Me, Myself, and Alpha Sigma Alpha
- Sophie Allen
- Sep 18, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 2, 2019
Hi, my name is Sophie Allen and I am a junior at Longwood University. I am a Communication Studies major, concentrating in Public Relations with a minor in Business Administration. I am also a member of the Alpha Chapter of Alpha Sigma Alpha. Entering college, I knew I wanted to be in a sorority. After all, my sister was in a sorority here at Longwood before she graduated in the Spring of 2019. I looked up to my sister Torie and knew that her experience in her sorority changed her, made her more outgoing, and strengthened her leadership skills.
This blog is about the stereotypes of Longwood’s sororities on campus. This means that I will only be discussing Longwood-affiliated sororities rather than including off-campus organizations. Greek Life makes up 24% of Longwood’s campus. In this blog, I want to discuss each sorority and their stereotypes from the eyes of those NOT in Greek Life and how the members in each sorority are combatting these images of them. In this blog specifically, I will be giving MY OWN perspective on ASA. In every other blog, however, no information will be based off my opinion.
When I went through formal recruitment my freshman year, I had a lot of stereotypes in my mind about the different sororities on campus. One in particular was Alpha Sigma Alpha. ASA was known as one of the ‘hot girl’ sororities on campus. According to the website Greekrank (an anonymous, opinion based website), in 2018, ASA’s were “Image-obsessed idiots who really just joined a sorority to social climb and make themselves look more interesting...”
In all honesty, that is exactly what I thought they were. I went into recruitment with this stereotype in mind and recruitment did not turn out like I expected so I dropped. Moving into winter break during my sophomore year at Longwood I was not completely sure if I wanted to go through formal recruitment. I was scared that the same disappointment would happen. However, I decided to go through but this time, to keep an OPEN MIND.
When the weekend was over, I ran home to, my surprise, Alpha Sigma Alpha. Literally did NOT see that happening. The sorority that I had stereotyped for a year, became my home. My family. My sisters. After a full semester in ASA I realized that I should have never had those stereotypes. It clouded my judgement when I have met some of the best people that will be my forever friends.
I’m not going to sugarcoat it; I’ve had some tough moments where I felt like the world was against me. I once took my location off from everyone in my new member class because I was having the worst week and just wanted to be left alone (I was being so overdramatic). The difference between just a friend and my sisters though, is that they kept insisting on talking to me. They wanted me to know that I was loved. Everyone has their tough moments and I have experienced so many throughout not just Greek Life, but in college as a whole. It’s hard.
This is my opinion on my own sorority… we are tough, strong women. I used to be one of those people that stereotyped girls by the way they looked. But I don’t think I could have ever met a group of girls that genuinely care about one another more than my sisters. We stick by our values and constantly live by them; I know I try too.
Next week, I will be discussing the stereotypes of Alpha Gamma Delta. I will be getting an outside view of the organization from individuals outside of Greek Life, from Greekrank, and the perspective from the sorority sisters themselves. Let’s get nutty.
Commentaires