[astroAPhi]

Right now, my chapter is at 3 below total. We haven't been at total since our chapter was founded in 1990. This is very exciting for us, especially since we have full faith in all the girls here. Up until this past semester, we have always hovered somewhere between 28-33 girls, and total is 40. I have only ever had one sister resign in my 3 years here, but Florida Tech has a tendency to lose many freshmen after their first year. I am always very sad because each year, at least one of my sisters simply don't come back to school, without warning.

However, we NEEDED to be at total right now. When I joined, we had some of our largest pledge classes ever. My pledge class is 12, and the one after me had 9 girls. Most of us were freshmen when we joined. Now, seniors make up over 1/3 of the sorority. We were terrified that we wouldn't have enough girls when all of us graduated. However, if we are at or above total, that makes us much more healthy than we were before. Many fraternities are getting worried because interest is low on our campus right now. If it doesn't pick up in the next year, I expect we'll lose a fraternity or two within the next 2 years.

I've seen chapters die or halve in size when their senior class graduates. It is very difficult to recover from if your underclassmen don't have enough leadership opportunities or experience with being Greek. That's another reason why being at total is important.