Ask the average geek off the street what are the first few words that come to mind when they hear the word sorority; I’d bet they wouldn’t be anything too flattering. Elle Woods, anyone? 

Growing up, I didn’t know much about sororities at all.  My mom was a lapsed member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.   My neighbor became a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated in college, like her own mother, but that didn’t mean much either. It all seemed like a secret society that you either had the lineage to become a part of or not. 

In high school, a friend of mine proudly talked of her mother’s affiliation with DST all the time.  “I’m going to be a Delta, just like my mom,” she’d say.  When it came time to apply to colleges, most of us were considering location, majors offered and proximity to decent entertainment. She was concerned about which schools had active chapters. 

When I got to college, becoming a member of a sorority was certainly a path I wanted to take, but I knew that it was only going to be part of my entire college experience.  Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLO’s) like AKA and DST don’t hold formal rush the way the other Greek organizations do.  At various points in college, I saw my roommates participate in rush and get immediately caught up in an alphabet soup of choices.  Pi Phi, Tri-Delt, Theta, Delta Gamma. In a matter of days, they whittled down their choices, waiting for bids, hoping to be the next branch of the Big-Big, Big-Little Sisterhood tree of their choosing. 

Junior year, my roommate narrowed things down to Chi Omega, Kappa Kappa Gamma and Kappa Alpha Theta.  How could she choose? They were all so different and several fulfilled long held campus stereotypes. Some of her choices even were rival organizations, I think. All of this was so foreign to me.  My experience was that among the BGLO’s for women, there was only one choice, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.  If you had to go another route,  there were other organizations, like Delta, Zeta Phi Beta or Sigma Gamma Rho.  And even then, you didn’t base your selection on the organizations colors, mascots or their step team championship record.  You supported their activities, both parties and service projects.  Regardless of the organization you chose, you did so with an eye to the future.  Service doesn’t stop just because you graduate. 

So, how does this relate to the picture above? Those are 6 of my 8 lines sisters, 10 years to the day after we became members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.  We are visiting the campus of Howard University where in 1908, our beloved sorority was founded.  We went on to spend the week-end in DC just hanging out in Georgetown.  Several of us learned that one of our sorors was expecting for the first time in the coming months.  Another soror announced her engagement, saying that her fiance waited until the day before we got together to propose so she could show off her ring to “her sisters”.   

Nice dinner, walking and window-shopping, waiting goo-gobs of time in line for Georgetown Cupcake to let us in; just a laid back, girls’ get-away.  Girls, women actually, can be so catty and conniving that it makes it tough to be around them for long periods of time. I’m not saying that the 9 of us weren’t without our moments back in the day. It doesn’t matter though, because  even after all the time that has passed since college and despite the different life choices we’ve made, we are still bonded through our shared experiences as women of Alpha Kappa Alpha.