Lessons learned from ΦM

            Today marks the Founders Day of my sorority, Phi Mu.  162 years ago, three ingenious women named Martha Hardaway Redding, Mary Myrick Daniel and Mary Dupont Lines decided to create a society of like-minded women.  These women had no idea back then that Phi Mu would have grown exponentially over all this time.  I wanted to take the time to share my opinions about not only Phi Mu, but also sororities in general.

            I joined Phi Mu back in 2011.  I had no idea the impact joining a sorority would make on me.  I, like a lot of people, thought that Greek Life was a joke.  I believed that I was buying friends and I didn’t need that in my life.  I could not have been more wrong.  Through my other organizations, I had the opportunity to meet several current Phi Mu members.  I thought I was going to see a group of rude, vapid, girls just looking for their next party.  What I saw was a group of women grounded on the idea of supporting one another during every endeavor.  The Phi Mu members that I saw liked me for me.  I didn’t have to change myself to be accepted by Phi Mu.

            My first semester as a Phi Mu was like a dream.  Here I was in this loving environment with people that genuinely cared about me.  I had a big that I would have done anything to make proud.  I felt like I had found my niche.  I hope my Panhellenic sisters are reading this and nodding because everybody has this moment while in a sorority.  This is the moment of pure happiness.

            Obviously with being in a group of 70 women, the times will not always be happy.  You never truly know drama until you join a sorority.  No matter what sorority you are looking at, there will be more drama than you anticipated.  That’s life.  Whether in a sorority or not, drama is a part of life.  Phi Mu gave me the opportunity to learn how to confront this drama.

            Some friends, when I tell them about drama that’s going on in my sorority ask me, “If there’s so much drama, why do you stay?”  That’s a valid question.  With everything that happens in a sorority (drama, recruitment, negative stereotypes), why do you stay?  I stay in Phi Mu because this has become my hΦMe.  Phi Mu has taught me so much about others and myself.  I couldn’t picture myself without it. 

Being in a sorority is tough.  You constantly have to prove to others that you are not the stereotype.  However, life is also difficult.  You enter the work force constantly trying to prove to your boss or interviewer that you belong there.  Who will have the upper hand then? 

 I have a Phi Mu shirt that says “These letters don’t make me better than you, they make me better than who I used to be”.  I don’t think I’m better than other people because I’m Greek and you aren’t.  Because of Phi Mu, I have become a better version of myself.  I know who I want to be, thanks to lessons learned from Phi Mu.