Growing up, you hear all about sororities. From watching too many Rom-Com movies, to your classic high status-quo girl groups, sororities are framed to be a place for girls to have the time of their lives during college, key word being “framed”. Take it from me, a girl from a small town who loves sports and still doesn’t know how to curl her hair right. Deciding to go through recruitment was one of the scariest, most unexpected, and exciting things I have ever done.
I am so proud to tell people that I, a sorority girl, did have the time of her life in ADPi, but not for the reasons you would think.
Yes, we had date parties. Some of them were even like the ones you see in the movies. However, it was the moments between the date parties- the ones that never make it on camera- that I remember most. Those moments, the boring Tuesdays, changed my life…
One boring Tuesday, after ten hours in the library, my pink pen that I took all my notes with ran out of ink. Jennie Bullock saved me from tears by fixing my pink pen and helping me refocus. I passed the class with an A and our sorority kept the highest New Member GPA on campus for the 20th semester in a row.
It was one boring Tuesday when a senior ADPi had me apply to be on the Leadership Development Committee through SGA. That’s when I met Kirsten Richards, one of the six ADPi’s to make a group of only 15 girls on the committee, who is still one of my best friends.
It was one boring Tuesday when Alexis George broke her ankle roller skating at Big-Little reveal. We all rushed to the hospital. When the ER waiting room filled with girls in costumes from all our favorite tv shows (a theme that sounded fun in any other setting), nobody blinked an eye.
It was one boring Tuesday that Peyton Roach and I decided our philanthropy event would be a charity date auction. That event raised over $60,000 over its tenure on campus for Ronald McDonald House Charities, a place I still and always will cherish.
It was one boring Tuesday when I got a horrible concussion on our flag football team. We won the season, but I lost my ability to know the difference in letters and numbers for a few months. Maddie Burch color coded every single accounting formula so we could pass and graduate business school together. We did.
It was one boring Tuesday when Ashley Bergman hand-picked all the pineapple out of our study snacks so that I wouldn’t have an allergic reaction in the middle of the library, but would still have food to eat.
It was one boring Tuesday when Ellie Marcum came over for a girls night, but wouldn’t leave me alone when the movie ended. She knew, without me saying anything, that my boyfriend and I had broken up that day. That night led us to having the same college job and creating an unmatched friendship.
It was one boring Tuesday with Lesley Phillips and Maddie Chambers when we decided that Covid would not be a national crisis, and we should still go on spring break. We got stuck in Florida and had to spend hours finding a rental car to drive home in.
It was one Tuesday after graduation that my closest diamond sisters decided they would quarantine and drive to my hometown just to celebrate my birthday during Covid. Everyone that could come did.
If I wouldn’t have had Tuesdays, I might not have seen my biological sister, my best friend, go against her initial thoughts and pick ADPi. She now has her own ADPi friend group that has changed her life.
When I rushed, I had no idea what I was doing. But every boring Tuesday, especially the ones that I didn’t even have space to share, changed my life. These women and this sisterhood have impacted me forever.
Life is a chain of events, and ADPi is one of the most vital links in my story, both personally and professionally. This non-stereotypical web of support, love, and motivation made me who I am today.
I can’t imagine my life without ADPi. If I had one wish, I would wish for more Tuesdays, just not like the ones you see in the movies.