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!