Advice for a fellow Sister (very long!)

AOII Angel · #1 06-13-2008, 08:11 PM

I wasn't trying to chastize you, glamorbomb! You ask if alumnae involvement is worth it. It depends on what you want out of the experience. It is very different than collegiate life. You don't have all of the myriad responsibilities like rush and weekly chapter meeting. You can be as involved or uninvolved as you want. In the end, you get out of the experience what you put into it. To get the experience you want out of it, first decide what that experience is...in detail. Then, do everything you can to make that desire a reality. Sometimes, what you want is not a program currently available, but most chapters are willing to try new things to improve their programming to supply members with their needs.
It sounds like things got a little out of control while you were a collegiate. Forgive them for not being what you needed at the time. In the future, you may be able to help a sister in that same position you were in and show what it is to be a sister to a person in emotional distress. In the end, give it a try...if you don't like it, you can just walk away. There is nothing to lose.

KSUViolet06 · #2 06-13-2008, 08:18 PM

As far as alumna life being worth it: Absolutely.

The sorority is for a lifetime. If everyone took their negative experiences from college and decided to never get involved again, there would be no alumna chapters because I can guarantee that not one girl on this board had a totally perfect, storybook collegiate experience. Your alumna years are FAR longer than the 4 you spent in college, so it is important to get into a place where you can move on and get involved without carrying the hurt of what happened to you in college.

As we graduate, so begins the alumna experience in our lives and we start all over. Everything in alumna life is so much different than life as a collegian. You will meet new people, do different things, and serve the sorority on many new levels that you could not while in college.

It really is a fresh start. I encourage you to make the fresh start and contact your nearest alumna chapter. You'll be glad you did.

DZRose · #3 06-13-2008, 09:39 PM

I too didn't have that great of an undergraduate experience which is the precise reason I became involved on an alumnae level. I have gotten so much more after graduation than while still in college.

But being active as an alumnae shouldn't have anything to do with your experience in college, especially if you don't even live in that area anymore. If you love your sorority, be involved and leave all that baggage at the door.