we have started a sorority!
 

I live in England and even though sororities and fraternities arent quite so well known here we are determined to make our new sorority Omega Zeta a brilliant one! Any suggestions on how to get things up and running now we've been formed?

Firstly I have a couple of questions:

Are you based at a UK University or are you based Online?
Will you charge for membership? If so, what do your dues include?
How will you run recruitment for your sorority?
What are your ideals, what do you stand for?
Have you got a website up and running?

Doesn't the UK have similar sorts of groups which aren't referred to as sororities?

I'm interested to learn about this. How it's the same as an American sorority, how it's uniquely English, how you came up with the answers to KKGCaroline's questions, etc. And what your goals of sisterhood are. Are you a college-based sorority (like a traditional NPC sorority), a professional sorority, or something else?

There are sororities in UK (sometimes known as Societies) but there a very few so we have spent a lot of time getting permissions to start one at our college. I am currently making a website, not quite finished yet though.

We have taken a lot from American Sororities such as ideas for philanthropies etc. but have tried to include our own English touches. An example of this having a day each year when we honour the queen and raise money for charity at the same time by doing a sponsored run through London finishing in Trafalgar Square. Generally though we are keeping the main qualities of American Sororities.

There are sororities in UK (sometimes known as Societies) but there a very few so we have spent a lot of time getting permissions to start one at our college. I am currently making a website, not quite finished yet though.

We have taken a lot from American Sororities such as ideas for philanthropies etc. but have tried to include our own English touches. An example of this having a day each year when we honour the queen and raise money for charity at the same time by doing a sponsored run through London finishing in Trafalgar Square. Generally though we are keeping the main qualities of American Sororities.

Our goals of sisterhood are to bring together a community that might otherwise not get a chance to be particularly close. Education is very important to us, as well as friendship, philanthropy and support for eachother. Hazing is NOT tolerated. Our motto is 'to grow' not just in a physical form but also within. We want to grow in understanding for the world, we want our friendships to grow and we want to grow in maturity and wisdom.

This makes me a little curious what you think the "main qualities" of American sororities are.

What about ritual? The heart of almost every American sorority and fraternity is its ritual, which for the vast majority of sororities and fraternities is esoteric -- not known to those outside the fraternity or sorority. A GLO's ritual is what encapsulates and reinforces for members the ideals of the organization; it's the common bond that unites members as sisters or brothers.

I think if you're trying to emulate the American model, ritual comes first. Everything else grows out of that.

Yes, we already have lots of rituals in place and as you said, will not be shared with non-members. We have put a lot of research into this, and last year I went to America and visited a sorority from whom I got lots of advice. This visit was what gave me the idea in the first place. I would love for sororities to catch on in England.

But isn't it interesting that the sororities have very similar rituals (from what little I've been able to ascertain over time) even though we're all secret societies? I mean, everyone has the naked pillow fight, but how did that all start? HA!

So you have colors, a flower, a symbol, a crest, a badge? Public and private meanings behind the symbols?

As the world continues to shrink, it wouldn't surprise me if some NPC sororities would expand internationally beyond the US and Canada some day. I believe there's already an alumnae panhellenic chapter in England.

Yes, baby blue and lemon yellow (may not sound very nice but looks gorgeous), our symbol is a teddy bear for friendship, in the process of designing our crest and badge. We sat down and decided on all the meanings behind our symbols... the first thing we did :)

You say "We", how many Founding Members do you currently have?

And again, have you thought about how you will recruit new members?

Did you do research at your Campus, did you ask women if they would join a GLO if one was started?

With all the hope in the world, if your class mates are not willing to take part, its going to fall flat on its feet before it starts.

Sounds lovely, and I am studying abroad right now in london and it is an amazing city!

Well there are 22 members of the sorority so far. I am the president, we also have our house mum (mom to you :D ), a secretary and a treasurer. If we are missing any roles please let me know

When recruiting new members we are going to do a traditional rush and just make sure the women pledging have the team spirit we want our house to have. We are looking into the 'big sister little sister' concept as well.

When you say GLO what do you mean? Doesn't that stand for Greek Letter Organization? if so then we are one... Omega Zeta. I apologise if I sound naive but this is still pretty new to all of us.

It sounds like you used Alpha Xi Delta as a launching point with the light blue and yellow, and is a good transition from our modification of Kappa's colors of light blue and dark blue, and our teddy bear. So will your badge be something similar in shape to a quill or a key? Arrow is taken, and cricket bat probably isn't appropriate. HA!

More please! This sounds like a fascinating process, to me anyway.

Yes, GLO stands for Greek Letter Organization. I think what KKGCaroline was asking is whether there are women at your school -- and outside the 22 women you already have -- who will want to join so that the sorority can grow and continue after the 22 of you are gone.

As far as officers, it all depends on what you think you need. I think it's safe to say that most GLOs also probably have a warden or sergeant at arms, a historian, an alumni/ae secretary and an officer in charge of the education of pledges/new members.

Tri Sigma's Eta Mu chapter was chartered in Mannheim, Germany in 2003, but closed a few years later because of the University's closure. It's possible that more orgs. will take the chance (and I hope we will have it again, too!).

Believe it or not I didn't even know Alpha Xi Delta's colours were blue and yellow :)

And MystiCat... there are lots of women in the years below us (I suppose grades in America???) who are interested in joining once they reach our year. I don't think we'll have a problem with getting new members, as long as we advertise properly and give people a reason to want to join.

I find your process so interesting!
I would also recommend having a recruitment (rush) chair.
So women can only join once they reach a certain year in university?

Yes at the moment. Our headteacher has given us permission to start our sorority but she is a bit concerned about the maturity of the girls I think so she has put an age limit on it until we can show that this will work. And it will work :)

^^ Yep :)

So, I'll bite...

How old are you, and what's the lower age limit the headteacher has imposed?

Just visited OP's blog (she put the address in her GC profile), its all about her school & completing her GCSE's.

GCSE's are exams that kids over here do at 15-16 years old at high school, before moving onto college (16-18), and then university (18+)

My guess is she is about 15 years old......

I'm 19. Our college starts at 18 (not including early orientation) so the head has said girls need to have gotten through their first year before joining, get their studies sorted first.

college does not start at 16 in every case. I went onto 6th form (A levels) before college

taken from your blog:

"" So as of tomorrow I am officially a year 11. ""
dated - Thursday, 2 September 2010

Forgive me if I am wrong but year 11 is normally the last year of high school in England, therefore you should be 15-16 year of age....

sound you've got a lovely thing going. Best of luck starting the sorority, I hope all goes well.

Oh I see where you got confused, by my blog. I basically went from secondary education to A levels to college but it is a specialist college for acting, not a university. In our specialist college there is a year 11, 12 and 13 which can be confusing because in sixth form there is also a year 12 and 13. Sorry for that

But what about this post?
http://thecrazythoughtsofmeee.blogsp...don-sucks.html

still confuzed...

or this one?
http://thecrazythoughtsofmeee.blogsp...number-18.html

2 months, 4 weeks and 1 day until your sweet 16???

*sigh*

FAIL...

I am sorry I lied. I am nearly 16, but everything else I said is true. I have started a sorority called Omega Zeta and I have been accepted for early orientation at a drama college. I just didnt want people looking down on me for my age... not old enough to be in a sorority etc. Sorry again and I'll leave now :(

All your credibility just went out the window and I hope that you haven't STOLEN things from American greek letter organizations to create your so called sorority.:mad:

We are NOT secret societies. If we were, we would not be communicating with others about our organizations on a public message board.:confused: If anything, we are societies/organizations with secrets. There is a huge difference.

Light blue and yellow? Teddy bear? It's basically Alpha Xi Delta except with no dark blue and calling the gold yellow. I understand the desire to be in a sorority (we all had it or we wouldn't be greek) but to me knocking off another sorority's traditions is just not cool.

Heh. That is pretty much the party line of the Freemasons.