[recruitment]

when our mother attended the same univeristy that my sister was going to attend... it was primarily a "commuter school." they had a visionary president about thrity years ago who completely changed that school and turned it into a very classy and exclusive private university. it was terribly expensive and much smaller than the large state university i was to attend. her school also had a large number of out of state students.

since we have skiied forever... i am going to name the chapters at our respective universities after some of our favorite ski resorts. those who ski will definitely catch the differences in the ski resorts... and the names are specifically chosen for that reason... albeit not "panhellenically correct!"

the six sororities at my sister's school were:
ASPEN
DEER VALLEY
KEYSTONE
SANTE FE
SUN VALLEY, and
RED RIVER

my sister knew several members of ASPEN, DEER VALLEY and KEYSTONE. like me, she had to start cheer practice during the summer session and begin learninig all of the cheers, movements and the dynamics of the style of cheerleading at her university. most of the cheerleaders were in fraternities and sororities, so in addition to her friends who were in those three sororites... she met several other members during the summer. she had a great summer and the squad at her university did not do as many complicated routines as the squad at my university did (ie: she was not going to be thrown into the air twenty feet... praying to be caught!!!)

the eleven sororities at my university were:
VAIL
DEER VALLEY
ASPEN
KEYSTONE
SANTE FE
PARK CITY
LAKE LOUISE
RED RIVER
TELLURIDE
BRECKENRIDGE, and
TAOS

i knew many members of several chapters at the school where i would attend from high school and other area high schools. i had close friends in VAIL, DEER VALLEY, ASPEN, KEYSTONE and SANTE FE. we had both been to several parties and events our senior year in high school... therefore i was quite familiar with the campus and many of the sororities. further, just as with my sister... cheer started in earnest during summer school. we were enrolled and worked and trained really hard during the summer session and beyond. being one of only two freshman cheerleaders... i had a great deal of work learning the rountines, the cheers... and then i had to learn to trust, really trust... while i was being thrown like a "rag doll" into the air about twenty feet by very muscular guys... whom i continuously prayed would catch me, catch me... we always had a spotter... but it is still terrifying when you first start with that much intensity. most of the cheerleaders were in fraternities and sororities, so i got to know several members from a few different chapters. it was a long, hard summer comprised of long hard days physically pushing ourselves beyond our limits.

we both worked so hard that summer... we were very grateful that our mother had already begun working on our respective recruitments when we were infants. she had managed to secure several wonderful and highly connected recommendations to the "acceptable sororities" in her opinion. we could not have possibly been fully ready for recruitment had it not been for her organization and her drive (compulsion!) of course... it was "rush" to her... and we would "pledge"... so we had several terms that we had to delete from our individual vocabularies. we did have a week to finish our wardrobes. luckily... since we were attending different schools... we could choose several dresses that were similar and not look like "twin pnms" who had not ever separated themselves. the thought of going through recruitment at the same school dressed exactly alike... totally haunted both of us... for obvious reasons.

and... if i lose this post another time... i am going to quit and just tell you what happened! ugh! ugh!

cheers!