Our Pref parties ended at 11pm on a Wednesday night, and we had to sign our bid cards on Thursday before noon. We were told that we would get a call before 5pm if we weren't matched.
I had put Alpha Delta Pi first, and Kappa Kappa Gamma second. Around 4pm, I started crying, saying, "I don't WANT to be a Kappa!" and everyone kept telling me that it was too late. I was miserable - but no call came!
So, all of the pnms stood outside of the Greek Advisor's Office, and one by one, we entered the closed office, and were handed our Bid and a sterling letter opener with which to open it. The envelope was small, with blue trim, and my heart sank. I slit the envelope and pulled out a Bid from... Alpha Delta Pi!!! I shrieked with delight, and was told to go directly to Amos Hall (where all the sororities but Kappa Kappa Gamma & Kappa Alpha Theta were).
When the elevator door opened, there stood all of my new sisters, singing and clapping and hugging and crying! This continued until all of the new member arrived, and then we had our pledging ceremony.
We were so scared at that part that, yes, we all actually DID say, "I, Your Name..." instead of our names! One sister said, "Uh, oh...!" and it really broke the tension!
Since ADPi is on the top floor of Amos Hall, the tradition was that we would all go into the stairwell and "stomp" while counting the number of new members. The next sorority down would do the same thing, and so on.
There was an All Greek Mixer that night, where we found out that we had the largest pledge class on campus, which was terribly exciting! A lot of the Kappa sisters came over to hug & congratulate me, and I'll always feel a little bad that the sister who had been my sponsor started to cry.
The next day, we wore both our pledge pins and ribbons with our colors under it to class. A guy with whom I had had a few study dates was upset that I was "a sorority chick" but even that couldn't make me lose my high.
And my mom & dad were thrilled for me - not at all upset that I hadn't gone Kappa! As a pledge gift, they promised me the pin of my choice.
It was a happy, happy experience!
