I wasn't going to do this, but ...

[DSTRen13]

Okay, I’m going to do this retro recruitment story thing … please don’t hate me. I was bored and just felt like sharing, I guess. I’ve decided to name the sororities after desserts, because I am also hungry right now.

When I was in HS, all I knew about sororities were the really negative stereotypes of blond girls with big boobs, lots of alcohol, and not a lot of keeping your clothes on. Um, not my thing. All my friends and I were agreed – it was buying your friends, and we were having none of it. My senior year, I visited North Avenue Trade School and the “host student” I was assigned to stay with was a member of an NPC sorority “Cheesecake”. Definitely dispelled the stereotypes, and they were all very nice, but … I had no prior experience with Greek life, and I am not extremely girly. Staying that night in the sorority house, where everything was COVERED in floral print, during the week before IFC/NPC Greek Week, where everyone was talking NONSTOP about strange activities that sounded, well, really stupid, was kinda scary. I didn’t have any hard feelings toward the girls, but it was completely over my 18 y/o head. After my visit, I had decided I wanted to attend North Avenue Trade School, but I was not going to spend the money, or the time (cut my vacation a week short? What was that about?) to participate in Panhellenic Rush. Cheesecake is a whole lot of trouble to make if you aren’t that into it and don’t understand the process.

Once I got to school, I pretty much ignored Greek life. Not many of my friends were involved with it, so it didn’t really have any impact on me at all. I was very involved in AIESEC, an international business org, and it took up most of my time.

My next introduction to Greek life came in the mailbox fall of my sophomore year. I received an invitation to Rush for a local sorority on campus, which I’ll call “Fried Cheesecake”. I debated for a while about going – after all, it was a sorority. But a friend from high school was an officer, and I knew a couple of other girls going. I was intrigued by the fact that they seemed more laid-back and diverse than the NPC groups on campus, and so I decided I would check it out. I missed the first night of their three-night event (AIESEC meeting, as usual), but made it to the other two nights. It was fun, and the girls were nice, but nothing really grabbed me and I was disappointed to learn that their goal was to eventually affiliate with an NPC group (since I had been drawn to them for their uniqueness from the other groups). Fried Cheesecake, while fun and different at first, was more like Cheesecake than I had thought.

To be continued ...

[tinydancer16]

Sweet mary mother of god I love fried cheesecake!!! Sorry...please continue.

[Senusret I]

I've never had fried cheesecake.....anyway, goooooo Ren!

[Ocalagirl]

Longhorn Steakhouse makes the best fried cheesecake I have ever had!!

Is that the name real name of your school or a pseudonym?

[DSTRen13]

Originally Posted by Ocalagirl

Longhorn Steakhouse makes the best fried cheesecake I have ever had!!

Is that the name real name of your school or a pseudonym?

It's a real nickname of my alma mater. But not the real name of the school.

[gtdxeric]

Originally Posted by Ocalagirl

Is that the name real name of your school or a pseudonym?

You might try googling it.

[Ocalagirl]

I did after I posted and figured it out, but thanks!

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by gtdxeric

You might try googling it.

North Avenue Trade School always makes me laugh.

[DSTRen13]

Over the summer, I was researching my senior thesis and reading a LOT of race studies books and related texts. And I started to doubt myself, both as a scholar and as an aspirant for membership in Cookie. After all, what business did a white girl like me have doing work on racial issues? What business did a white girl like me have trying to get into a black sorority? I don’t really want to get into all this here, but I went into a period of this that wasn’t good. At this time, I wondered if perhaps, since I knew that I really wanted the sorority experience, if perhaps I should look into multicultural orgs, which I had learned about on GC. I looked at some websites, and spoke online with a few people, but again, I was not feeling it at all. I liked the sororities I learned about – some I even liked a lot – but the rich history of Cookie was something that was very important to me, and these orgs, while I know they are building it, just don’t have it yet. Also, none of these orgs had chapters at my North Avenue Trade School, so it was hard to get a real sense of what these groups were like. As I learned more about these sororities – and one in particular, which I’ll call “Chocolate-Chip Ice Cream”, was exciting and interesting, but I also felt somewhat resigned. I knew if I went this route I would always wonder about Cookie. Ice Cream, while delicious, melts over time – it doesn’t have the same staying power as a good cookie (even if you can give them both the same toppings).

I finally spoke with my thesis advisor – the professor who was a Cotton Candy member – about my questions regarding academia, as it was really getting me down, and that helped considerably. She also directed me to a couple of essays written by white women in race-related studies, and those essays helped me work out my guilt issues, both with academics and with pursuing Cookie. I was back on track (in some ways, more on it than ever before) by the end of summer, ready to begin my senior year.

Spring semester of my senior year, I had begun looking into alumnae chapters of Cookie in my area and wondering how I could get in touch with them. It didn’t look like the Cookie chapter at North Avenue Trade School would be having a Rush meeting before I was graduating in May. Then things starting happening like crazy, and –

I made it!!! I was initiated into membership in Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated on April 5th, 2006.


^Two of my wonderful LSs and me at my graduation from Georgia Tech one month later

The other sororities (in order of appearance): Cheesecake - Alpha Chi Omega, Fried Cheesecake - Chi Omega Tau, Cotton Candy - Alpha Kappa Alpha, Cupcake - Zeta Phi Beta, Cobbler - Sigma Gamma Rho, Chocolate-Chip Ice Cream - Theta Nu Xi

[tld221]

YAY! awesome story - and right before your graduation! 2006 was a very good year for me too!

PM to follow...