tell it anyway!

i was at an NPHC picnic as an interest, for another organization (i know GASP! but its okay, im grown enough to say it without any hesitation). at that time, i was of the "i just KNOW i'm going to be an XYZ!" mind. hmm. luckily i checked myself before someone else did. anyway, as i was leaving the picnic, i met a member of Sigma Gamma Rho, an organization i had never heard of. she invited me over to hang out with her sorors and we started talking.

one conversation led to another. she gave me her phone number, in case i "ever wanted to talk." i took it with a grain of salt, kinda shrugged it off. but somehow the stars were aligned because i started seeing SGRho pop up everywhere (well not everywhere, but since i'd never heard of them, it definitely stood out).

so i really thought long and hard about what i thought i wanted and what i really wanted. i was a senior by then-who knew it would take all of undergrad for me to figure it out?

anyway, fast forward. i was ALLOWED membership to my illustrious organization, and it's been great ever since.

p.s. the soror who i met in the park that day, was at my induction, and when i reminded her of that day, she cried! and so did i, but just a little :)

;)

Awwww....how sweet soror!

LMAO

Thanks for resurrecting this thread. I reread the whole thing and it just gives me a warm fuzzy inside.

[random]there was this one DKE at my school who ALWAYS wore his lettered sweatshirt on campus. seriously, while its great to wear your letters, there are some places (for example, at a banquet dinner) where you can leave the hoodie at home. when we met in person that night, i said, "hey youre DKE right?" and he says, "yeah how'd you know...?"

ok, so not the smartest person, being that in all my 4 years i've never seen him WITHOUT that navy blue and red sweatshirt.

i know a PBS who wears his line jacket everywhere. whyyyyyyyy?[/random]

*LOL @ my immediately knowing where you got that term from*

Good Thread!

Ok, I know that this thread is old, but I can't help but read it over and over...it just makes me smile :)

Hmmm, when I went to my HBCU, its funny but the only sororities that I had heard of were AKA and DST really because I had cousins on my dads side that were DST and cousins on my moms side that were AKA. I had never heard of Zeta or SGRho, so when I got to college, I was interested in learning more about both DST and AKA and even attended their informationals. But I still did not feel that spark so to speak. I met this (soror) in my class that was an SGRho but when I met her I did not know that she was. She was really nice and cool and it seemed to me that all her sorors were cool to, very down to earth, very public service minded, very classy. I was so intrigued that I could not stop thinking about SGRho or stop even talking about them. The rest is history....

I love my S-G-Rho, I love it I love it I love it!!

I LOVE this topic!

My mother is a Delta, and I have two aunts that are AKAs. That was my exposure to Greek Life. However, I remember looking at my mother's pictures and whatnot at a very early age and asking "Mommy what is that? What does it mean?" And she said "It means a lot to me, and hopefully one day you will know."

By the time I got to high school, I had heard the small (and purely in jest) arguments my mom and my aunts would have; they would end in laughing and reminiscing, and, as an old soul, I ate up the stories about my family's experiences in college and with Greek Life. I had made up my mind that I wanted to be a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and nothing else. But other than sharing general experiences, my mother didn't try to influence me in any way. She wanted me to do the research that she had done (she became Greek before anyone else in my immediate family) and to make my own decision. I looked up to her so much that I couldn't picture being anything other than what she was. But I set off to do my research anyway.

Through my research and general observation, I became aware of all of the other orgs (although I didn't know about Sigma Gamma Rho or Iota Phi Theta until I was a freshman in college, lol, I was still oblivious). And I was so happy because through my research, I gained a deep respect for all of the orgs, but I also realized that my mother had made the best decision, for herself, and that I would be honored to be invited into the same sisterhood.

Ironically, most of my research was done on messageboards much like this one. I was subscribed to all of them, and I learned about all of the stereotypes as well as some of the issues that caused conflict within the Greek community. I learned how interests should act as well. All my mother ever told me was to be myself and not to tell them she is a Delta unless they asked, lol.

Sooo, that was a very long way of saying that my interest in Greek Life and specifically Delta Sigma Theta was accumulated over my lifetime, and finally achieved in the Spring of 2005. :-D

Looking back, I know my mother would have been temporarily (and maybe a little more than that, lol) devastated if I had chosen another organization, but if she knew I joined what was in my heart, she would have respected me nonetheless.

too bad MB SP05 is WACK!!! :p :p :p :p

Lol, Nate, this thread is about POSITIVITY! Take your negative energy away from here!

~J

ttt:D I love this thread

hey elldawg- Unless theres a different BUS...I definitly know what school your talkin about

okay here goes my story and I'm going to try and make it short although it's long. Before college I didn't really know too much about NPHC greeks other than the stereotypes portrayed in "School Daze." For some reason though, the stereotypes didn't phase me at all. I'm not one of those people who believes everything she sees and hears anyway...I have to find out for myself. So I never really thought that "School Daze" was realistic and the only NPHC org that I had even heard of in high school was Delta Sigma Theta and the way I found out about them is a hilarious story for another time. Anyway, I ended up going to a VERY predominately White university in upstate Pennsylvania and the only NPHC groups there were Kappa Alpha Psi and Phi Beta Sigma. There were no active NPHC sororities although there was one AKA that transferred from another school. Ironically though, even though the campus was small, the Black population was smaller, and greek life was damn near non-existent, we talked a lot about the NPHC orgs because Kappa Alpha Psi had the most members and a lot of Kappa Sweethearts. Anyway I ended up being "on court" (remember that term?) for my ex-boyfriend who was pledging Phi Beta Sigma. When he went over, I became very close to the members and they wanted myself and the other ladies who were on court to become Zetas. Even though there was no chapter of Zeta Phi Beta on the campus, they had ambitions to try and get a chapter chartered. Ironically, myself and the other ladies weren't really interested in being a part of any sorority at the time. Anyway, I ended up transferring to another predominately White university closer to my home with a much bigger Black population. They had all the NPHC orgs except for 2. I stayed in touch with the Sigmas from my previous school and since Zeta Phi Beta had a chapter at my new school, they encouraged me to check them out. I made no promises but told them that I would keep my eyes open. At this point I still hadn't made up my mind that I wanted to be greek. The first people I ran into at my new school was a girl that I went to high school with and another girl that I knew from the neighborhood I grew up in. They had become friends and I was glad to see them because I really didn't know anyone coming in as a sophomore. I also began working in the campus restaurant and became friends with a member of Sigma Gamma Rho who was a manager there. Ironically, my SGRho friend knew my friends. My SGRho friend invited us to a "Meet the Greeks" and we made our way around to every NPHC sorority table but spent the most time at the SGRho table. I remembered that I told my Phi Beta Sigma friends that I would check out their sorors so I did go over to the Zeta table but I found myself right back at the SGRho table shortly after. All the SGRho's were just friendly, cool, classy, and fly. And everybody liked them and had great things to say about them; greeks and non-greeks alike. They were also very visible with their programs and community service. I could see myself rolling with them and being able to just be myself (which was sooooo important to me). Before long they all became my friends and I was attending the rush.

As for my Phi Beta Sigma friends, they took the news about me wanting to be a Sigma Gamma Rho better than I thought and called to check on me all the time throughout my intake process and congratulated me when I became a member. They said they were happy if I was happy (yeah right!) but it was all good. Coincidentally our SGRho chapter was really close with the Sigmas at my new school so I became close to them also (It's a Sigma thang!). As for my friends from high school and the neighborhood, one of them became my ls and became a Sigma Gamma Rho with me and the other became my AKA sands. The end.:D

My father, in an effort to ensure I attened an HBCU, took me to visit several of his friend-women, that had attended HBCU's. What I noticed was all the AKA's had big houses, nice cars and good jobs.

It sounds shallow but I wanted the same thing!!!! :D

I joined because I am a legacy of at least 4 generations. I really did not look at other Sororities, because I actually love my Soror Mother's and Soror Grandmother's Sorority.

I joined Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. when she did not have a "legacy clause"... So actually, when I was accepted into the ivy leaf pledge club, I did not tell my parents and they did not know until mid-pledge season and my Soror Mom found out, then came down to see me in college while pledging. Needless to say, what she determined was sheer pride.

I love it too! Funny, I was just thinking about this thread today and here it is!! Have you been getting some funny PM's lately? My response is always the same. It can be found on page 1 of this thread. :D
;)

Two of my Brother cousins are Alphas. I had been pretty much "bred" to become an Alpha fof as long as I can remember. These guys are honestly more influential in my life than my own dad (not to take anything away from my father, he's always been there). I honestly wouldn't be the person I am if it were not for them.

See...thanks, everytime I tell any version of this story I get all misty faced.

I joined SGRho based on my interactions with members who were actually my employees. I was interim coordinator of Black Student Services at my school (grad school) and I had to interact with all the members of the D9. The SGRhos impressed me the most as being classy, intelligent and hard working. As someone who was well past my undergrad years by the time I made a firm decision to join a sorority, I wanted to be apart of something that aligned with my values...particularly that of education as the key to upward mobility and community uplift. I also liked the fact that SGRho members was exclusive without coming off as elitist. While there was no SGRho chapter at my undergrad university, I did have one very negative experience with a member of another NPHC org that honestly made me forego any thoughts of becoming Greek for almost 5 years until I met the SGRhos at my job who eventually came to embrace me as their sister.

Z-Hope and the Stork's Nest (two of Zeta's national programs) were the dealbreakers

I had been exposed to Delta during my teen years. I was in a high school sorority-type group and everytime we found out that one of our mentors was a member of a D9, she turned out to be a Delta. :cool: Even as a teen, those women embodied leadership, they were active in their communities, professional and were overall just the ish!

As I got into my jr./sr. year of high school, my older cousin would give me advice on my upcoming collegiate experience. She introduced me to the awesome world that is O-State's Residence Life & other leadership opps she knew I'd love. She gave me tips on how to survive, and promised to always look out for me. I looked through her graduation pictures the summer before I went to college and lo and behold her stole read: Delta Sigma Theta.

The second I got to school I was eager to be involved. everything. Community service, great. Public speaking group, awesome. Hall council, yes. RA, that was in the works. Even as a freshman I was very much involved, and as I looked around it seemed that (practically) every strong, well-spoken and highly favored black woman I'd see in these groups, leading the pack if you will... yeah, you guessed it - Deltas.

They were beacons of light on campus.

Their dedication to the community was unprecedented, whether it be through extensive programming or service projects.

Name an organization and one of them was either on exec. board or an esteemed member.

I was convinced. The history was one committed to service and change. The presence on campus embodied the same. In my humble mind, I was excited about what the ladies were doing on campus, and imagined what I could do for (and with) them, too. I knew right then in Winter of 2002 what had been placed in my heart annnnnnnnnnnnnnd my soul. Now...how to get it - that was the question. LOL.

Give or take some days, weeks, months and years, with NO advice from all-knowing cousin (The most help she gave was making "adjustments" to my wardrobe 'for my sake'. LOL) ...Spring 2005 came and Infamous was born.

This is a great Thread

My father is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, so I grew up seeing Alpha perry hanging up all over the house. I never paid it much attention and had no clue what it was, until I got to college. The Ques and the Sigmas were the 1st two fraternities I saw hanging out on campus my freshman year. I knew they were two different organizations, but I still didn't know what a fraternity was. A few days later I saw the Alphas and thats when I started asking questions because I recognized the symbols that I had grown up with. My brother who was a senior at the time gave me the run down on all the greeks. I didn't see the Nupes for a while. I saw them but I didn't know they were Nupes because they very rarely wore letters. They dressed really nice, but rarely wore letters. I heard my brother mention them but since I wasn't at the time familiar with greek letters I didn't know who they were. One night I saw this red car with KAY as the front plate and this brother got out of the car with a KAY letterman jacket on. As far as appearance (dress code) was concerned, I was more impressed with the Nupes than I was with the other fraternities, but I still wanted to know more. Later on I went to my 1st campus party and that's when I saw the Nupes in full effect. They had such a tight bond. Their bond seemed to be tighter than the other fraternities on campus. During my sophomore year I started doing research on them. I didn't look at the other fraternites, because I knew what I wanted right off the bat. Kappa. They were too smooth, and they were really big on achievement. At that point I wanted to join and did because it was in my heart. Even though my dad wanted me to pledge his fraternity, it just wasn't me and I felt that Kappa Alpha Psi was a perfect fit for me, so that's why I joined.

Kappa Alpha Psi is the greatest, smoothest fraternity on earth.:D

This thread still exists. :(

I think it was started for a specific purpose than ran its course over a year ago.

Now you know recycling is a good thing :D. WB

@PB your father is a Alpha and you knew nothing about BGLOs until you got to college? Shame on him.

LOL. ladygreek, you know the crazy thing about it is he would go to a lot of the meetings and I thought he was going to his Urban League meetings. Before college I thought his fraternity and the St. Paul Urban League were the same thing.:o

I would hear him and my brother talk about fraternities, but I was still in highschool and had no clue what they were talking about.:D

Now you know that with one phone call I will know who your father is--right? My soror was the president of the St. Paul Urban League and I worked at one time for the Mpls. Urban League. I bet I know him personally. ;)

Hey LG and :eek:!

{{{IceColdAce}}}

:eek:
Such a small world.

that entire story was beautiful, but your last paragraph warmed my heart. i feel the same way about my own line sisters *tear*

Uh Oh, I hope he knows me in a positive light - LOL.