Sisterly Love

I am so fortunate to have an amazing little sister! She is one of the most constant parts of my life and is one of my biggest supporters. In college, it was really weird to be without her and without people surrounding me who were strong, smart and that I felt comfortable with. Enter Gamma Phi Beta.

When I first moved to college, I went through sorority recruitment and I found my home in Gamma Phi Beta. It was a house with women who strongly upheld the pillars of love, labor, learning and loyalty. It was the most beautiful place, filled with the most beautiful people. I remember looking at all of the seniors on Bid Day thinking, I will never be that put together and that close with the women of this house. Their relationships seemed unbreakable and just plain fun.. I wanted that! Well, fast forward 4 years and the women of my home became my best friends, my most treasured confidants, and women that I knew would be in my life forever. And more than that, my junior year, I got to welcome my real sister to Gamma Phi too.

Now, three years after graduating, I have stepped into an advising role in my same chapter. It is so interesting to come back and see how the dynamics of the house have changed and how they have stayed the same. Mostly, it’s so sweet to see that some of the traditions that I took part in are still alive and well. The women in the house now have endured so much in the last 2 years with covid. It is absolutely awe inspiring to see how reliant they are and how they have managed to invest just as much in the sisterhood now as I did years ago.

There are so many lessons that I learned from being in a sorority. From conflict resolution to managing money, to organize and executing events, there are skills that I gained that I still use most days. I was talking to a couple of the girls a few weeks ago and it dawned on me, while it is important in college to learn the materials in the typical educational classes, it is just as important to learn how to learn. Learning skills and creating habits for yourself is one of the biggest lessons that I took with me from college. I hope that the women of this house now, are able to gain as many life lessons as I did.

I go through my days now, chatting and talking to my friends, most of whom were in my sorority with me. And while that is the path that lead us to one another, our relationships have grown much further and deeper than just a tiny little house on OCU’s campus. We have endured hardships and things that no one our ages should have to experience. But even through all the pain, I wouldn’t trade having them by my side for anything.