Greek Life

About nine million college students across the US are apart of a fraternity or sorority. The percent of students that are a part of Greek Life that graduate is higher than the percent of students that don’t participate in Greek Life. 

According to Ayanna Rost 19’ a former student at West High School. She is now attending Northern Iowa as a freshman, and she is a part of Alpha Xi Delta.

“Movies make it seem like you have to be cookie-cutter and perfect to join, which obviously nobody is. Greek life here encourages anyone and everyone to go through the recruitment process no matter what your background. The girls in my sorority are open to new ideas, some of my best friends, and always there for each other,” Rost said.

With all of the events and meetings, sorority members have to learn how to manage their school. Isabelle Robles, now a  junior in college has been a part of her sorority Chi Omega for almost two and a half years. She is an executive member which means she helps decide on new rules, budgets, and laws for the sorority.

“Greek life definitely keeps me busy because of events and with being on exec having responsibilities, but I enjoy being busy so I don’t think it’s too hard to manage,” Robles said.

To get school work done sorority girls have to plan their outings around classes.

Rost says “it’s not that hard to balance classes with social life, I put my schedule together so that all my classes are during the day and most sorority/other social life events happen at night.”

Sororities have a few events every month. Some of them are required while others are optional. These events include weekly meetings so all the girls have a chance to get together, and other times they are to help raise money for an organization.

Rost’s sorority’s philanthropy is for Autism Speaks. “On Tuesday, we had a really fun fundraising event called tacos with the Alpha Xi’s and the money from that went to Autism Speaks,” Rost said.

Getting into a sorority takes quite a bit of time but for these girls, it is worth it.

To get into a sorority you have to go through what is called the recruitment process. Every sorority does the recruitment process differently but it is usually four to seven days of activities with different houses in order to get to know each other. At the end of each day, the girls choose what house they want to be apart of the most, and the houses also choose which girls they liked the best. At the end of the week, once it is narrowed down, the houses can choose whether they want to send a bid to a girl. A bid is like an invitation to join the sorority.

“I ultimately decided that AXiD [Alpha Xi Delta] was the one for me because I liked that everyone has their own story to share and it’s extremely welcoming place no matter what,” Rost said.

Sororities have certain things that they look for in a new member.

“We hope to bring members into Chi O that are focused on school and being involved, but are generally positive and like to have fun while they do it,” Robles said.

There is a sorority out there for everyone and college offers so many new opportunities and memories.

“Greek life encourages anyone and everyone to go through the recruitment process no matter what your background,” says Rost.

Greek life helps you make new connections and gives lots of new opportunities.

Robles says, “Chi Omega has brought some really amazing people into my life that I’m proud to call my friends. College can be kind of tricky because you’re living on your own, are away from your family and have a lot to balance, but it’s really nice to automatically be connected with a group of people that are there to support you and want to be friends.”