Grateful – Student Bloggers

I’ve thought and reflected about this over the past week, and come to the conclusion that this past Monday was my proudest day at Furman.

I realized this around 2am on Monday, when I was headed to bed after a very long two weeks. I was really fortunate to have the partnership of my two amazing Panhellenic Vice Presidents, Erin and Olivia, my advisor Cameron, and 22 Panhellenic women who served as Pi Chis, and we worked together and collaborated to pull off a stellar formal Recruitment.

Monday was Bid Day for the Panhellenic community – the day that Potential New Members (PNMs) receive their bids to their sororities, and the whole community celebrates the addition of the new members! The Pi Chis distribute the bids to the PNMs, and the sororities spend the morning decorating and preparing for the celebration. At 3pm, we began the traditional “running of the new members” – in short, all of the new members from each chapter run from Furman Hall to McAlister Auditorium, where the Panhellenic community to waiting to welcome them.

Once everyone arrives, the community heads inside McAlister, and I had the privilege of leading the Panhellenic Induction Ceremony, during which the new members are formally made part of our Panhellenic community. We also had a slideshow of pictures from informal and formal recruitment, and a special Pi Chi “Coming Home Ceremony,” during which the women who served as disassociated members of their chapters (including myself) finally reveal their affiliation and are welcomed back to their chapters. Bid Day was the first day since August that I was able to wear the letters of my chapter, Alpha Delta Pi!

After the celebration in McAlister, the chapters have their individual Bid Day celebrations. Alpha Delta Pi actually has our “diamond sister reveal” (other chapters call it “Big/Little Reveal”) on Bid Day, so we had a special celebration for that.

So why was Bid Day my proudest day, when it really didn’t have much to do with me at all? I think it is because as I went through the day, I was able to see so much love and excitement and celebration in our Panhellenic community. I saw it as we distributed the lists of new members to the Recruitment Chairs, who worked so hard over the past year towards a successful Recruitment season. I saw it as I watched new members receive their bids (and as I handed a few out myself!) I saw it as I watched the new members run with such hope and such excitement from Furman Hall to McAlister. I saw it as I watched the sorority women welcome the new members, not only from their own chapters, but from all chapters. And most importantly, I saw it from the stage of McAlister, as I looked out at the faces of our incredible community and realized the impact that being a Greek woman has had on me, and the potential for the very same impact to influence all of the new members. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be Greek, and even more so, to have had the experience of watching this process unfold.