Welcome back this is pretty accomplished and um I’m gonna do a quick video today well not really quick but as quick as I can make it because this topic I’m really passionate about I got a inbox message from a subscriber here on YouTube and she was so kind I’m glad she asked this
Question I’m gonna read it to you off of here and I’ll get right into it so she greets me and she says I am subscriber and I love your channel thank you I am a freshman in college and I would like to know if you could do a video perhaps on Greek life
Um just your experience and why you chose to pledge AKA I am very interested in joining a Greek organization if you could I would really appreciate it thanks Miracles and blessings so like I said I’m very passionate about this I am going to try to go as quickly as
Possible because I could literally talk about this for an hour seriously I could really do an hour video on this so first of all um my experience I had a wonderful experience uh becoming an AKA and being AKA currently I crossed in Spring 2008 which was the Centennial year of my
Organization that was our 100 Year celebration so it was like amazing to cross during that time I feel blessed to be a member of the first African-American sorority founded in 1908 so I I am definitely still proud as as proud now or even more than I was even then I really appreciated my
Experience I can’t tell you that it was always easy but it was worth it and I learned a lot along the way one thing I always tell people is that AKA did not make me but it definitely enhanced who I already was and I say that because some people join
Organizations for the wrong reasons and they allow a they allow becoming a AKA or a Delta where a capital and a mega or an alpha to completely make who they are their whole identity now is oh I’m this I’m that instead of who they are as a person so don’t allow
Um don’t join an organization because you’re looking for you’re searching for your identity know thyself first and be comfortable with who you are as a person and then decide to join an organization and allow it to bring out your best characteristics not your worst because I’ve seen people
Um join for the wrong reasons and um some really negative characteristics come out which have nothing to do with the mission statement so that leads me to point number two why did I choose to pledge AKA um there are several reasons but I’ll try to be brief
Um I did my own research I read the history of the of the divine nine um and if you are really interested in becoming a member of a group organization I would encourage you to do as much research on your own as possible asking people is great
Um that you trust that you that can be your Confidant because they can give you some really good tips and advice and some insights into the organization that maybe you won’t get just from the website but also do your own research so that you can be well informed and make
Your own independent decision so I did my own research using the computer online and reading also I had wonderful examples of several Greek people both in my family and through social organizations I was a part of um some of my mentors were women of Alpha Kappa Alpha so I’m sure that
Definitely motivated me and inspired me to look more into the organization but at the end of the day you really have to look at the mission statement look at what they’re doing at your school and in your community and nationally and decide what best fits you
Um I can’t tell you what to pick I know what I think is the best but all great organizations um have wonderful mission statements that you should know it leads me to point number three if you want to be a member of an organization you have to
Know what they stand for and I don’t mean like what they stand for at your school just oh you know they they win the step shows or they’re the pretty girls or their crunk or um they have they have great struts or blah blah blah blah um they’re the most popular those are
Not the substantial reasons why you should pick a sorority or fraternity over another um make sure you know exactly what they stand for make sure that what they stand for fits into who you really are as a person and make sure that if you join that organization that you can offer
Something to the organization that supports their pillars um because if I am evaluating somebody to be a member of my organization and when I was doing that in undergrad when I crossed and we were bringing new girls on um that’s one thing I wanted to know if
I ask you why you want to be a member of my organization or if anybody asked you that and you should be able to answer if you don’t have an answer I’m gonna believe either that you didn’t do your research or two you you may not really want to be a part
Of my organization maybe you just want to be Greek and which is not a good thing either so that brings me to the next Point don’t just want to be Greek know for sure what you want to be and it’s okay like if you have no if you’re not sure about Greek life
Um because I know a lot of people like they may not have examples in their families or they may have never even heard of AKA until they got to college or alpha or anything until they got to college and that’s fine if you don’t know initially but do your own research
And don’t um decide what you want to be into you have done your research and once you decide have a definitive reason on why you want to be that don’t just want to be Greek because you want to be popular and things like that like it’s
Silly but people do do that so please don’t do that because then you become an embarrassment to your organization because you’re not really doing anything that you’re organization stands for um also all sororities and fraternities are not equal in my opinion uh it varies depending on what school you’re at
Um akas and my school are not the same as akas at another school just like Delta’s not the same everywhere yes we all have the same mission statement yes we’re supposed to live up to the same purpose and values yes we’re supposed to work towards the same goals on the
National level yes we’re supposed to be certain type of women with high ethical moral standards yes they’re supposed to work for academic excellence and service For All Mankind and all of that but it doesn’t mean that just because it says that in writing that every chapter does
That and it’s not just my sorority it’s also raising fraternities not everyone at every school is doing what they’re supposed to be doing so that also that’s something you also have to look into you may think you want to be something and then you get to your school and what you
Think you want to be they’re not really you don’t feel like you’re going to fit in well with that group um I had a friend who that happened to she went to a particular school she knew she wanted to be a member of a certain organization she was a great candidate
She did all her research she had a lot to offer but she chose not to even try because when she got to know some of the women representing that organization she knew that who they were was not who she wanted to associate herself with um so that’s a hard decision that kind of
Sucks that that happens to you if you have your heart set on being something and then you realize that the girls at your school or the guys at your school you either don’t mesh well with them or they really don’t uphold the ideals of the organization then that means that
You may not get the opportunity to pledge at that school um or it means that you may have to do it on a graduate level so don’t give up on the goal completely but just know that sometimes because you want to be something that doesn’t mean it’s going
To work out or that when you get to school you’re still going to want to be that same thing um but that leads me to my next point until you know for sure don’t say anything to anybody about it keep it to yourself unless unless it’s somebody
Very close to you who you truly trust that you’re Confidant who you can talk to about Greek life who you can talk to about your interest I can’t speak for All Greek letter organizations but I can speak for my experience at my school and most in phc um organizations you can express
Interest at certain points and but be discreet you don’t have to like be going around telling everybody oh I’m interested in being this I want to be that um you can show that you want to be something just by what you do does your do you already uphold the values do you
Live the mission do you already live the mission in your real life are you active on your University campus do you volunteer are you serious about your grades are you a leader like are you kind to people are you a positive role model um things like that and when that
Particular organization has events do you go and support the events do you speak to members of that organization do you try to get to know people in the organization those are ways that you can express interest but also like I said every chapter is different so everybody’s experience is completely
Different based on the school that they’re at so these are just general tips and you may these may not work for you but it’s just general um tips but I would not no matter what school I was at just go around especially as a freshman telling everybody what I want to be one
Is not everybody’s business and two um it’s important to be discreet what if you think you want to be something and you change your mind and now you’ve already told everybody that you want to be this but next you know next year you want to be something
Else then people are just going to think you’re faking that you just want to be Greek and I’ve seen people flip-flop like that and it never works out well when you flip-flop and stuff I also know that it is a selection process so no matter how much you want it you may not
Be picked some of my friends wanted to be akas just like me and they were not picked but it doesn’t mean that I’m better than them it doesn’t mean anything it’s nothing against their own character so I would say if you try and you’re not selected don’t take it personally
Um unfortunately every person who applies does not get picked maybe at some schools but it’s very rare um like at my school there was there was just no way one everybody wasn’t qualified but two there was just no way even if they were that everybody could
Have been selected it just does not work like that so um make sure that you are not so caught up in wanting to be it so bad that if you’re not selected that you’re going to be like depressed or devastated like one you can try again or two you can do
It on a graduate level and if it doesn’t happen it doesn’t happen but don’t be don’t take it offensively is what I’m trying to say because I’ve seen a lot of people get their feelings hurt behind it and it’s just not that serious like don’t don’t let it
Hurts you okay if you’re not picked because everybody is not going to be picked just like with a job everybody every candidate this interview does not get selected um what else can I say uh oh when you are a freshman or sophomore junior whatever and you think you may be interested in
An organization when you go to events that the organization is having be kind to everybody there it doesn’t mean you have to be in everybody’s face but at least speak to people when you sit at a table with them or when you cross their paths because I say that because you
Don’t want to burn Bridges with people you never know who’s going to make it before you so the person that you’re sitting next to could be your line sister or that person may make it on the next line and maybe you don’t make it well guess what
If you’re a root to that person and they made it before you do you think they’re really going to vote for you when you come back around next year expressing interest or next semester expressing interest probably not and that happens to a lot of people I know
So don’t burn Bridges don’t be rude to people because you never know you never ever know and sometimes you will be shocked you may think that so-and-so is not going to be selected and they are and you were rude to that person so have good character make good decisions and
Be kind to people because you just never know um make sure that you keep your grades up make sure you stay focused um and don’t fall into these whole stereotype tracks there’s a lot of stereotypes about women of Alpha Kappa Alpha about deltas about Zetas about SG
Rose about Alphas about cap is about cues about sigmas there’s there are stereotypes everywhere make your own judgments based on what you see and what you know do your research and make your own judgments because there’s a lot of a lot of these images that are promoted um
Sometimes it’s done all in fun but sometimes people really like believe everything that they hear about certain members of organizations and I just think they’re silly because I am a person before I’m an AKA I have my own personality um yes I can turn the attitude on and I
Can be in a step show and I can stretch and I can do all of that but at the end of the day I’m still myself I am me I am me I didn’t lose myself in this Greek process so I’d advise you not to Lose Yourself either and don’t believe all
The stereotypes because it’s not always accurate or true it’s not um also I tell people this too when I pledge I never pledged hate my big sisters my profits never taught me to hate any other organization so if you decide to join an organization and all they talking about is hating another
Organization you may not want to join that organization at your school because nowhere in mission statements for any Greek organization does it talk about hating another okay in fact when organizations were first originated and started a lot of them collaborated on joint efforts to enhance the African-American community so I respect
All of the divine nine whether you’re a Delta whether you’re a Kappa whatever you are if you’re living up to your mission I respect you for that I respect all organizations so don’t don’t hate like do not hate don’t judge someone or just not like them because they’re another sorority
Um or you’re interested in this one and they’re interested in that one so that means you two can’t be friends that’s not true for example I am a proud member of Africa Alpha but my best friend is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta and we
Are the best of friends it did not ruin our friendship I’ve seen friendships be ruined because women had different interests and I just think it’s absolutely ridiculous you can want to be a member of a totally different sorority than someone else but it doesn’t mean that you two can’t be friends and
Doesn’t mean because you become something that you have to hate someone else that chooses a different path you may feel like your organization is the best I feel like mine is the best but it doesn’t mean I have to hate someone else who thinks that has another opinion than
Me so don’t fall into that like catty stuff either is not worth it and also it doesn’t support the mission of your organization you know the most of your organization and you remind yourself of what that is and why you want to be a member you’ll stay out of the negative
Part of it um I think I cover mostly everything I didn’t really say why I want to be AKA I guess but let me get to that really quick I wanted to be an AKA because I did my research and I felt like the ideals of the organization suited who I was
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