Okay hi now’s the time i’m gonna do it today we are going to talk about what it’s like being black in a predominantly white sorority or like a panhellenic sorority so that’s what we’re going to talk about okay so like i said we’re talking about what it’s like
Being in a black not in a black what the nuts um anyway so we’re going to talk about what it’s like being black in a predominantly white sorority so you have panhellenic and you have like national panhellenic not exactly they they’re like spelled the same but they’re different from a sorority
Standpoint you have like your zetas your alpha chi omegas your ao pies um you have your kappa delta things like that and on the other side with your panhellenic you have um akas you have delta zeta all of those different ones so there are two sides for me
I will tell my story on how i decided to go into panel in it where i came from the school that i went to it was predominantly white and i would had been into sports my whole life so i thought that was what i was going to do and
Senior year i decided that i wasn’t going to play sports in college i can tell you all that story in another video if you’d like but i decided i wasn’t going to do sports in college so everyone had basically been telling me hannah you should go through rush like
I think this is something that you might enjoy and that you’d be good at and i can write you wrecks and stuff like that and for me coming from sports i was like a wreck a sorority no like i just kind of brushed it off but i kept hearing about
It i kept hearing about it and i was like no lord this might be something you actually want me to do so in the fall which was last fall so this was actually about a year ago i was like okay i’m going through rush so that’s kind of my process leading up For the next section i will talk about kind of rush and what that experience was like and my university so the university that i go to is called auburn university it’s here in alabama and i absolutely love the university and our recruitment is pretty large i would say it’s pretty
Large i know at least 1500 girls went through formal recruitment that process was actually extremely fun and it was something that i enjoyed i met so many new girls so many of the girls that i went through rush with i’m still really close with and even like our group leader as you go
Through the process i really love her from the standpoint of being a minority i came from a background where in high school i was used to being the only minority so going through us wasn’t super surprising but i was often the only um person of color in the room and i was often
Only the um the only black girl in the room and i’d say out of about 1500 girls there were 10 15 maybe 20 that were either black that were black because you know as a minority you always have you know your little eye out
For any people of color so i was i was keeping my hat but if you are thinking about going through this process just know especially at a southern university that you very well may be the only person of color you might be the only black girl
You might be the only asian girl you might be the only latina girl while that can be challenging i know don’t let it drive you from going through the rush process because honestly for me it was super rewarding even if i hadn’t pledged a sorority
The people that i met going through it i love them to death and i also think i would have regretted not going through the process if you get what i mean It was a good learning process because you learn a lot about yourself i’m gonna skip past all of the big day everything like that i did pledge a sorority obviously i’m not gonna say what i pledged right now i’ll probably link my instagram so you can go to there and see
But i did pledge a sorority and i’m super super super happy in it i absolutely love all of my this sounds so cheesy but i absolutely love all of my sisters okay i’m going back to why y’all even came so for me i would consider myself the only black girl in my sorority
There is a girl that’s mixed so i guess she counts but nobody in my sorority that looks like me at all coming from a background where i’m used to being the only black person it’s not been completely strange but one thing that i would say is that it can be difficult at times
Not having someone there that can relate to you in the way that someone does when you’ve gone through the same struggles and discrimination you know what i mean but at my particular university i have found ways to meet other black students meet other people of color my sorority isn’t my
Only outlet that’s not the only place that i do activities that’s not the only place that i meet people i meet people outside of my sorority that being said while there aren’t any black girls the girls i have met there are literally and truly my best friends
But it really does place you with like-minded people and for me that was extremely important i really wanted to find a group of girls that was also driven they had life goals they had values and they weren’t just looking for a party or something like that because that
Has not been my experience at all many people see sorority life in greek life as just a group of girls who paid a party together who pay for their friends and who pay for basically a click my experience in greek life has not been like that at all
From the bat i have found girls that this sounds so cheesy i’m not mean to sound cheesy and like mushy gushy but like this is truly the experience that i’ve had my group which is called a pledge class so the girls that are in my grade that pledge the same sorority as me
They’re 80 something of us and truly i know each one of their names i could call any of them up whenever i felt like it and be like hey so and so do you want to go get lunch and they would and within that big group i found small groups of girls
That really care for me we spend a lot of time together and that are truly my best friends like they are truly my best friends and i love them so much and we’ve just kind of grown to be a part of each other’s lives for those who didn’t come from the
Background that i came from where i’m used to being the only black person i’m gonna be real okay cut the cameras real time real time i need to stop doing this finger-pointing thing because i’m gonna try and speak professionally and not be this girl but i’m gonna be up front if you
Do not come from a background where you are used to being the only minority this could be challenging i think it could be a culture shock if you’re not used to being around i and this is if any of my sorority sisters watch this this is no hate to y’all i still love
You i love y’all but it can be challenging if you’re not used to being around a lot of white people and that’s just matter of fact that’s just a matter of fact because that is your environment coming into the university i knew that there wasn’t much diversity so i expected that
But it also depends on what school you go to if you go to a more diverse school this might not be your situation at all going back to my decision none of my family had ever done greek life before so it wasn’t like i had a bunch of ants
That were akas or deltas or anything like that and it wasn’t as if i had any relatives who were part of the white sororities i had just heard of the right sorority so i was like i’ll go through rush it wasn’t a this versus this because i didn’t know much about either one
That also being said a lot of my girlfriends are going um through informal recruitment with the black stories i keep feeling bad for saying that but i need to learn the real name anyway i have friends on every side it was just for me the best fit
For the time that i was going through was going through formal recruitment It’s also been interesting from a different perspective i have helped teach others not that it’s my job for them to learn and be more culturally aware but i feel like i have helped teach people like i went on spring break with 17 other girls from my sorority
And like i had to explain to them like black hair and weave and things like that things they’d never thought of because they haven’t been around many black people some of them i learned from them just as much as they learned from me especially with everything that’s going on with our nation
And all of the social injustices that are taking place a lot of them have reached out to me because i’ve become close with so many of them that opens up that line of conversation for me to be able to explain to them hey racism still happens it happens on our campus
It happens in our community it’s happening here in the world where we live it’s not just far off in different places around the nation and i’ve really been able to be transparent with them i’m kind of going off into a tangent but as i said earlier i feel like
They have learned a lot from me because they might have never had like a close back friend and now they do so to wrap everything up i just wanted to reiterate that being black in a white sorority has been honestly a rewarding experience and i wouldn’t trade it for
Anything yes it has had its challenges yes it’s had its obstacles but i love where i am and i know that this is exactly where the lord wants me so i can look on that and be happy to anyone that’s thinking about going through formal recruitment
I will say be yourself if they don’t want you then bye see them later peace out you don’t want them anyway and do be aware that you might be the only minority or you might be the only black girl in a multitude of situations be aware just know that
I’m not trying to sugarcoat anything as much as i’ve loved it it could be a bit of a culture shock but don’t let that deter you from going through recruitment or pledging a sorority because if you’re going to college you’re going to have other places to get involved you know what i mean
Also do not do do you hear me do not be afraid to go through it i was a little bit nervous but don’t be afraid like if you know being in that type of environment would be terrible for you don’t do it but try it out what is it going to hurt
If you hate going through rush drop out at least you know it was not for you ultimately i’ve had a very positive experience absolutely love my sorority and i have gained so many new friendships and so many new experiences that i will as cheesy as it sounds i will cherish them forever
So i just wanted to end my video with saying i encourage you all to go through it and good luck to everyone like starting freshman year of college like that’s so exciting and even if you’re a sophomore and you’ve just been thinking about it do it girl do it girl anyway
Thank y’all for coming and i’m hoping to put out more videos this is so new i don’t i don’t i really don’t even know why i’m here but i thought i’d share and yeah last word don’t knock it till you try it bye guys
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