Hey, all! I have been reading lots of recruitment stories recently and enjoying them, and I thought I would share my memories of my own path to Sisterhood, circa 1991.
I'm the only girl in my immediate family, and as a teen I was a little awkward. (If I'm honest with myself, I think I still am). I attended a church school for elementary and a magnet program in high school, so I never really had neighborhood friends growing up, and I always felt a little out of place. I lived in an unincorporated neighborhood on the edge of a very expensive suburb in the south, so when I was bused in to the high school I was definitely a fish out of water. I never had the "right" clothes or accessories, but it didn't bother me much because I love love love school and reading and knowledge, and found my spot with kids like that. I was on Quiz Bowl and the literary magazine and took two foreign languages. I'm a teacher now.
Although my mother participated in her sorority in college, her involvement as an alumna was limited... until I got to high school. At that point she started bringing me along occasionally to social and service activities that were appropriate: the annual fundraiser, the holiday brunch with the collegiates, the shrimp and corn boil with families in the summer. She didn't attend those activities without me, and they were not a high priority on our calendar, but whenever the stars aligned we went.
The women I met were FUNNY and loved each other completely. They sang silly recruitment songs, including ones that would certainly not be sung today. They told great stories about their college memories. And they were all DIFFERENT - the head of the Shakespeare festival volunteer corps, the wife of a mayor, Junior Leaguers, teachers, a raging Republican and a devout Democrat at the same table, stay at home moms and working women and grandmas. There was only one active collegiate Chapter of the organization in the state at the time, so the majority of the women in the alumnae club came from that one university. I went to that house a few times when we were in the college town visiting family, and my mother introduced me to some of her pledge class Sisters and showed me which rooms she stayed in and described how things were different but also the same from when she lived there.
And then it was time for college. There were really only 2 choices for me when I chose a college: the one my parents both went to, and the other major state school. I was a snotty little "do my own thing" teen and ONLY applied to the other major state school. (They had offered me a large scholarship which really made my choice for me, but I COULD have asked my parents' school if they would match the scholarship. I chose not to. #regrets) I am the only member of my extended family to attend that school, and rivalry week is interesting to say the least.
Here's the kicker: remember there was only one active collegiate Chapter of my mother's sorority in the state. My legacy house was not at the school that offered me a scholarship, the school I chose.
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