My freshman year of college I decided to join a Greek society and there are so many reasons I have decided to become a part of a Greek House. Here are my top five reasons:
1. Home Away From Home: When I came to college I picked up my things to move into a dorm. Being more than an hour and a half away and with no car I didn’t get the option to go home very often. Missing my family, I went exploring to see what was all to offer on Olivet’s campus and I seemed to find myself at Alpha Lambda Epsilon quite a bit. The moment I stepped into Alpha E I felt like I was home. I forgot that I was even homesick at all because I found a place that made me feel like I had a family here, at Olivet.
2. Academic Support: Alpha E is a literary society and puts their academics on top. Whenever I needed help with a class the actives in the Greek Organization helped me out to make sure I did the best I could and accomplished everything I wanted through my first semester. To pledge Alpha E, I needed to hold a GPA of 2.0. I ended up having a 4.0 so I was able to pledge. When it comes to living in the house I had to at least maintain a 3.5 GPA; I ended up having a 3.98. I pushed myself to keep my academics a priority because if I didn’t I may not have had the opportunity to call these people family.
3. Make Connections: With every Greek Organization there are alumni whom have graduated from Olivet College and each of them are in different professions. When I joined this house, I met a lot of our alumni and some were in the teaching profession, insurance profession and there were a few in the marketing profession. I am going into marketing, so they have talked to me a little bit about what they do and what their experience was taking on such a competitive field. After I got to know the alumni some of them have offered to help me get started right out of college. Without the house I wouldn’t have made these connections and gotten a head start on my career.
4. Improve Leadership Skills: There are many different positions within the house. I have been involved in a few of them. I was house manager and Vice President. These are big positions to help with taking the lead in certain situations and help me learn how to improve leadership skills and what I’ve been doing well and what I will need to improve. Each position carried a different kind of leadership. House manager is more taking charge when it comes to fixing up the house. Vice President is taking charge in MANY different situations.
5. Prove Stereotypes Wrong: The stereotypes of Greek Organizations are “All they do is party” and “Being a part of a Greek House makes everyone’s grades suffer”. Well, when I pledge I went in with a 4.0 GPA. Post pledging, I ended up with 3.97 and right now I am holding a 3.98 GPA. Even when my grade point average went “down” I increased it since then. Our society holds study tables once a week that is required. The other six days we have study tables that aren’t required but are open for everyone to come to. We do this so we can help each other through tough classes and ensure everyone stays on task and does their best to become successful. We are a literary society and that in itself should speak volumes about our house.
Here are all of my Pledge brothers and sisters! PC17