[tld221]

I have some questions for ALL BGLO sorority members. Did YOU join your sorority through a collegiate or alumnae chapter?Collegiate chapter

For those who joined via the ALUMNAE chapter,
A. Did you apply for membership during your college years? Yes, during my junior year. but i did not become a member until my senior year.

B. While waiting for the chance to join, what did you do in the meantime? well, BEFORE i even felt like i had the chance to join, i went through a BGLO-mania of sorts. I didnt know black sororities existed (none were on my campus and the visibility was less apparent locally) until i started to research it. The more i researched, the more fanatic i became about greek life. i just could not WAIT to be greek... it was just a matter of which org i desired to be granted membership. that is what took my time to become an esteemed member of Sigma Gamma Rho 2 years later. i dont regret it NOW because i needed that time to figure it out for myself, but back then i was like, "why can't i figure out which org is best for me? i want to be greek now!" like everyone has been saying, things happen when they are SUPPOSED to happen.

C. While others around you were becoming members, how did you stay focused on the mission of joining the sisterhood that you felt lead to pursue?
most of the people who were becoming members around me were of other orgs. and it just made me want it more. though only a handful of black greeks were at my school, they were always together and were on their game with everything they did. even now, when i hear about people who crossed at my college (and in increasing numbers) im like, "ok, i can see that... but damn, who knew THAT many people were interested?" and they are RUNNING things at school now.

i kept felt like every semester, what was i doing wrong? my grades were on point, i was active on my campus and community. i guess looking back, i wasnt as forthcoming about my interest, and if the org doesnt even know you're interested, how can they let you know what events are coming up and even keep you in mind?

i stayed focused by pursuing other interests--i wanted to be an RA, so i did that (and its crazy cause almost every BGLO sorority member i know was an RA). i was working with a mentoring organization, and became a director of that org. i started working on my senior thesis. but i worked on being visible as an interest, but not to the point of being "OMG I LOVE XYZ PLEASE PICK ME!" but making sure i knew the who, what, where and when of each event, whether it was greek or not - if i knew a member of said org would be there, i was there! again, the visibility was limited, so even finding out that XYZ or ABC was doing an event was a challenge in itself.

in the end, what kept me focused was the desire that would not desist and also i was almost done with undergrad. i knew that if i didnt do it before i graduated, i wouldve been less inclined to pursue it as an alumna.