Alpha Beta (Michigan) has the teacup tradition also.

It wasn't Special Family. I had never heard that song until the mid 90's when my chapter started using it and I cried then. I love that song.

There were actually two .. AGD and Our Time is Short that made me cry at that Pref. I was thinking about AGD but then I remembered Our Time is Short after I posted it. Next post time...

The End.. almost
 

The tradition at EMU back then was that the sororities would break up into groups and go to the women’s dorms to pick them up. There would be 5 or 6 sisters per group and they would be singing their sorority songs at the top of their lungs as they traveled from dorm to dorm. Commuters usually waited at a friend’s dorm room until they got word. Thing was, there were two of us on my floor who had gone through rush! NOW, I was suddenly really, really nervous. I was pacing around my dorm room! There was no way of knowing, when I heard “I Just Wanna Be An Alpha Gamma Delta, I just want to wear fourteen pearls” coming down the hall whether they were coming for me or Renee! It was only 6:30, so it was still possible that I could get “the phone call”. But NO! They stopped at my door and sang until I opened the door. Sherri had my bid in her hand and as she handed it to me said “The sisters of the Zeta Alpha Chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta would like you to join their sisterhood”. She and I hugged and I started to cry (happy tears, of course). They had a big bouquet of red, buff and green balloons for me and they decorated my door while I got my coat and called Rich and Michael really fast and screamed “I’m an Alpha Gam!” (They said “We told you so!”).

I was the first one they picked up and I knew the song already because I had been singing it all week in my head, so I was singing it as loudly as they were as we went to each dorm. I saw the Alpha Xi’s heading up to Renee’s room as I was leaving. She had gotten a bid to Labrador, her favorite.

We picked up LIBBY! I was so excited! Libby was going to be one of my sisters! I think I forgot to mention that she was also dating a TKE. At that time, a lot of Alpha Gams were dating TKEs, but that changed to Lambda Chis the next year. We also picked up Sue, who I had gotten to know a little bit during rush and really liked. It was the perfect night, running through the streets, singing Fourteen Pearls at the top of our lungs and picking up new sisters. We went back to the house where we had cake and punch. We just hung out and socialized all evening. It was our first time at the house because it wasn’t used during rush at all, to keep things fair. They taught us songs, both internet worthy and NOT. I lost my voice the next day from singing so loudly!


The next day, we had Pledge Presentation where all the Panhellenic groups met in the ballroom of the student union and announced their new pledges. This is where the Panhellenic officers and rush counselors also re-affiliated into their groups. I was so happy to see Elisa, the Panhellenic President, join the Alpha Gams. Campus leaders with great grades but who were still down to earth and not at all pretentious surrounded me, and I was very, very happy. We all sang the Greek Alphabet Song and then each chapter sang a couple chapter specific songs for the other groups. It was really nice. They gave us MORE roses too.

In retrospect, I would have been very happy to be a Sigma Kappa (the Russian Tea Terriers) and I should have given them a chance. A lot of the rushees whom I really liked during recruitment chose Sigma Kappa and the chapter grew by a lot. They became very visible and much stronger with that one pledge class. Also, one of my best friends from high school became a Sigma Kappa at the University of Michigan.

Ironically, due to a rift that the newest members weren’t privy to, our chapter was cut in half over the summer. A lot of women quit over something that had happened in the house. I never knew the whole story, but we came back with only 15 members and 9 of them were my pledge class. I instantaneously became the Rush Chair and did ALL that prep, with much help from my sisters. The invitations, the nametags, the favors, the pref pillows, food, wow! It was so much work. AND we did it twice a year, crazy! We more than doubled our chapter size that year though, taking 19 in the fall and another 9 in the winter and still kept the highest GPA on campus!

I wouldn’t have fit in with the Poodles (Tri Sigmas), I still maintain to this day. They just weren’t a good fit for me. Everybody who knew me beforehand thought that I would go Tri Sigma because I was crazy about the color purple. I had purple everything! But now, I bleed red, buff and green. They were a super strong chapter, biggest on campus, always won Greek Week, very popular with the fraternities, but they just weren’t me. I probably would’ve been happy as a Labrador (Alpha Xi Delta) because they were a lot of fun and very nice, I just didn’t get to know them until after rush. I’m sure I just fell through the rotation cracks somehow during that party, but I didn’t even know what rotation was, so I didn’t know what to think at the time.

Dee,

Great story...We're very glad that you became an Alpha Gam! :)

Wonder what your name on GC would have been if you were in another GLO!

-C

My whole life would've been different if I was in another GLO. It's weird to think about. However, I met my first husband at a party at a sister's apartment and then we started dating after an Alpha Gam/Lambda Chi party, so that might not have happened. I got a good campus job thanks to my sister-mom. My best friend from college is my sister-daughter who has been my maid of honor twice and has helped me through so much. My nickname in highschool and college was Dee, but I started going by Denise when I married a guy with the last name of Klein. Dee Klein just wasn't right... My highschool and original college friends still call me Dee now though, since I'm not a Klein anymore!

LOL!

I hope that any PNMs who are reading these retro stories are paying attention to those of us who are proclaiming "Don't do rush like I did!" Because recruitment counseling was in its infancy, some of us made decisions to exclude wonderful groups, drop out when we shouldn't, come close to shooting ourselves in the foot. Yes, we got bids where we wanted but we could have just as easily been dropped.

You could get an unskilled or uncaring RC (not common these days) and you may have to make major decisions without help, so please err on the side of choosing to go to as many parties as possible!

I just love the tradition of the china cups! What a wonderful tribute to your chapter's longevity!!

Congratulations on your Airedale bid!

Woo! You got lucky with that suicide bid, but I can't say that I am not suprised it turned out well. You had a lot of positive things going for you and a great support system. I almost felt your enthusiasm when you shared the reveal!

BTW, those little traditions you shared were so sweet.

Epilogue
 

I never became the chapter president because my academic program was too demanding, but who knows, I could still end up a Alumnae Chapter/Club President or.. another President! If I do, then Dawn will get some credit for that!

I have no regrets, 23 years later, that I chose Alpha Gamma Delta. Oh yes, Sherri ended up being my sister-mother and I was thrilled. She was a great role model and friend.

The characters and what happened to them…

Rich: He decided after we had dated for a year and a half (a month into my sophomore year) that he was too young to be “tied down” and wanted to date other people, so we broke up. Two weeks later, he wanted to get back together, so we did. We went through that cycle a couple times and finally I met this very cute Lambda Chi associate (who ended up being my first husband) and told Rich to take a hike. He begged me not to break up with him, so I stayed. Two days later, he broke up with me. I think he just wanted to be the one to do it. He got really bad grades and a changed his major a few times, rarely dated anybody, and was still in school when I graduated. I have no idea what happened to him.

Michael: We remained very close friends and most people thought we were dating, but we weren’t. He graduated in 3 years because he was a chronic overachiever. He got a job with an auditing firm so he could get his CPA and had his sights set on buying the firm when the owner retired. The owner happened to be the father of my aunt (aunt by marriage, my mom’s brother’s wife). Michael ended up marrying one of the owner’s daughters, so he was my aunt’s brother-in-law, which was very cool. He became a half partner in the firm. Until he fell in love with the secretary at the office, left the firm taking half the clients with him, taking everything from their condo, leaving his wife with nothing at all .. and I never heard from him again. That family wasn’t too happy with him. I often wonder where he is now and what his side of the story was. He has such a common name that a Google search doesn’t help!

Nancy: She didn’t make grades the second semester either and was booted from college. I was glad because she had this nasty habit of going after every boy that I liked. Last I heard, she was living with someone, was pregnant and was going to a local community college. She hasn’t attended any of our high school class reunions, but I also have often wondered what happened to her.

Renee: She was so happy as an Alpha Xi Delta and she and I remained friendly, but not real close. We lost touch after college but then, about 6 years ago, some Office Max representatives were in our building giving us free stuff in hopes that we’d order some of it later on. You know, like a vendor fair. This familiar looking woman stopped me and said “Did you go to Eastern?” and I said “Renee, the Alpha Xi?” and she said “Denise, the Alpha Gam!!” and we laughed and hugged. She was just as bubbly and sweet as ever.

Kirsten: She ended up being the President of Sigma Kappa and was always sweet. I liked her a lot.

Libby: We ended up being roommates when I was a junior and she was a senior. She graduated with a 4.0 and did her internship as a medical technologist at the hospital where my mom was working as a med tech. She kind of ended up having a boyfriend living with us the last summer in our apartment. She married the dude and now lives in Texas and has two kidlets.

Sherri: She became my sister-mother and one of my closest sisters always. She got me the best job on campus (as a campus operator with her). We kept in touch for a while after graduation and I remember her wedding well. She worked as an accountant for a while but then abandoned that job to sell jewelry at home parties. She ended up getting divorced shortly after having her first child and I never heard from her again. I have tried to look her up but she’s listed as a “lost sister” on our website.

I'm quoting this to emphasize it. I truly had no idea that my grades, previous/current leadership positions, etc. had anything to do with whether I'd get into a sorority. I had no idea that some women would get cut from all the chapters or go to Prefs but not get a bid until I was halfway through rush. I was really afraid at that point that I'd cut off my nose to spite my face. I truly didn't know if I was going to get a bid or not that night.

I also want to say that the face of each sorority at Eastern Michigan changed dramatically within a few years. With only 30 or so members, my chapter lost 3 members who all had 4.0's all in one semester. We no longer had the highest GPA on campus after that. We had one large group of members turn into wild party animals whom we had to constantly keep in check. THEN, those of us who were keeping them under control graduated and within two years, the chapter was almost shut down. I was the Chapter Advisor then and couldn't believe the crap that they started doing right under my nose. It was a living nightmare to see them go downhill so fast. Then, they were back up again and doing great, stayed at Total for several years in a row, which was very unusual and were chugging along pretty well. But, they were a very different chapter in 1990 than they were in 1984! The Sigma Kappas too... they went from very few members to Total in about a year and a half and were a really wonderful chapter. The Tri Sigmas stayed consistently solid and, from what I understand are still very solid today. The others have ebbed and waned. The point? Going by fraternity men's opinions is really stupid. They don't really know the ins and outs of a chapter. And, the stereotypes today may be very different than the stereotype in a year or two.

This was a lot of fun. I hadn't thought about my recruitment in a very long time and the more I thought about it, the more I remembered. I'm surprised how much came back to me. Those were the best of times... <clicking heels> There's no place like college, there's no place like college, there's no place like college...

Wow- that was nice of Panhellenic to the other chapters! I wish UCF did that, since on on our first or second day of recruitment you usually get house tours from housed chapters... but unhoused chapters obviously don't give tours of the fraternity houses they are rushing out of. It is an unfair advantage early in the game :p!

I love the idea of the teacups!!

If you are able to do so, please elaborate.

Our unofficial houses were just campus rental houses so they changed frequently. A group of girls would all lease a house together and we'd call it "The House". The summer after I pledged, Rich was living in the TKE house during the summer and taking summer classes. I tried to call him one day (from a payphone, with a bag full of quarters to talk to him.. the good old days) and kept getting a busy signal. I tried over and over and thought "that's weird, nobody uses the phone in that house for THIS long". Later that evening, I got a call from Rich. He had been making breakfast in a toaster oven and left an oven mitt on top of the toaster. The oven mitt caught on fire. He tossed it in the sink, ran water over it and tossed it in the garbage. But, apparently, it was still burning inside and it ended up burning down their house while he was at class. Nobody else was in the house at the time either. So, they ended up renting the house we had just moved out of for the next couple years. I don't know if they ended up buying a new one or not. A lot of the houses, even the Fraternity houses, are long term rentals there.

Great thread. I hope every new PNM reads this one!
 

This is really, really, really helpful. I really hope all new PNMS read this one, it will help them. I am soooo glad you really taught everyone. Thank you for you time and thinking about making this into a great story but a great recruitment guide. I would have never thought of that. Maybe after I adjust to the time changes and get some sleep. I am tired and wired! Thank you, I do hope all girls thinking about joining a sorority read this one. Great! LOL