As the semester winds down and students ache for seasonal celebrations, there is one function on the forefronts of many freshmen women’s minds: recruitment. For me, this Winter Break will entail hours on Rush-Tok research, an ultimate sneaker huntdown (chic and comfortable: could be sambas?) and continual consultation of older sisters, cousins and friends who have been here before.
Grateful as I am for their counsel and ecstatic as I am to tackle a lookbook, there is so much more to sisterhood. From ‘Bama to South Carolina to Lancaster Ave (I was one of few relatives to brave the cold), sisterhood is a bond, an affection authentic to each affiliation and school. I was thrilled, and a little terrified, to commence the search for sisters here with Mock Recruitment.
Mock Recruitment was held on Sunday, November 10 in Dougherty Hall. Much like our beloved Winter Break, the afternoon was filled with exhilarated tension. Like the final hours before Christmas dinner, like kids entranced with the Santa Tracker on Christmas Eve, the smell of cookies swells from the kitchen to the couch, potential new members (PNMs) and Rho Gammas alike buzzed, riveted with the notion of new sisters. As we waited, some shared their horror stories of Stanford mice (I thank God I’ve evaded South Campus), some traded sweater or shoe details, while others tuned into the animated melodies inside. We all itched for more.
In their allotted hour, each PNM visited two of Villanova Panhellenic’s eight affiliations: Alpha Phi, Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Gamma Delta, Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, Delta Gamma, Kappa Delta and Kappa Kappa Gamma. I was selected to attend Alpha Phi and Chi Omega’s sessions.
With bated breath, the PNMs were ushered inside and immersed in immediate warmth. Each PNM’s arm interlocked with an active sister’s. We circled the room as members cheered, their letters exalted, smiles widened. Brief introductions were taken with seamless conversation. Whether we discussed Christmas lists, classes, clubs or hometown eccentricities (as a diehard Birds fan, I was astounded by the masses of Patriots defenders), each honied interaction reminded me of home.
As I stated before, I have three older sisters and no brothers. Even Gia, our little Havanese, is a female. I was raised around strong, dazzling, industrious women who have inserted those same values in me. Far as we are from Lansdale, PA (well, a half-hour drive), far as we scatter from one another, we will forever reside in those distinctions.
In all truth, our authentic affiliation is the reason I’ve come to love the winter season so much. For some time, we are one. With the warmth of the crackled fire, we reminisce on schoolhood memories, trade our shoe and sweater details, console and satirize and care for another. We remember once we were children, and now, we are women. And as I watched each leave the circle in lieu of a cosmic future, as I watched them find new sisterhood in new homes (one as a Penn State A-Phi, another as a USC Alpha Chi), I still craved the winter season. I still craved the comforts of home. However, I knew there were more incredible women to come.
In honor of the women who raised me and our little affiliation, I strive to find the same warmth of sisterhood here. I thank all who contributed to Mock Rush for this reminder of home. And, I have faith, if I am destined to, I will find a new home here on Lancaster Ave.
