It's a Fabulous Life: How a Girl Became a Brother

This past weekend was initiation for my fraternity. Yeah, I'm a girl... I'm in a fraternity... blah, blah, blah. Now that we have that over with- Delta Sigma Pi is a professional coed business fraternity that I joined fall of my freshman year and has been positively impacting my life ever since. I'm trying to write about this part of my life without coming across incredibly cheesy, but I'm realizing that that will be difficult to do. So bear with me.

Basically, the story goes like this :

Two years ago I was a cheeky little freshman, overly eager to get involved in one of the 300 organizations on campus (I went to several "introductory meetings" after scoping out the activities fair, including one *very rough* rugby practice) Finally, I decided that I wanted to go through sorority rush, which at Truman is held a couple of weeks into the school year. So when I went home for Labor Day weekend, I picked out a couple of cute outfits that would surely impress for the week ahead. But as I drove back to school on Monday night, I realized that I wasn't really feeling it.
The previous week, I had remembered an older student wearing a suit (and looking supa fly) and giving a presentation in one of my classes about an organization that they were involved in. It was a "professional fraternity" for all business, economics, and accounting majors. Apparently, this organization participated in a little bit of everything: professional development, community service, and countless social events. I was intrigued... But unfortunately, their recruitment was the same week as sorority rush. "Well darn, I can't be in 2 places at once" I figured. And that was that.
But flash forward to that Monday night of Labor Day, I was completely unsure if joining a sorority was for me. I remembered learning about the business fraternity and it just seemed so... right. I'm one of those people who has "strong gut instincts" and they don't usually prove me wrong. So it was settled, I'd go out for Delta Sigma Pi recruitment and see where the experience would take me.

After 2 weeks of recruitment events (including a "meet the chapter", bowling, a BBQ, community service night, a professional speaker, and an interview), I received an invitation to pledge! So exciting!

I was elected Social Chair for our pledge class and I was in charge of putting on a baller party for the chapter. My choice of theme? Lumberjack!! We ate pancakes and frolicked around in plaid. It was a party that Paul Bunyan himself would be proud of.

Finally after completing pledge season, my pledge class was initiated! The above is a picture of "Cream Family" right after my initiation ceremony.

And here is the lovely Beta Sigma pledge class pyramid! Taken in Fall 09... and falling ever since. (I really can't remember a time when we tried to make a pyramid and it didn't fall.)

Now that I have been in the fraternity for 2 years, I can safely say that it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I've had the opportunity to make amazing friends, travel to professional and leadership conferences, network with successful professionals, learn more about the dizzying world of business, and be a part of the Iota Nu chapter- one which has won "Most Outstanding Chapter" more times than any other chapter. Ultimately, I can accredit my experience in Delta Sigma Pi with providing me with the experience and tools necessary to land some sweet internships!

As great as DSP has been for my personal benefit, there is an old saying that "He profits most who serves best". Upon reflection, that is most definitely true. Every time I have taken the time to help a particular brother or the fraternity as a whole, I have received a great deal of emotional wealth. Serving as Pledge Class Social Chair, Fundraising Chair, and Chancellor have taught me that.

Anyway, enough sap! Here are some sweet pictures from this past weekend's initiation.
CONGRATS BETA CHI!!!!!!!