Ohiogurls Retro 1997 recruitment

[ohiogurl]

I thought that I would jump on the bandwagon and post a retro story since its summer and it seems like lately we can’t get a true story to save our life. So here goes………


My recruitment story takes place in 1997 at a school where Greek life was not super competitive but still popular enough that not every person going through got a bid or got their first choice. All of the sororities had houses 7 were on campus and one was off.
When I was in high school, the Greek system never really interested me because I always thought that sororities were for “dumb white girls”. And not being dumb or white I really had no interest in joining a Greek organization.
There was a girl on my floor who was totally gung ho about rushing and convinced me to go along to the informational that was being held at the rec.
As I was walking in some of the non white girls asked why I was going in there. I said to check it out. All I got was sneers and whispers from that group so I left. I didn’t want to be ridiculed and I guess this was just something that black girls don’t do. Maybe things were different in college than they had been in my town.
Now I guess I should preface that I grew up in a very diverse neighborhood. The area that I grew up in was actually the first in the nation to be built specifically as an integrated middle class area. I had gone to a majority white private school and my friends were a mix of some of everything (still are to this day).
Recruitment at my school took place the week after classes began and I can honestly say that I didn’t know a whole lot about the Greek system. After my friend got back, (we’ll call her Sadie) she asked why I had left. I told her and she reminded me that I cant base by life on what other people think and that there is always going to be someone who wasn’t going to agree with your choices. I too agreed and went to the last informational that was held the next night and signed up.

At the time that I went through rush there were 8 NPC sororities. One chapter has since closed. They were

Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Omicron Pi
Alpha Xi Delta
Chi Omega
Delta Delta Delta
Kappa Delta
Phi Sigma Sigma
Pi Beta Phi

Since I have a secret Little House on the Prairie addiction. (I DVR it everyday on the Hallmark Channel) I’ll name the groups after characters from the show.

Mary
Charles
Caroline
Mrs. Olson
Nellie
Willy
Laura
Mr. Edwards

[kiteflyersmom]

Please continue. Looking forward to the rest!

[BabyPiNK_FL]

I'm going to go for Laura. When I was little I read everything she wrote and all the history I could find about her. I'm very eager to hear another woman's Black NPC tale as we haven't had very many.

[AOIIalum]

From one Little House addict to another, I love your code names.

[ohiogurl]

Day One -

I can say that I was nervous as all get out. I had met my Rho Chi and she was super awesome, as was most of the rest of my group. Most of the girls had opinions of all the sororities. I was just hoping that someone would want me to join. I think my Rho Chi saw how freaked out I was, and made it a point to come over and tell me to be myself and everything will work out like it should.

Willie - I stood out side the door waiting with the rest of my group and all of sudden… it sounded like a herd of elephants were on the other side of the door. What in the world have I gotten my self into? All of the ladies were stomping on the floor waiting for our arrival. Once the doors opened not only was there the stomping but chanting too. What a first impression.
I was about mid way through the line and got paired up with a very nice girl who asked me all of the basics, where was I from, what was my major. Then I was bumped (I didn’t know it at the time) and was asked all of the same generic stuff again. No real connections with either girl. It was all very nice. But seemed a little bit forced. There was nothing terrible significant about that first house.

Laura – I had heard from the girls in my group that this was a TOP house. All the girls wanted to be in this group, so of course my interest was peaked. Again, all of the chanting in stomping. This house was louder than the last. Upon walking in I noticed that every single girl in this house was gorgeous. I didn’t think that I would fit here at all. These looked like the type of girls you would never see in jeans and a tee shirt.
I was picked up from the door and my girl asked me the basics and what I like to do. Turns out we lived just a few miles from each other back home and were both in the same summer fast pitch league back home just on different teams. This had to have been one of the most down to earth girls I had met. And I could see why this house was tops on everyone’s list.

Nellie - This was supposedly another top house. Again with the stomping and the singing. I entered the house and was paired with I think the rudest person I have ever encountered in my life. It was like she took one look at me and decided she didn’t like me. The first thing she said in the snootiest voice possible was “Wow, your going thru rush? Ummm why?”. I didn’t even get a hello. And with that one statement she turned me completely off to that house. I had my inclinations as to why she said it and I did not want to be a part of it.

Mr. Edwards – This was the newest chapter on campus. They had only gone national the year before and were in there first formal rush. They did not have a house on campus and they had there parties in a room in the rec center. I was initially turned off by the fact they didn’t have a house on campus. But the girls all seemed nice. This chapter was smaller than the 3 I had seen before, but tiny by no means. We still had to double up with another rushee, which was okay with me. I had decent conversations but nothing spectacular. If I could I would go back again.

Charles – By the time I got to this house all I could think about was lunch. I was starving and my memory fails me about what all happened at this party. I do know we had a 2 hour break and pizza with my Rho Chi group right after.

Mary – This was the smallest chapter on campus. I had heard many negative things about this chapter. I was rushed by a girl who didn’t even go my school. Most of the girls seemed awkward to me and were not the best conversationalist. It did make me happy to know that a black girl was a member of the chapter. She made it a point to come over and say hello, which I liked. But it didn’t make me like this chapter any more than I had before.

Caroline – This chapter was awesome. I’m not sure what it was. I loved there colors and mascot. And the girls were all super sweet. I also liked the fact that they had 3 black women as members in this house. I know that shouldn’t seem like a big deal, but to me it was. It reaffirmed that there were other people out there who think and act like me. I like diversity. And this was not going to be a deal breaker if I was the only one. I defiantly wanted to go back to this house.

Mrs. Olson – I was exhausted at this house. It had been a long day. I was met at the door by a girl who had gone to my high school. I was surprised because not many people from Cincinnati went to this school. EVERYONE was from Cleveland. It was great to see a familiar face. She made it a point to introduce me to as many sisters as she could. It was nice. I wanted to come back.





Afterwards we met with our groups and ranked our listed our top 6 and ranked our bottom two.
My list was something like

1Laura
1Caroline
1Mrs. Olson
1Charles
1Willy
1Mr. Edwards
2Mary
3Nellie

Back at the dorm Sadie and I discussed our favorites of the day. Sadie’s favorite was Nellie. I was mortified and told her of my experience of the day. She said I must have just gotten a bad apple. I had to remind her that it only takes one to spoil the barrel.
We were pooped. It was late so we watched a movie then went to bed.


The next morning I met with my Rho Chi and received my invitations. I was invited back to……..


Mr. Edwards
Laura
Mary
Nellie
Caroline
Mrs. Olson

I was dropped by Willy and Charles. I was happy I was going to have full day but sad and disappointed I had to go back to my bottom two.

Day 2 coming soon.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by ohiogurl

Nellie - This was supposedly another top house. Again with the stomping and the singing. I entered the house and was paired with I think the rudest person I have ever encountered in my life. It was like she took one look at me and decided she didn’t like me. The first thing she said in the snootiest voice possible was “Wow, you're going thru rush? Ummm why?”. I didn’t even get a hello. And with that one statement she turned me completely off to that house. I had my inclinations as to why she said it and I did not want to be a part of it.

Would you expect anything less from Nellie? LOL. These are my favorite code names so far (except for Sensuret's story).

[baci]

Of course I was thinking the same thing!^^

[twinkle555]

Loving this! Please continue

[ohiogurl]

okay everyone. I thought that I would give you an update. I have been writing this story on my downtime at work. We have been slllloooooowwwww lately. I have the entire thing written on my laptop and I left it at work for the weekend. I will get you Round 2, pref and bid day on Monday.

[FSUZeta]

what?

[TPA85]

Change your mind??? I was looking forward to this story