You Can Be Proud of Your Sisterhood without Winning Sorority Chapter of the Year

I’ll never forget sitting at a table of other chapter presidents as ASU’s Greek Awards Banquet came to a close. A month before, I had scrambled to put together the compilation of proof that our chapter did everything required of us, as outlined by our campus’ Standards of Excellence criteria. Being just a few months into my presidency, I had only found out a few weeks prior to its deadline that 1. Standards of Excellence existed and 2. the previous year’s officers (myself included) had nothing prepared to prove that we actually did what was required of our specific areas of the chapter. From retention numbers to programs attended to community events hosted to service hours completed, I pulled an all-nighter to source all the data I could find from our GoogleDrive, Instagram, and calling different officers to demonstrate the impact our chapter had in the community and on its members before this deadline.

So here I am, a month later at the Greek Awards Banquet, just relieved to have met the bare minimum requirements, when they introduced the final award: Chapter of the Year. The whole room got quiet with anticipation, while I prepared to leave with the satisfaction of my chapter being in good standing, when the presenter announced the winner was my chapter! Every one of my members in the room roared with enthusiasm while I sat there stunned for a moment – in disbelief that my frantic attempt to keep my chapter in good standing had led to the most sought after recognition. Receiving the award that night and the months that followed brought an exponentially greater pride to our chapter than members had felt the days or months before, that lasted through recruitment. 

Members wore their merch proudly in the final weeks of school and posted pictures with sisters all summer long. Our merchandise chair had “Chapter of the Year” shirts made for our pre-recruitment week and the trophies sat proudly in the focal table of our recruiting space. In recruitment rounds, my VP of Recruitment and I would introduce our chapter as the “Chapter of the Year” and our recruiters were so proud to bring up that recognition to every PNM.

But the reality was, that sorority pride was short-lived because it was misplaced.

And why couldn’t we talk about what our sisterhood was doing for us besides “feeling good enough” for the community we existed in?

Because when I think back to all the Standards of Excellence that we accomplished with excellence to win the award – the fundraised dollars for the Alzheimer’s Association, the percentage of our chapter present at Panhellenic programs, the number of members present at Initiation, and our member’s participation in the new member program to ensure their retention – our members did NOT share the same enthusiasm that they did this recognition. If you’re a chapter leader, you can probably relate – feeling like your members don’t see the correlation between the membership experience that they want and the work it requires of them to get them there. 

At the end of the day, what we all want isn’t an award – it’s deep belonging and connection with women who are looking for other women to embark on a vulnerable journey of betting on themselves alongside. While the validation of big awards or recognition feel good, those moments are fleeting. Take it from my experience – as soon as recruitment ended, many members went back to dragging their feet to show up to required events or fulfill membership expectations. Their pride was fleeting because it was in something that only matters a little while. When all the time we spent priding ourselves on being the best, we could have instead been investing in the very things, people, opportunities that made our experience the best for us and what we needed. 

So if you are ending the academic year feeling defeated or discouraged by the lack of recognition your leadership or your chapter received this year, please hear this: the value of your sorority experience is not dictated by its public recognition. Its value is personal, individual, and specific to each and every sister. And if you find value in the relationships you’ve built and opportunities you’ve been given, than your experience is valuable and worth sharing with the next generation of sorority women. Those are the experiences that will attract women to join and contribute to your sisterhood – not a trophy.

So stop waiting for others to be inspired by what you’re apart of – start by being inspired yourself! Ask yourself:

• What sets your sisterhood apart?

• How has it brought your life value?

• What can it offer a future sister or your community?

  And those answers will give you so much  greater and lasting pride in your sisterhood than an award ever could. That is what you need to share with anyone who asks about your experience: from coworkers at your summer job to your instagram followers to PNMs in recruitment.

You don’t have to win chapter of the year to be proud of your sisterhood – you just need your story.