justamom--how's lsu??

[AlphaChiGirl]

Originally posted by justamom
With the way many cut their legacies, MORE THAN A FEW are starting their preparations as we speak.

Already?! What if they aren't sure whether or not they're going to LSU?

[justamom]

navane-I don't know much about that end of it. h2oot may have a better handle on that information. I do know that some sororities welcome visitors from sister chapters at times and when girls or guys are in the area they are always welcome to stop by. I went on a bus trip to Auburn the Sigs invited our Sigs and dates to their house for a party.

AlphaChiGirl, LSU has the same dedication you see at UT or A&M.
There ISN'T a question (if they get the grades) where they will go. It is a "given" at birth from the little stuffed tiger to the LSU stripes on the Van. They KNOW they be LSU Tigers!

[ErikaXO]

Justamom.....if you can believe it, there is some of that (thought certainly not to the extent down there) at Kent State. We are a "legacy" school particularly with the hometown kids. Just in my family alone, my parents, my husband's parents, my husband's brother, my cousin, my sister-in-law (for her MBA only) and countless kids who passed through my husband's class attended KSU. Kent has had to battle a very specific image for a long time....31 years to be precise. Who doesn't automatically think about May 4, 1970 when they think of Kent? (Incidentally, 5/4/70 was the very day that my mother-in-law found out she was having twins!!! Fortunately she was at the OB's office and nowhere near campus at the time. I guess my father-in-law was running up and down the street with a shotgun.) Kent was thought of throughout the 70s as a hard-core hippie school (the greek composites of the era further demonstrate this. A chapter was lucky to have 10 members.) In the 80s, a push came to change that position. Enrollment skyrocketed and when my mom was getting her MA in the late 80s there were over 30K students and the greek system was huge. For me, going to Kent was as natural as breathing. My mom didn't start college until I was 4....I can still remember walking around campus with her, sometimes at night, with her friends (she was drawn to young people always, and they gravitated toward her) and just loving it. This was not long after May 4 and there were still a lot of activist events there.....they had "Tent City" when they were going to destroy a beautiful, tree-covered hill to build the new gym. All these hippies camped out on the hill with their families....it was unreal. I hated going to the babysitter while my mom was in class, so finally she just started taking me along. The professors loved me because I was so good (not to mention breathtakingly adorable!!!LOL)...I would pretend to take notes, or draw pictures for them, or sometimes just listen. I was always fascinated by history and art (two subjects she took a lot.) In fact, one of her favorite professors, with whom she developed a friendship (that turned into a mutual love interest but this isn't the time or place for that!!!!) was MY professor a couple of times!!! I actually skipped out on orientation week, because I knew campus like the back of my hand and I felt no need to waste my time.
Brent and I are supporters of Kent. His grandfather taught there for 30 years and won the distinguished teaching award and the president's medal. Before he died he endowed an award to be given to a deserving business professor every year and my husband always presents it. He belongs to the Blue & Gold club, and he is a season ticket holder to the basketball games (ranked #15 nationally......yea!!!!!!) I would love nothing more than to have my kids go there. (Brent would like it too, but he has dreams of them going through Annapolis too.....big Navy family.)
By the way, did you guys see the thread on Indiana rush???? Good lord, 1600 rushees!!!!!!!! I can't even imagine!!!!!!!!! (They do it over 2 semesters!!!!!)

[justamom]

Erika, LOVED your post. How interesting. I always think of CSNY
(Crosby Steels Nash and Young) when I think Kent State. I must applaud your Mom...That takes a LOT to "keep on keeepin' on"
when you have a child.

I HAVE been following that thread...unbelievable!

[mmcat]

to echo, justamom....
super post. i remember kent state when i was little and it all happened. i considered it when i was looking.
justa...your baby should be just about ready to be initiated, yes?
cheers and happy thanksgiving
mmcat

[lyrelyre]

I know some Moms have already started "dropping by" their houses with daughters in tow
to give the actives a heads up so to speak.
With the way many cut their legacies, MORE THAN A FEW are starting their preparations as we speak.

I think that it is good that moms are dropping by with their daughters. All chapters take legacies seriously and my chapter always documents a damn good reason for releasing one.

It can be very irritating as an active to never hear from an alum until her daughter goes through rush. Then we are expected to be chomping at the bit to offer her a bid. If mom isn't active why would her daughter be? Women need to ask themselves "Would any of the actives at the nearest chapter vaguely recognize me from alumnae activities?" or "Do any alums in my area know I'm an XYZ?" If the answers are definitely "NO" then the woman should think about reconnecting with an alum group or helping the nearest chapter. We need active alums so we try to pledge girls who will be active after graduation. If a mom is not active then we often assume that her daughter will not be either.

I'm probably preaching to the choir. Anyone on GC is more active than the average alum.

[justamom]

I have NO IDEA when they get initiated! THAT GIRL! I swear she is like "Late Breaking News". I have to laugh though because sometimes she acts like she told me and I KNOW she didn't!

They did go on a retreat so it is probably getting close. I know she's looking forward to wearing the letters...wasn't that the GREATEST feeling- the FIRST time you could put them on!

lyrelyre-Only those that "know" go to that extreme. One of the Mom's told me it was time for her to get involved since her daughter was going through in a year. We have some nice girls who will sign up and I expect quite a few will be placed. LOTS of legacies again. My son's class has so many boys who are legacies-most to K-Sig, SAE and Sigma Chi. I think SAE was closed down. Anyway, the next two years will be really interesting and exciting since I know so many of the kids.

[aggieAXO]

As Justamom said you know from birth whether you will be a longhorn or an Aggie. I remember watching the A&M football games at my grandfathers house in the 70's-he graduated from A&M in 1923. I knew from the time I was 4 years old that i was going to A&M and eventually become a veterinarian. If I have kids they hopefully will be aggies too

[ErikaXO]

Justamom.....does this mean you have a little boy going through all this in the near future????? If so, relax, it isn't nearly as bad for the guys as it is for the girls....but still, I imagine down there even the fraternity rush is pretty intense. Sounds like you have the same family dynamics I do....the daughter and then the son just a couple years behind. Mine will only be one year apart in school so it will be a wild ride!!!

[justamom]

ERIKA, Yes, my son is a Junior this year. He NEVER had an interest (due to lack of fraternity interest in our area) but things have really changed this past year. With his sister involved, he had to listen to EVERYTHING during her rush, Now he hears about the "fun" stuff and he and his friends have decided to go through the process. It's funny, those guys look at the "trappings" the same as the girls do. He's heard about the KA's and their formal and thinks that's pretty neat (NOT HIS WORD-MINE) He also wants to know who has the highest GPA and of course they ALL are into the GQ image thing... He won't ask his sister directly-too cool for that, so I have to ask then and supply what info I can. It's pretty funny because he doesn't want to appear too interested.

Yep-we have just about the same situation. Had it not been for a school transfer in Kindergarten-public to private (with the classrooms being full I had to keep him in Kindergarten twice) he would be a SENIOR!!! Never lets me forget it when it comes to curfew requests... H2OOT said it's competative between the "top" houses for the guys, but more relaxed amoung the other fraternities. I'll find out soon enough.

I will be a lonely old lady when my baby boy leaves...Thank goodness my Hubby and I are FRIENDS as well as "loves". I might otherwise spend my time pushing a shopping cart along deserted streets!

[ErikaXO]

Awwww.....I can't imagine ever being there but then I couldn't imagine the day coming when I would be driving to my first parent-teacher conference--and that day came yesterday!!!!

It will be interesting if my kids do go to Kent. I will probably still be involved with Chi O at the advisor level or at least with house corp or alumnae action. So Paige is going to feel a little legacy pressure there. The other chapter that she is a legacy (3 ways) to is not on our campus (AGD) so that won't be an issue. Coulter will have a different situation. Not only were his daddy and his grandpa Delts, but his great-grandpa was a SigTau and his uncle (daddy's identical twin) was a SX. Paige will probably go Delta Gamma and Coulter SAE!!!!!!!

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally posted by ErikaXO
Paige will probably go Delta Gamma and Coulter SAE!!!!!!!

Just out of curiosity, on what are those predictions based?

[ErikaXO]

Yeah I guess I kind of left out the background info, didn't I? Just before my husband and I got together, he was dating a DG and I was dating an SAE....SAE was the main rival of the Delts at KSU. I had a knack of either dating exes of DGs or getting pursued by guys (usually SAEs!!!!) that DGs were interested in....(I guess we have similar tastes!!!!) so I was not the most popular girl around their house. One of my SAE exes and his cronies made disparaging remarks about my husband to me, so things were pretty awkward there. It was all just ugly.

The good news is that in the end Brent got to be friendly with some of my cooler SAE buddies. And I ended up becoming very close friends with a DG, who actually HAD been a very close friend of Brent's ex!!!!!

Actually, I must edit my post.....now that I think about it if they find out that they're OUR kids, they'll get dropped by those houses so fast heads will spin. That's ERIKA'S daughter????AAAAGH!!! LOL

[KillarneyRose]

Do the Chi-O's and Delts at Kent State seem to hang out with each other more than with other houses? You've mentioned that your husband is a Delt; did a lot of KSU Chi-O's end up married to Delt brothers?

One of my best friends from high school was a Chi-O at Kent State (she graduated in '90, so I'm thinking she was probably before your time) and she was a little sister at Delta Tau Delta and I seem to remember spending a lot of time with her and her sisters at the Delt house when I would visit her.

[ErikaXO]

Tracy, I pledged in '90 but I still might know who your friend is....no I was one of the few Delt girls. There were a couple of Delt girlfriends, including a Delt Sweetheart who ended up pledging Chi O my last year, and a group of the younger girls hung out there then because of them. There always seemed to be different "phases......" My freshman year, for instance, we hung out with the Delts and the Phi Delts. The Alpha Phis had a virtual monopoly on the Sigma Chis until my senior year. The DGs hung out with the SAEs and to a lesser degree the Delts. Then my sophomore year, we started to get very tight with the SAEs (though there was still a very strong Phi Delt contingent.) The SAEs were pretty popular with the girls in general, most of the sororities had little SAE groupie cliques. But the DGs kind of moved in on the Phi Delts that year. We were still tight with SAE my junior year, but some of the girls started infiltrating the SX house. Then my senior year the older XOs were all about SX and the Alpha Phis had moved on to the SAEs. Strange. After Brent and I graduated the Delts really took a nosedive. They had been top 3 for a long time and all of a sudden things really got shaken up. SX stayed strong but SAE ended up getting booted for a few years and Phi Tau and DU took over as the top houses. I think the Delts are bouncing back now, they seem to have a good group of guys but their numbers are weak. Back when Brent was an active they were just awesome....they were the big strong jock guys who had fantastic parties and loved to fight.