My sorority experience was everything I needed it to be

This weekend my sorority, Delta Phi Epsilon, is celebrating Alumni Weekend. Dozens of alum will return to SUNY Geneseo and live a weekend away from grad school, work, and/or motherhood and celebrate like we are all 21 again.

Sororities, and fraternities for that matter, get a bad rap in the so-called 'real world'. Stories of partying, alcohol poisoning, hazing and unsanitary living conditions make the organizations seem immature and uneducated. I get it.

Nowadays, I tell people I was in a sorority and I get "Really?! I would never pegged you as a sorority girl." I guess my time as a "sorority girl" has blurred the lines. I'm not really sure how to peg someone as a "sorority girl", simply because I met so many different kinds.

My time in Delta Phi Epsilon was exactly what I needed it to be. At a time in my life when I had stopped playing soccer, left behind high school friendships, and was suffering from a broken heart, Delta Phi Epsilon was there for me. Without getting too mushy, my sorority experience was anything but negative. It was a support system, a social calendar, a study group, a late night taco bell run with friends.

Unlike the stereotypical sorority, I belonged to a group of very diverse individuals. No, I didn't get along with all of them, but put a group of 70-some people together, and naturally some people jive better than others. There were athletes, nerds, party-ers, work-out-a-holics. There were girls I'd see at every event and some I would only spot at mandatory events. They are blondes and brunette. Tall and short. Skinny and curvy. Different races. Different sexual orientations. And we were all brought together because we wanted to be part of something. Each one of my sisters took their own experiences out of Delta Phi Epsilon, and even today, I watch girls carrying on the traditions, and making the sorority what they need it to be.

I was never hazed. We had to go through a six week "pledging" period in which we learned about the history, philanthropies, and beliefs of the sorority. We also spent this time getting to know everyone that belonged to the sorority. We learned our lineage and about the founders who started it all. Yes, we have secret handshake and a saying. Yes, we spent mandatory hours in the library and wearing silly costumes on bids nights, and that's about as far as bad as our pledging got.

Back in the day, I enjoyed my Friday and Saturday (and Wednesday and Thursday) nights like anyone else. But my favorite part of Delta Phi Epsilon was Sunday afternoons at chapter. Every week we would meet to discuss the goings-on in the sorority. It was at these meetings where I felt like I was apart of something bigger. There were traditions that had been set into place for years that are still followed today.

I met girls through DPhiE that I never would have had I not decided to pledge. I've attended weddings for these girls and have continued friendships with them four years after graduation. I've introduced these girls to my family and to David, and even to Juneau. :)

Some people look at sororities as a false way to get friends. Why pay dues to meet people? I guess that's one way of looking at it. But for me, it was an existing group of people that had the same need as me: to belong. Yes, we drank, and dated frat boys, and there were probably a fair share of cat fights, but we were/are a family and will have a bond that will always bring us back to those hilarious and life-changing years at SUNY Geneseo.

Yits, Deephers! And Happy Alumni Weekend.