A Love For ZTA

This past weekend I had the opportunity to help the USC Upstate Zeta's with their recruitment. As a collegiate member of ZTA, I honestly dreaded this time of year. It was so stressful to balance work, school and Zeta as it is, and then you were adding on 3 nights full of Zeta to recruit the best girls possible! Girls get stressed out, burned out, and just want it all to be over with after day one, so getting through the next couple nights was always a challenge for me, and was for the girls in Kappa Rho's ZTA chapter as well.

Recruitment now seems to bring a different feeling to me as an advisor for these girls verse being a collegiate member of Zeta.

As a freshman going through recruitment and rushing Zeta brought such an exciting and new joy to my life!! That sounds silly, but if you have gone though the recruitment process, you know how exciting it is to run towards you new sisters and new sorority letters! Throwing up the Zeta Crown with your best friend and now Zeta Sister, and taking that group picture for the first time with all your new sisters in front of your letters... You can't beat that feeling of excitement :)

As a sophomore going through, it's a whole different feeling. You now are a Zeta sister and get to talk to all the girls going through recruitment that want to be you! You are getting to know them all and looking for you own little :) Bid Day couldn't be more excited because it's the first time you are standing in front of those letters getting ready to welcome in your new Zeta babies, but first you have to take all the pictures you can!

 As a junior, you feel like a leader. You know your stuff, you want to make sure your chapter gets good quality girls that are going to represent your chapter and know the importance of being a Zeta on campus. You are probably helping your little find a little of their own, or after falling in love with a new member, questioning the fact of taking on another little for yourself.

And then there's senior year. It's all coming to an end, and it's your last year to soak up Zeta as much as you can before you graduate and become an alum. I remembering feeling so burnt out, but as president, you still had to smile and find that love for Zeta to recruit the best! You want to get to know your new members, but it's harder because you lives are on two separate pages now. Bid Day is both exciting and sad at the same time, because you won't get to dress crazy and wear that tutu without anyone questioning you in the future. You take those picture with you other senior sisters that have been through ZTA the past 3 years with you and laugh because you started with 20 girls and now are only a group of 6. It's your last pool jump with your sisters, last run towards new members, and last time to celebrate the love for your letters as a collegiate sister :(

 

 

And then there's being an alum..

It's a whole new feeling of wanting the best to continue on the legacy of ZTA. You want the chapter to get the BEST girls! Not just the prettiest, but the good quality girls who will be a true asset to the chapter. Girls who will become leaders, and hold positions. You want to instill in those new members coming in how great it is to be a Zeta, but how important it is to represent your letters both while wearing them and not.

 

 The excitement of adding new members to your family and continuing the direct legacy you have to Zeta :)

 

Standing by your best friends and sisters as they get married!

 and being reunited with you Zeta family at weddings every weekend :)

And then getting married your self and having your sisters with you through every step!

 

Many people laugh and say that Zeta is just something to do while in college, but I plan to make Zeta live forever in my life. I have so many memories of my college years that Zeta has given me and now the love keeps on growing as a make new memories with new and old sisters I meet. I am forever grateful to be a member of the best sorority on earth!

 

Congrats to all the new members joining Zeta Tau Alpha this fall :) I hope that you all gain the same love for ZTA that I have found!