During formal recruitment, I ended up choosing a different house than three of my best friends did. I spent preference night sick to my stomach, thinking that, if I chose the house I knew was right for me, I would lose my best friends at Centre. Flash forward two and a half years and those girls are still my best friends! In fact, being in different chapters has only made our friendship stronger, something that I think could only happen at Centre and with our unique Greek community. Plus — we all get to go to each others' formals, which is a win-win! Olivia Burke, Class of 2021 Kappa Alpha Theta Indianapolis, IN |
As we went through recruitment, my best friend since high school and I were careful to avoid the topic so we would not influence each other in finding our homes. On preference night, we both finally realized that our top choices were not the same. On bid day, we ran home to different houses. After all the festivities had ended, we discussed how bittersweet the day was – we were not sisters, but had each found dozens of new friends in just a few hours. While it felt daunting for me that my friend could find new, more exciting friends in her chapter, the story did not end with us finding “replacement” best friends. Instead, our circle expanded as we both met new women that we could introduce to each other. We remain best friends, but we now have many other amazing women we also call friends. It was a relief to know that being in a new sisterhood could be so great for me, but that it did not have to be a farewell to my friends from before. Lauren Chatfield, Class of 2023 Kappa Kappa Gamma Lexington, KY |