Greeks Don't Care About School {MythBusters}

One of my favorite myths about Greek life I hear is that we don’t worry about school. I’m assuming this myth suggests that our energies are focused on other frivolous activities such as partying, drinking…you know… the stuff you see on TFM/TSM. Why waste our time with classes and studying when we can party and pay to be in the most elite groups on campus and network to find our dream jobs? HA

            For everyone who understands the real Greek system, the importance of scholarship is taken incredibly seriously. Though Greek life may aid in providing students with the opportunities and skills for networking to help in their future career, each and every fraternity and sorority expresses the ideals of scholastic pursuit and achievement in their creeds, mottos, and membership obligations. Greek life supports students to get involved on campus and to maintain high GPA’s while also balancing community involvement and service. Greek life, in fact, implements systems specifically designed to help each student work diligently and manage time to instill the skills needed after college in the workplace. All fraternity men and sorority women push each other because they both must meet a specific grade point average each semester in order to be in good standing in membership to attend social events. With these multiple checks and balances, Greek life is centered on scholarship and academic success. 

            In addition to the school requirements for social and membership activities, Greek life delivers emotional support from a family of students who strive for success in scholarship and careers just like you. Because all Greeks feel the same pressure to work hard and maintain high GPA’s, each group empathizes with the difficulties and struggles and bonds together to help one another thrive. In fact, in my personal experiences, I have witnessed my sisters and Greek community encourage me in my academic goals and discourage the peer pressures to cave in and waste time. Since joining Greek life, I have seen my GPA soar and have been inducted into several honor societies and received many academic achievement awards, all because I have a huge support system feeding my fire to push harder in my studies.

Greek life is an organization with one of the worst reputations, yet it holds the highest ideals and esteem of any other group I have been apart of. My scholastic success is to blame because of Greek life, and the opportunities I have experienced because of my hard work are unbelievable. I, just like many others, am pursuing my career path and working in a field of study that I love without yet owning my college degree. Greek life is so valuable and is life changing, and I could not be more grateful for my decision to go Greek. My only regret is that I stumbled through my first year without giving Greek life a chance. Sign up for recruitment today!

Written by Abbie Holbert; Edited by UNA Panhellenic

Be-YOU-tiful {Confidence}

As a fellow member of the female population, I am here to be the first one to tell you that I have, and still, struggle with feeling confident in who I am. I doubt and discredit myself daily. Confidence comes in ups and downs. Some days it seems like I just don't have it in me to accomplish my goals, reach my dreams, or even make it through the day. While other days, with the right outfit and a good hair day, I feel like Beyonce..... Can anyone relate?

See, the thing is, most of us girls measure our self-worth by comparing ourselves to other people. Whether she is more successful, smarter, prettier, has a better personality, has a "perfect" relationship, gets more likes on social media, goes to a "better" school, and the list could go on for days. We discredit ourself: our own abilities, ideas, talents, passions... the things that makes us who we are. Our own individuality. It is so incredibly easy to feel like we don't measure up. I know personally this has always been a struggle for me. "Comparison is the thief of joy". True statement. But comparison is also the thief of confidence, self-worth, and ultimately, individuality. 

The problem is that we base our own worth off of the approval of other people. Even if we don't like to admit it. We post a picture on Instagram and don't feel good about ourselves unless we get at least 100 likes... and we scroll through the "likers" ten times to see who approves of it. Filter, edit, crop. We take and retake a picture because we feel ugly and wouldn't dare let someone see us on social media when our faces are bare and hair is a mess. 

But, in reality, our individuality is beautiful. Being unique is an adventure. It makes life interesting and exciting. Different goals, passions, talents, and ideas are useful and absolutely necessary. Our differences makes us who we are and we should embrace them and learn to {l o v e} ourselves rather than beat ourselves up. 

This post is for everyone who is struggling with not feeling good enough. I know it's hard when we constantly compare ourselves to others and lose sight of the fact that we were created for a purpose. A purpose that is part of a greater picture we might not even understand at this twenty-something inbetween stage of our lives. We have different qualities and quirks and they make us uniquely and individually beautiful. 

Embrace you. Embrace the fact that your hair curls at the ends and your thighs touch. Embrace the size of your waist and the number on the scale. Loving yourself is the most freeing and beautiful thing you can ever do. 

Because no one can be a better you. No one has been through the exact struggles that you have and no one can fulfill the plan of your life except you! At the end of the day all you have is yourself. When you lie down to go to sleep and your thoughts race, remind yourself that you are the person that you are for a reason. You are on this planet for a {u n i q u e} purpose and that is an amazing thing. Believe in yourself because you are more beautiful than you believe, smarter than you think, and stronger than you.

Post Written by Guest Blogger, Summer Richardson; Edited by UNA Panhellenic

Be-YOU-tiful

Everyone has something that they may not be confident about or some fear that keeps us up late at night. We are an imperfect people and there are always going to be things that we are self-conscious about. It could be that stutter that you get when you are nervous, the size of your feet, the inability to get in front of a crowd and speak with purpose. We are all imperfect, but that imperfection is humanizing.

Sometimes, we allow our fears and emotions to prevent us from seizing opportunities because we are lacking in confidence. We may be afraid to stand up and take charge in a situation because we are afraid of being talked about. We become complacent because we lack confidence.

It is important to remember that there are haters everywhere. You are never going to be able to please everyone. You may not have the perfect body, you may not have the perfect voice, you may not have the best athletic ability, but you are YOU and there is nothing that you can do about that.

You must take some stock in who you are. Whether you are quiet, nerdy, loud, funny, sarcastic, introverted, extroverted, or anywhere in between, OWN who you are. Be that person and be that person on a DAILY BASIS.

Recently, I got the opportunity to hear Erin Fischer speak at Panhellenic Academy. She was one of the opening speakers and she spoke on the topic of confidence. She shared with us some of her habits that she developed on her journey to being a more confident person. Here are some tips from the brave Ms. Fisher:

#1- Limit your limiting beliefs- Don’t let the fact that someone has told you that you are not good at something keep you from doing it. If you let go of those limits, you can change your behaviors.

#2-Build your reserve of resiliency-Failure is inevitable. You are going to fail, but the failure is not what it is important. What is important is that you have the strength and the courage to keep going even after you fail. Accept your failure, own in, and learn from it.

#3-Get real- Do not be afraid to ask for help. You are not a perfect person and you are going to need help at some point. Be real with yourself and realize when you need that assistance you can JUST ASK!

#4-Help others on their confidence journey- Sharing your talent not only benefits the person that you are helping, but you are going to find joy in sharing your talents.

#5-Identify your fears so you can increase your self-awareness- By knowing your fears and being aware of then, you can work on getting over those fears and gaining confidence in the face of those fears.

#6- You can learn a lot from the confidence of rock stars- Rock stars DO NOT CARE about the people who did not buy their tickets. They are only worried about the people who are bought their tickets and come to hear them play. Do not worry or lose sleep over the people who do not buy YOUR ticket. There are people who are in your corner. You should appreciate and “play” for the patrons that are behind you.

So, dance like no one is watching, sing your heart out in the shower, tell that corny joke, don’t let them put Baby in a corner! Be who you are and be as genuine as you can be and go into the world and BE CONFIDENT!

Post Written by Guest Blogger, Sarah Ann Keeter; Edited by UNA Panhellenic

Sorority Is...A Legacy

Leaving a place better than you found it is the opportunity of a lifetime, and being in a sorority has given me that amazing opportunity.

Like many others, I was hesitant about joining a sorority. I signed up for formal recruitment unsure of  what I was getting myself into. But, I soon came to find out that going through formal recruitment would be one of the best learning experiences I had ever had. I got to meet a diverse group of women in every chapter. I was able to learn what values they live by. They told me how much they loved their sisterhood, what their organization's national philanthropy was, and how much they loved being involved. It was breathtaking, because I would soon start my legacy in one of these wonderful chapters. Each one supported a great philanthropy and each one had a sisterhood that was complex and incredible. Finally, when it was time to run to my new home on bid day, I was scared. It was overwhelming that I would soon be meeting the women who would become my best friends.

My sorority has opened so many doors for me; it has given me opportunities I never thought I would have. As a freshman and a new member, I looked up to the women who were officers in the chapter and hoped to one day follow in their footsteps. Now, as a junior, being an officer has made a difference not only in my life, but also in the lives of 90 other women. I've had a myriad of opportunities to go to conventions and conferences to better myself as an officer, as a leader, and as a woman. I found that by being involved in my chapter I have already gotten so much out of it. Someone once told me, "you get out of it what you put into it." I carry that advice with me no matter what I am doing. To get the most out of your college experience, it's important to try and make a difference. 

People ask, "Why join a sorority?" I say, because these women are my shoulder to cry on. These women are my support system when things go wrong. These women are my future bridesmaids. They're my 3 A.M. laughs, and they're my best friends. These women are my source of truth. My sisters are the people I go to when anything of consequence happens in my life. My sisters are the people I'm making memories with - memories that will last a lifetime, and that is where my legacy begins.

Post Written by Guest Blogger, Samantha Kolesar; Edited by UNA Panhellenic

Sorority Is...Authentic

I walked through freshman orientation with a leather jacket and a head full of music sung by bands I was sure no one knew. I was on my way to joining the creative community, and I was not about to let a sorority stop me. I imagined that the people wanting to go Greek had never experienced the importance of authenticity. I was sure that every single pledge was insecure and would eventually resent their organization for frivolous things.

 As my freshman year progressed and I got more involved I began admiring some of the hardest working people on campus. Only after I made role models of these people did I realize they wore letters. This sparked my interest in Greek Life, quietly at first. I began doing silly things like taking a Buzzfeed quiz to see which sorority I belonged in, going to parties hosted by fraternities and sororities (trying to not look too curiously at the letters), and constantly asking my boyfriend (who was in a fraternity) about the sorority’s reputations on campus.

Long story short, I went through fall recruitment (which is its own odyssey). On one hand I felt like I’d betrayed a part of myself, but on the other I felt like I was finally allowing myself to be someone I always discredited.  See, a lot of people picture sorority girls as bullies, drinking buddies, or as the unintelligent populous of campus.  As if being in a sorority means selling your soul for a bid. I would have to say that since being in a sorority I’ve gotten to know myself better. The ladies I’m surrounded by encourage authenticity much more than a lot of people in my life. They expect me to be me, and they encourage all of the weird that make up who I am. No one forces attendance anywhere because I’m genuinely excited to be with my sisters.

What I’ve experienced since joining a sorority is absolute love. Everyone has been supportive of me when I have to miss events and cared about me when I’ve been rather atrocious. They’ve helped me shake off the idea that persona is better than character and helped me value who I am and who I want to be. They’ve challenged my understanding of what it means to care for someone, and taught me how lovely it is to be a part of something bigger than yourself.

So though I still have a leather jacket and playlists full of indie credit, I feel no shame about singing Hannah Montana  at formal. Where Instagram makes Greek life look like the movies, there are un-noted hours of sincerity. Being in a sorority allows you to challenge yourself and learn what large scale love is.  

Post Written by Guest Blogger, Mollie Schaefer; Edited by UNA Panhellenic

Sorority Is...Not Perfect

I think part of our disappointment in Greek life stems from a lack of satisfaction which in turn leads to a lack of retention. I realize how pessimistic this comes across, but let me get a little wordy for a moment.

Satisfaction—or rather, dissatisfaction, is the result of a lack of performance in relation to the height of expectation. In other words, when we sell the sorority package and advertise "no more bad hair days, dates galore, perfect friends forever, and the secret to suddenly becoming morning people," we are setting ourselves up to disappoint a woman or two! Amirite??

My point to all this is that being an involved sorority woman has given me so much—but it's required of me equally, if not more. The package I bought when I joined my three-lettered organization with colors, philanthropy, and sentimental creed relating back to all the core values I've ever hoped to embody in this life was NOT a cookie cutter, pre-made, no-assembly-required type of buy-in. But rather, this organization required me as a member to deeply invest my time, energy, talent, and love into a collection of amazingly flawed, beautiful people. 

The nights I struggled most with my organized assembly of souls were the nights I was dissatisfied with the imperfection that comes with the humanity of our organizations.

When I sat in recruitment 4 years ago, all I could think about were all the perfect people surrounding me. I saw all the beautiful girls with their hair, every strand in place, every move in sync, every word said with poise and grace. I was consumed with this idea of perfectionism. I remember running through my resume before attending the various nights, making sure to note at some point in the conversation some of my proudest activities and honors and making sure I had only the best profile pictures on social media in the event they saw me. If I was going to join perfect, I in turn had to become perfect. 

As bid day came and went, I was so excited to be a part of such a wonderfully perfect group. I wanted all the shirts with letters, pinned all the perfectly "sorority quotes" on Pinterest, and quickly made sure my car and every social profile I had displayed my letters across them. What I didn’t understand at that time but quickly realized was that the recruitment room filled with perfect girls was in all reality a room filled with passionately flawed, imperfect women.


I joined a group of outstanding people, don’t get me wrong. But the more time I invested in their hearts, the more I began to see all of our many flaws. Some of us come from messes that would only sound real in movies. Others struggle with body image or grades. All of us have had absurdly embarrassing moments, and we have all spent a night discussing the petrifying realities of the future and how we have no idea what we’re going to be doing in the next five years. We’ve wasted lots of mascara crying over things that don’t matter, and we’ve obsessed over the opinions of those who don’t deserve the attention. These are the people who surround me. Not perfect people but rather people with pasts and messes and bright bold futures. They’re forces to be reckoned with, souls on fire, with all the life, gifts, and talents ready to share with the world.

These women are strong. They know strength because they’ve struggled and because they’ve had someone to bare their burdens with. 

I am strong because I have a back bone made of a hundred sisters in Christ who pray for me and with me when I need it most and help me buck up when they know I can achieve greater. 

These women who surround me, they are not perfect by any means. They are hard-working, money managing, time crunched, stressed out, wonderful messes who are great with a curling iron and lip stick. And they are my family. They help me figure it out every day. I thank God that he did not bless me with perfect friends but perfectly imperfect sisters who love me and all my imperfections too.

So when examining "what sorority is:", I suggest not starting with what it is but with what it is not. 

•It is not perfect—and that is ok! Who can handle perfection? Who can keep up with that mentality? How do we forgive and be forgiven in a realm that scorns imperfection?

•It is not an excuse to be exclusive—the misconception that we can only foster friendships within our own organizations is the exact opposite of what our founders had envisioned. I can only think that I was given the opportunity to grow and cope with life with a group of like-minded individuals so that I might be a better communicator with the world around me and be able to initiate new ties and friendships because of the confidence I found in having my own support system.

•It is not the ultimate goal—the beauty of having an established community is that these organizations are meant to help you discover yourself and support you in pursuit of all your aspirations. We are not here to say, "you're in XYZ, congratulations, you've made it!".   Instead, we've taken a pledge that says, "you've joined XYZ, now I pledge to help you realize your dreams, support you when it gets tough, and just love you anyway."

In summation, sorority is not just Greek letters, t-shirts, socials, and car decals. It's so, so much more. I would proudly say that I am a part of a phenomenal chapter, but if you're looking for perfection, we're just not your girls.



Post Written by Guest Blogger, Lauren Copeland; Edited by UNA Panhellenic

Sorority Is....

"From the outside looking in, you can't understand it, and from the inside looking out, you can't explain it." 

That quote is quite possibly the most cliche quote about sorority and fraternity life in existence. But, at the same time, it's pretty true.

If you were to ask most sorority women what their view of sorority life was before becoming an initiated member of their organization they'd probably give you a list of things that everyone in the universe associates with sorority life: t-shirts, mixers, date parties, rush, dues...basically the TV show Greek or sort of like Legally Blonde?  For most young collegiate women, going through formal sorority recruitment was something that they did because their mom did it, or because their roommate was planning on doing it, or simply because they were curious about this mysterious thing called "recruitment." It's a whirlwind of cocktail dresses and polite conversation that eventually grows into meaningful conversation that eventually becomes the ominous thing referred to as "bid day" (squeals!!!!).

Fast forward. Now, ask a sorority woman what her view of sorority life is since she's been an initiated member of her organization. She'll probably give you a long list of words like: life-long, preparation, sisterhood, philanthropy, academics.... Where did that change come from? How did that confused freshmen become a leader on her campus and in her organization? How has it become more than something that her mom did before her? How, exactly, did being in a sorority help her decide what she wants to do with her life?

Let's finally break down that cliche phrase. Lack of transparency with non-Greek people about Greek Life is one of the reasons that there is so much confusion surrounding it. Lack of continuous education about sorority, as a whole, is the reason retention is never at 100%.

Let's start being really open about what sorority is.

Sorority is so much more than t-shirts and mixers. Sorority is so much more, even, than philanthropic endeavors. So, what is sorority?

Sorority is learning to work with a team. Sorority is having a support system. Sorority is learning to be a functional member of society. Sorority is an emphasis on furthered education. Sorority is figuring out who you are as a woman. Sorority is all of this, and so much more, and it means something different to every woman involved.

In the following weeks, UNA Panhellenic will be asking guest writers from each chapter what sorority means to them. We encourage you to follow us as we step into the meaning of sorority life as told by sorority women. We can't wait to start this journey with you!

If you're interested in writing about what sorority life means to you, email your post to panhellenic@una.edu