What is it about DST...?

[I.A.S.K.]

There have been many great women who I have been influenced by. There was probably an equal division between those who are members of Delta Sigma Theta and those who are members of Alpha Kappa Alpha. When I was a senior in High school people began to ask me what sorority I wanted to be a member of. I basically ignored their questions because I didn’t know if I even wanted to be in a sorority, I didn’t know enough about sororities, and I was still in High school and I was more concerned with my grades, AP, graduation and getting in to college.

On a bus trip to Memphis I met a young woman who is a Delta and she was talking about her experiences on campus as a member. Someone was surprised that she was a member because she didn’t show it. She said that she wasn’t defined by her letters and felt no need to wear them all the time. She said she’d rather encounter prospective members as a regular person to see how they treat other women in general not how they would act around a Delta. I asked her why she chose Delta and she said “I did my research and Delta is what was best for me.” When asked if she had a daughter would she make her become a Delta she said that she wouldn’t force Delta on anyone because Delta isn’t for everyone and it has to be in your heart.

With that conversation in mind I decided to start doing research. As I did I found that only two of the four organizations appealed to me. Zeta and SGRho are both great, but I knew then that neither was in my heart. As I learned more I found that the two organizations I was still considering had a shared piece of history. I learned a little bit more about that, but didn’t give joining a sorority much more thought because I had more pressing concerns. I had to get ready to go off to college and I had to help my mom move.
As I was packing for the move I came across my sister’s obituary. I sat a looked at it as I had done probably a million times before, but this time when I read it I noticed in the last paragraph that before she died she wanted to become a member of Delta Sigma Theta. This did NOT make me want to be a member. My sister was one of the most beautiful, kind, and loving people I have ever known. She was intelligent, hard working, and principled. Because I know what kind of woman she was I knew then that there must be something special about Delta if she wanted to join. So, I filed that bit of information away in my brain and decided to acquire more knowledge about Delta.

By this time I began my freshman year. After really taking time to consider the purpose and mission of both AKA and Delta I realized AKA was not for me. I then decided to purchase a copy of In Search of Sisterhood. I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to even become a member because as they say Greek life isn’t for everyone, but I was sure that if I was going to be a member of anything it would be Delta.

As I read In Search of Sisterhood I became enthralled with Delta. Learning the history of Delta made me admire the organization even more, but I still had to figure out why I want to become a member.