What Being in a Sorority Taught Me

It always surprises me when people look at me astonished and blurt out some gibberish to the effect “You were a Sorority girl? No way!” and I respond nicely, but also grinding my teeth, “Yeah, I was a damn good sorority girl.” When I’m shooting fireballs though my eyes at them.

I was a Sorority girl and if I want to get technical – I am still a Sorority girl. I’m an Alumna of a Sorority and will always consider myself a Sorority girl. I wasn’t the typical college student. I started at a community college that was less than 5 minutes from my parents’ house. I worked at a local office supply store and thought that my life was so hard.

After my freshman year I decided it was time to move on. I applied, got accepted and moved to Springfield to attend Missouri State University. My parents only had one rule – join a sorority. It didn’t matter which sorority, I just had to find one that I clicked with. So, I did. I found one, I joined, and never looked back.

People think I’m crazy when I say that my parents made me become a Sorority girl, but they had their reasons, which I’ll get to in a bit. I learned some pretty great things during those years. For instance:

– I learned the ability to hold a conversation with just about anyone and not sound like a moron. Through recruitment, social gatherings, and …. I learned how to talk to people that weren’t from a small town in Southeast Missouri.

– I learned how to dress like an adult. When you live with 60 other women there is going to be a time when you walk out of your room and someone goes “No, no way. Turn back and try again.” The first time it happened I was a little stunned, but in all honesty – she was right.

– One of the most important things I learned, which is why my parents wanted me to join a Sorority was how not to be so awkward. That’s right, yours truly was one awkward, introverted girl. I was shy. Painfully shy. The kind of shy that the thought of talking to another living being that I didn’t know since the age of six made me sweat.

– I learned some serious networking skills.

– Learned how to live with all different types of people. Literally living with them. It was an adjustment, but it was a great lesson. Let’s face it, we all work with, live with, and have to deal with people every single day. If I can live in a house with 60 other girls and still be friends with them at the end of it then I can handle any other environment.

– I learned how to have fun while being successful. At my college the Greek student body had a higher cumulative GPA then the remaining student body. At the end of the day there was someone in that house that had taken the class, had a friend that took the class, or was currently in the class. It made studying so much more beneficial.

Sorority is not for everyone. I’m not saying that it is. I have a lot of friends in my life that were not in a Sorority and they are successful. It’s hard to imagine what type of adult I would be without the years I spent in college traipsing around Missouri State with letters on my clothes. These lessons are my own.