How Sorority Life Enhanced my Collegiate Experience

There are so many negative stereotypes surrounding sorority women. From movies to TSM articles, the media tells society that sorority girls do nothing but party, haze each other, and barely get through college. This is the impression that I had of sororities before my friend encouraged me to join one. I was sceptical at first, but the more women I met throughout recruitment, the more my perception of sororities changed.

In the fall of 2012 I made one of the best decisions of my collegiate career: I joined Alpha Chi Omega. Alpha Chi was founded in 1885 and now is an organization composed of over 230,000 collegians. At Portland State we are a small chapter of an average of 40 women. Despite our small size, this organization has had a big impact on me. Through new friendships, philanthropy events, and leadership opportunities, Alpha Chi has helped me to be courageous, independent, and ambitious.

I found the true strength of sorority women. Over 7 million dollars is raised for charities by greek organizations every year. Alpha Chi’s philanthropy, Domestic Violence Awareness, is an extremely important one and I am proud to be a part of women who volunteer their time to the cause. Within Alpha Chi I have held 3 seperate executive positions over the last 3 years. The first was VP Risk Management where I was required to ensure the saftly and dignity of all our events and actions. Next I was VP Membership programming where I held events and educational programs for our chapter. Some of my favorite events were our sisterhood retreat and senior night. I am currently VP New Member Education. I plan bid, a day to welcome and celebreate our newly recruited sisters, and I am in charge of implementing the new member education programming.

I can say with confidence that Alpha Chi Omega has changed me for the better. I am now a real strong woman.