|
DAY 2: PHILANTHROPY
DAY 2: Philanthropy
I woke up bright and early this day, super excited to see what my invites back would be! Today was philanthropy day and the suggested dress code was Business Casual. Panhellenic recommended wearing pants, a blazer, and maybe flats or small heels but that wasn’t really my style (plus it was probably 90+ degrees outside). I had bought a long sundress over the summer that I thought would be perfect but I was worried about straying too far from the dress code. My mom gave me some great advice, saying, “Would you want to be in a chapter that cuts you just for dressing in your style and what you feel comfortable in?” and so I wore the dress. I was glad I did too because a lot of girls decided to ignore the blazer suggestion and dress a little more fun instead.
I walked over to my Rho Chi and was handed my schedule…
BLUEBERRY
WATERMELON
GREEN APPLE
ORANGE
STRAWBERRY
GRAPE
I was so happy that I got my top 6 back!!! I couldn’t wait to meet more actives and learn about their philanthropies! All of the chapters I was returning to today were also at my last school but I wasn’t super familiar with all of them so I was ready to see more!
BLUEBERRY: Once again my first house of the day was BLUEBERRY. I was picked up at the front door by an active that had such amazing eyes. She was so pretty and we sat out on their patio to talk. It was super hot again at their house. Being out on the patio in the sun, I was dripping sweat trying while trying to keep a good conversation haha. We talked about where we had travelled that summer before another girl came over and grabbed me, leading me to a table where they had little philanthropy set up and a craft to complete. They had little felt squares that we would draw on with markers and they said they were going to sew them together and make a quite to donate. I knew that the type fabric they had wouldn’t have been able to make a quilt so it felt like a bit of a white lie to me. Either way, the girls I talked to were sweet and I had a pretty good time here.
WATERMELON: I was a little nervous going into this house for the second day because I had such a good time the day before. We were all led in and placed in a semi-circle in the house. Before any actives came to pick us up, the president said that they had a speech and a video to show us. The video was from their national offices and seemed a little outdated but was still quite heartwarming to see what the chapter was involved in not only at this school, but what this sorority worked on throughout the country. After the video, an active stood up and gave a sweet speech about a philanthropy event that they had the year prior and how being there and working with their group really showed that they were making a difference. She was extremely poised and I knew that she had been a junior transfer which showed to me that even older PNMs had the chance to make a difference and get involved in this sorority. After the speech an active grabbed me from the semi-circle and we walked around the downstairs as she showed me the different tables they had set up for each of their events. However, when another active came over our conversation felt a little forced. She had a somewhat sarcastic personality but it came off as a little too sassy, so I didn’t really like her too much.
GREEN APPLE: I then headed over to GREEN APPLE and talked to some amazing women. I don’t remember exactly what we talked about during this party but I remember that the actives were so welcoming and I felt pretty at home here. They showed me around the living room again with tables of their events they had throughout the year. My active then sat me down and another active gave a speech about how she had been affected by this cause personally and because of her chapter and the philanthropy work she had done, that it had changed her life. It was a super personal speech, and could’ve been considered “risky” considering how it was only day 2, but I thought she was really brave to be so open and her sisters really seemed to be there for her.
ORANGE: GREEN APPLE’s party had run a little bit late so I ran to ORANGE and made it just as they were calling the final lineup. Feeling a little flustered from running all the way there, I quickly caught my breath before I walked in. They started off their party with another video and it was a tearjerker. Having a cousin that was supported by this philanthropy, it hit super close to home and I held back some tears. The active I was paired with talked about their events and showed me their tables again and my friend came by to say hello. Overall it was a really successful party and I definitely wanted to come back.
STRAWBERRY: STRAWBERRY was next and I was grabbed by an out of state active who told me all about their event and how much money they had raised the past year. It was really impressive and a really cool philanthropy. The girl I had talked to the other day came over to say hi, as well as their recruitment chair. I was then taken out to their patio and two girls talked to me about a philanthropy event the school put on annually that they had both been a part of. It was definitely something I was super interested in and so the conversations went really well.
GRAPE: Last party of the day and I was so exhausted. This house didn’t show their philanthropy and what they did as well as I thought they would have and the girls seemed a little uninterested (they were probably just tired like me) in the conversations. I kept trying to keep the convo going but they kept falling flat. I found myself at one point holding back a yawn as to not be rude while the active struggled to find something else to talk about.
I left GRAPE and headed over to rank my houses again. I was pretty sure about what I wanted to rank but I wasn’t too sure about where I wanted to put GREEN APPLE and BLUEBERRY. I had good conversations in both and knew that I would be happy to return to either. BLUEBERRY was considered the more “prestigious” chapter of the two, but I thought about their philanthropies’ and how the sisters had seemed to act with each other, and ultimately decided that I had enjoyed GREEN APPLE more. Their speech had been really moving for me and I thought about how much I had liked it there the first day. So I ranked…
1. STRAWBERRY
1. WATERMELON
1. ORANGE
1. GREEN APPLE
2. BLUEBERRY
3. GRAPE
|
Threaded Mode
