Be A Valuable Member of Your Sorority

Bids are like investments in members; we want girls in our sorority to reflect our positive traits and be as involved as possible so that our organization is being lifted up rather than torn down. It is important to remember that you need to give to your sorority as much as it gives to you, which is a lot. Think about it. Your organization has given you your best friends (more than that: sisters), experiences and leadership opportunities, ways to be involved with service and philanthropy, maybe even scholarships, and not to mention all of the great college memories. Need ideas on how to prove you were worth investing in? I am here to help.

1. Be part of committees or hold chair positions. There are so many jobs and events to be planned and executed, so your sorority needs your help. If you are not the leader type, you will probably learn how to be before you graduate, but you can start by helping the other chair positions. More important chairs have committees, so feel free to join them and work with sisters to offer a helping hand. Trust me, no one is going to complain that you helped them set up for the COB event. You might even become friends with sisters you didn’t know that well before.

2. Attend ANY events you can. It is impossible to be actively involved with every philanthropy and new member event, but if you are free you should attempt to make an appearance. It is important to represent your sorority at other organization philanthropies and events. The more sisters in attendance, the better your sorority looks. A Greek community is important when it comes to picking homecoming partners or planning socials, so you need to put in the time and energy when they have events. As for sisterhood events, these are equally as important (if not, more). You can’t expect the new members to uphold your sorority’s standards if you aren’t mentoring them and showing them what it means to wear your letters. You can’t say that you love and support each other if you chose to take a nap instead of signing in at an IM game for sweetheart points.

3. Offer help or support in small ways on a regular basis. If you are staying in on a weekend night, offer to give rides to girls who are drinking. If there is an event coming up that needs to be driven to, offer to carpool. Post a cute picture or an important reminder/news update on your Facebook page. Give a sister candy if she has been tweeting about a rough week. Sisterhood means being there for each other whether it be a shoulder to cry on or someone to send them a picture of a hot guy. Giving a helping hand to someone who you might not know well may lead to your new best friend.

4. If you hang out with fraternity boys or have a favorite fraternity, be a liaison between your chapters. Guys are a lot more likely to buy your frat tank if they think they are closer to your sorority. Networking goes beyond personal connections. By “networking” with your favorite fraternities and reminding them how great your sorority is, you can ensure they will all be pumped to participate in your next 5k or sweetheart competition. You are going to have hookups and hangouts with them, so you might as well help your chapter while doing so.

5. Keep your social media clean. This is really for you, but it will help your sorority too. Save your risk management chair that awkward “take that post down” text, and just don’t post anything questionable. Excessive Instagram pictures with holding beer while half naked with a caption with excessive swearing seems cool to your friends back home (oh wait, it really doesn’t), but it doesn’t reflect well on your chapter. Remember that nationals and alumnae see your profiles and expect them to reflect how great your chapter is upholding the creed. Alumnae also give jobs and donations, and if they see that shit, you are not getting an internship with nationals or snacks donated to you for hell week recruitment week.

6. Don’t get in trouble. If you are going to do illegal things, don’t get arrested for it. Be conscious of where you are and of who is watching. Getting black-out or vomiting everywhere drunk at a big college bar is not going to look well on your organization. If authorities get involved or you are sent to a hospital, you are definitely making life a lot harder for your sorority. Taking part in activities that will put your sorority on probation is a definite no. If you want to drink, smoke, or whatever, do it safely and privately. Getting caught doing this stuff gives Greeks a bad reputation, and it will piss off your sisters when they can’t have socials for the rest of the semester because you were too stupid to turn down the last few shots.

Basically just don’t be an asshole and help out your sisters. These are the girls who will be planning your bridal shower one day, so don’t piss them off.