It’s really high-pitched and has been known to break glass.Īnd talk about having fun! We threw parties, went to other Greek parties, participated in school-wide Greek functions, took road trips to other colleges and had many late-night pajama parties. Oh, and if you don’t know, “Skee-Wee” is the sound that other AKA’s make to greet each other or just let other people know that we are in the house. *Dictionary Sidebar: “Soror” is what we call each other and “line sister” refers to the people who pledged with us. Many of my sorors were in my wedding and one of my favorite memories of that day is when they surrounded me and sang our sorority hymn. I could give you a history lesson about all the community service that the sorority does or how we are dedicated to seeing women succeed in college and beyond, but for me it was all about the sisterhood. There is a bond there created by Alpha Kappa Alpha.
After graduation we never again lived in the same place and the chaos of life caused us to not even keep in touch that much, but I saw her recently and it was like old times we sat in a restaurant for 5 hours talking non-stop. My line sister and roommate Sondra became one of my best friends. I lived in the sorority dorm with my sisters and every day was so much fun. Having been an only child my whole life, I experienced sisterhood like I had never felt before. I don’t know if I would have pledged if I had gone to another school or if my experience would have been so great somewhere else, but at ASU I have the best memories. One of my pledges is a good friend to this day, so she has forgiven me. Ha! I loved messing with them, but once they were in, I was as sweet as pie. Lucky for them I was in my senior year and busy, so I didn’t demand too much, but just to be mean, my Big Sister name was “Chilly As In Ice–Not Nice”. Once my roommate was the dean of pledges and so I had special torture privileges because they came to my room everyday. And of course once we were in the sorority, we got our chance to mess with the new pledges.
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While I admit that many of the things that we were asked to do were stupid and senseless, it was all to teach us how to be “one unit” and look out for each other. From an outsider (someone who is not Greek), pledging looks stupid and senseless. Honestly it is almost impossible to pledge and not have your grades slip a little and mine did I made it up though and still graduated with honors. The most challenging part was trying to do all that was required of a pledge and still study for my classes. I’m not going to lie, pledging was rough, but it was not physically harmful in any way.
I was out of place for sure! But they took a chance on me (I think I had good recommendations) and every one of them eventually came to love my quirky style. And there they were…in their pearls and silk dresses. I will never forget: I wore a long black dress, black boots and a black hat. Truth be told, the existing members didn’t quite know what to make of me when I entered the room for my interview.
Surprised that I am a sorority girl? I was surprised myself that I wanted to pledge! I never thought of myself as a “sorority type” because I was artsy and a bit strange, but a friend talked me into going to an information “tea” and I liked what I heard.
I pledged Zeta Alpha chapter at Arizona State University in the 2nd semester of my sophomore and I think it was one of the best things that I have ever done. It is the oldest Greek-lettered organization established by African American college women. Today my sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc, was founded in 1908 on the campus of Howard University.