A Legacy Story
 

I'm posting this story for my younger sister, who recently went through formal recruitment at JHU. I'm a senior in the Kappa chapter there and I was so excited! It's not the most exciting story - no crazy twists or drama - but I hope you still enjoy it! I wrote it in real time but waited until after Bid Day to post it. It's short and sweet, I promise.

My sister wasn't sure about Greek Life when she got to college, and I did my best not to pressure her. She made her own decisions and decided to go through recruitment because even though her circle of friends is wonderful, she wanted to meet more people - particularly more humanities majors like herself (most of her friends are engineering or science). She went in with an open mind, but told me she preferred Kappa because she had met so many of my sisters and thought they were the kind of people she'd enjoy hanging out with. She didn't really know anyone in the other two sororities.

Icewater Rounds
 

She attended all three sororities' parties and enjoyed all of them! She met wonderful women in each sorority and particularly enjoyed the slideshows.

Alpha Phi: She said that the room was very loud so it was difficult to hear the sisters sometimes, but they were all very sweet and their energy was exciting.

Phi Mu: Again, the girls were a lot of fun and had high energy. She was nervous that she wouldn't be asked back because she said something stupid by accident, but it didn't sound like a big deal. The sister laughed it off.

Kappa: One of the sisters in my bump group picked her up, so we got to chat during the party. She seemed like she was having a great time.

Unfortunately there was a big snowstorm that began an hour before Icewater rounds, so the PNMs were pretty miserable walking from one party to the next. She did enjoy her Rho Gamma group. They had a while to wait between parties since there are 200 PNMs and only three sororities, but they spent the time chatting in a cafeteria on campus. She said the girls are fun and open-minded, and had good things to say about every sorority. She really clicked with one of the other PNMs in particular. They don't rank after the first round, and I'm not sure how she would rank. I didn't ask because I tried to stay out of it as much as possible! I will say that all my sisters loved her and are hoping to have her back for theme round.

Theme Round
Theme round is the philanthropy round. PNMs could be invited back to a maximum of three parties and my sister was invited back to Kappa and Phi Mu.

Phi Mu: She said their room was very cute. They had a "Candyland" theme and she said the decorations were over the top - in a good way! Again the sisters were sweet and engaging. She was impressed by their high energy. The philanthropy chair read a poem about Children's Miracle Network with an allegory about their mascot, the lion, and how he helped the mouse because "everyone matters, no matter how small." She thought it was really cute, but was trying to keep from laughing because she kept thinking that the point of the poem was that even children are small, we should help them (she has a really strange sense of humor).

Kappa: I was absolutely in love with our room. Our theme was Disney's Peter Pan - "Foverever Young, Forever Kappa". I'm not a huge fan of Disney stuff (it's actually a big pet peeve of mine when people over the age of 12 wear clothes with Disney characters on them), but it was really tasteful and cute. There was a huge Big Ben and the room was decorated to look like the London cityscape at night. I wasn't able to talk to her that night, but I waved from across the room and she seemed like she was having fun. Unfortunately when I talked to her later she said she didn't really "get" what the theme was... but she liked the decorations and had a great time meeting more sisters. The sisters she talked to loved meeting her and one of them said they would love to have her as her Little!

After Theme, the PNMs all ranked. She said the Rho Gamms had trouble keeping girls from talking, and from what she could gather, there were a good mix of first choices within her Rho Gamma group. Though she really enjoyed both parties, she told me that she ranked Kappa first :)

Pref
PNMs could attend a maximum of two parties, and Amelia was invited to Kappa. She was preffed by a sister she met at Theme round and really clicked with. I didn't get to talk to her at Pref, but we waved from across the room! She told me later that she loved the party, especially the Preference ritual. She also liked a lot of the other PNMs in the room... who hopefully be her future pledge sisters! She only attended one party, so ranking was easy for her tonight.

Bid Day
Well, I can't say I'm surprised... but I was SO EXCITED to hear my sister accepted her bid to Kappa Kappa Gamma!! She called me 3 times in a row, but I couldn't pick up because of strict silence, so I had my Dad call her to make sure she wasn't stuck in an elevator or something. He's a Sigma Pi, so he was really excited for both of us to be Greek together. Bid Night was so special, and a wonderful way to end my undergrad time with Kappa (since I'll be graduating in May). My sister has a bunch of friends in her new member class (including the PNM from her Rho Gamma group that she got along with so well!), and made many more at Bid Night last night. Her new member class is the biggest we've ever had - 49 fantastic young women! We'll probably add a few more next week to make quota (53). Looking forward to many great Kappa memories together :)

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The Upsilon class on Bid Night! She is the 4th from the left, in the back row. The new member class also includes 3 other legacies.

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Both of us on Bid Night :D

Congratulations to the both of you!

Thanks!!

Yay! How exciting for both of you!
And I'm so glad you noted in another thread that JHU will be expanding- only 3 chapters but pledge classes of 40+ means you could definitely bring on another org (or two).

Yay for legacies! Congrats to your sister (I love her necklace!) and your chapter! :D

i was in uber excitement and scrolled down to see the results. LOVE the "Go Kappa, Went Kappa" tshirts.

Thanks! And nothing's set in stone yet, but Panhel is thinking seriously about expansion. We need it! As much as all the chapters love all of our new members, it would be nice to get the new member classes down to 35-40 again. They were considering adding a 5th chapter before a chapter closed last spring, so to be down to 3 at this point is pretty crazy.

Thanks! And I have to say... I was really jealous when she got that necklace as a graduation gift last summer :p. Now it's super useful though!

This was fun to read! I love being able to see real chapter details with each- like Phi Mu's lion story. That's one of my favorite parts about recruitment stories. That and... new sisters! Congrats to you and your sister x2 :D

I'm curious- do you think her being a legacy to one of the chapters (with her legacy-provider still being IN the chapter) affected her cuts?

And... wow, 200 PNMs for three chapters. That's a TON! We had roughly 30 PNMs for 3 chapters. Talk about a completely different Greek system. Hopefully you will be able to expand and bring things down to a more manageable level.

Foreshadowing?! I thought that was a Bid Night gift. :D

This was such a heartwarming story. I was touched like I knew you two. It almost (almost) made me wish that I had a biological sister. :)

I always wanted biological brother, and Delta Chi intensified that. Now I'll just have to wreak havoc on my theoretical legacy sons...and get three brother to help me sing them that song!

Congratulations to your sister - I too scrolled down to see the happy ending before reading the story!

What a great story! I wish I had a bio sister as well now. I'll just have to hope for neices and daughters in my future. :D

BTW the picture of you and your sister, too cute!

Awww what a sweet story and I love the pic of both of you!

Those shirts are freakin' cute. They're throwback font without being tacky. :)

Do all the NMs get the key necklaces or did you get it for her?

Thanks, everybody!!

No, the necklace wasn't a bid day gift - I don't think we could afford a Tiffany key for 49 people! :eek: (Although luckily they make some pretty convincing fakes these days.) It was her HS graduation gift.

I honestly don't know if her legacy status affected her cuts. There were actually quite a few PNMs with sisters currently in the chapters (1 at Phi Mu, 1 at Kappa and 3 at Alpha Phi) and they all got into their legacy chapters.

I think what was asked was did you buy the key for her for bid day. lol.

Congrats to you, your sister and KKG

Which, since there are 3 sororities, might mean that legacy status (since they are legacies to actives on campus) affected both cuts and bids. :)

congratulations littleowl to you and your sister!

I know I already told you on FB (and probably in another thread) but congrats to you both! I realize I'm jumping ahead a bit, but when is initiation? That will be so special to share with her!

Congratulations! My sister went through recruitment and ended up in my chapter. I'm also graduating this year.

It's been an amazing experience: I hope yours is too!

So cute. I like when biological sisters are sorority sisters too.

I have a question, though. You said you wrote this in real time but waited to post it... does that mean that you don't have to participate in silence with your biological sister if she's a PNM? That's a general, you, there, I'm genuinely curious.

So cute! This is what makes me wish my real sister was old enough to go through recruitment while I'm still in college.

LOVE the shirts too

I never had a sister. However, three in my pledge classes had biological sisters in the chapter, and it was great!

Congrats! Your situation is the very same as my kappa daughters! My senior was able to welcome her freshman sister into the chapter this fall. Yea for legacies!!

When I was a senior, my sister went through rush as a freshman. I was shocked and surprised when she chose Theta as her first choice. I thought for sure she'd go with another house who rushed her really really hard.

It was amazing b/c we are so opposite in every way. Interesting factoid: we had at least two sets of twins and several sister pairs during my time as an active.

Loved your story, the photos, the t-shirts & that necklace is adorable! Thanks for sharing.

I'm so happy for your sister and you! Good luck with that! I love hearing about Johns Hopkins (what an incredible school, by the way) and how rush went for everyone!

Congrats!

Congrats to the both of you! You sisters get to be sisters together. :) And I love that photo of you!!

At my school, PNMs and sisters can only have Normal Social Contact (Hi! How are you? Fine. Goodbye!) from January 1st until Bid Day, which is usually February 4th or 5th. Since she is my sister, I was allowed to file an exemption to be able to talk to her normally. The only thing that applied to me was strict silence between the end of Pref and beginning of Bid Night celebrations.

Thanks everyone for your congratulations! :)

Of course, congrats! I love love love your shirts.

Side note - I would think a person's legacy status could effect their cuts/bids. I know if some sisters where on the edge about a girl and she had legacy status at another house, then they would be more likely to cut. The reason being is they thought that the PNM would go through/bid at her legacy house and by cutting it gave other girls a chance to bid at their house. It boils down to why waste a bid. Not its not nice, but I have seen it done. Either way, a greater plan is at work!

That's interesting! I feel like I need a "The More You Know" sign thrown at me - I never knew such exemptions existed (and I was a Rho Gamma for 2 years!) - just goes to show - even "insiders" on recruitment don't know everything! :)

I thought they were going to let Theta recolonize with a new group of women -- what happened to that idea?
________

Right so did we, but I didn't know there was an exemption for biological sisters.

I absolutely love the shirts - I wonder how many other chapters around the PNC GC world will have them next year? ;) Just remember, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

I also love the picture of the two of you, and her key. Question to all Kappas - have you ever noticed that pretty much all Key jewelry has a backwards Key?

What do you mean "backwards"? Like it's facing the wrong way if you turn it horizontal?