Congratulations to the new sisters of Sigma Gamma Phi- Arethusa! ...and I'll talk about some more Greek Life myths

Last night, we welcomed Michelle, Ashley, Kat, and Christina into our sorority. I am so proud of them and I cannot wait to see what they will bring to our sorority as sisters. I was so happy to see them out in their letters today. I remember my first day having letters, and it was surreal. The feeling cannot be described. You just feel so welcomed and you know that you are involved in something special.

Today was our GPA program. I talked about GPA in one of my posts last month, but just in case you don't know, GPA stands for Greek Peer Advocate which puts on programs to educate Greek Life. Today, my GPA group and I held a program called "Shake Your Money Maker," where we talked about budgeting your money and health insurance. We gave each person fake money that was worth $60 and they had to budget it out between gas, rent, weekend entertainment, and food. At the end of the program we tallied up how much money the Greeks spent at each table and it was surprising to see that people spent over $1,000 at the weekend entertainment station and only $700some dollars at gas and rent. I also talked about health insurance because to those who are graduating, they have to start worrying about health coverage after college. Next week my group will be talking about Interviewing Skills for our GPA program.

Also- if you are eating lunch at Mills, keep an eye out for our breast cancer donation table that we are holding with Phi-Psi! We will be at Mills on Thursday from 11-3 and on Tuesday from 11-3.

I decided to bring out some truth about Greek Life myths. I have chosen my top three favorites...

1. People who join fraternity or sororities pay for their friends

That is absolutely false. Think of it this way- each SA club has a budget. Greek Life is not affiliated with the SA, so we require that each member pays dues in order to support their organization. Each organization budgets out the money their receive from their dues, for example, my dues go to the Community Service Budget, the Inter-Greek Council, the Social Budget, the Rush Budget, the New Member Educator Budget, the Vice-President's Budget, the Alumni Budget, and the President's Budget. If I did not have a budget that was supported by dues, I would not be able to buy supplies for my philanthropy events.
Also, my sorority and Pi Delta Chi are local organizations which means that we do not have national offices...which means our dues are significantly lower than the national organizations on campus because we do not have to pay dues to the national offices. As for my sorority, we offer payment plans (I currently have a payment plan), which makes paying dues easier.

2. If I join Greek Life, it will take over my life

That is absolutely false. Even though one can say that I do have a very active role in my sorority as the Community Service Chair, Parliamentarian, GPA, and Greek Blogger...believe it or not, being the training director of the radio station takes up more of my time than my sorority (approx 9 hours per week). Working at Phonathon takes up more of my time (6 hours per week) than my sorority. I have three sisters who are RAs in Curtis Hall. I have three sisters who are part of OSES. One of my sisters serves on Inter-Greek Council. I know some Greeks on campus who serve on the SA E-Board.

3. If I join a fraternity or sorority, I'm just going to party all the time

Absolutely not. We do have parties, however I also require my sisters to complete 14 hours of community service by the end of the semester. In order to be recruited by a sorority, you must have a GPA above 2.5. In order to stay active in a sorority, you must have a GPA above a 2.5. Recognized Greek Life is nothing like the stereotypes. So even though you get to have fun, you will also get involved in your community and get encouraged to stay on top of your schoolwork.

I also have to mention, Neil Diamond's new album "Home Before Dark" is excellent and I LOVE the new Of Montreal CD "Skeletal Lamping." Same thing goes with the new Senses Fail album and the new Jenny Lewis album...ahhh I love getting free music from WONY.