Transitioning From New Member to Second Year Member

Okay, so contrary to what you might think I’m not a second-year member of my sorority. I’m actually a senior (yikes!). As I look back at my time in Kappa Alpha Theta, though, I think that transitioning from a new member to a second-year member was one of the most difficult parts. To help other women navigate this tricky time, I’m going to offer up a few bits of advice.

When you are a new member of a sorority, everything is about you. From bid day to big reveal to initiation, you’ll be showered with more gifts and crafts than you ever thought possible. You’re in a whirlwind of Facebook friend requests and coffee dates with your new sisters. Everything is new and exciting: first chapter meeting, first formal, first set of letters. But like all good things, this can’t last forever. Soon you won’t be the new bids on the block, but that doesn't mean the fun has to stop.

Being a second year member comes with a whole slew of new opportunities. In my opinion, your second year is the most meaningful year. You come into your own as a member of your chapter. This is the time to step up and take on leadership roles in your chapter. For most people, this is also your chance to finally live in your chapter house and nothing beats living with your best friends. I got closer to my pledge class and the older girls when I lived in because we would see each other so often.

(My first preference night as a member and my little's first night...and yes I wear the same dress every year.)

A lot of the exciting events for new members are even more fun as a second year member. Being on the other side of recruitment for the first time will open your eyes to so many wonderful things. As your chapter prepares for recruitment, you’ll have a unique opportunity to spend uninterrupted time with all of your sisters. Recruitment preparation is a great time to reflect on why you joined your house, its values, and what being a member means to you. When you’re thinking about who to welcome into your sisterhood, you’ll remember that the women before you chose you specifically for the same reasons you are choosing others. Being on the other side of recruitment is a truly heart-warming experience.

After recruitment is over, the fun of being a second year member reaches its peak: little hunting! Now this may have started during recruitment, but it gets really intense once you actually have all of your new members. Now it’s your turn to invite girls on coffee dates and Facebook stalk endlessly. And once you've found the mac to your cheese, it will be time to enter into the wonderful (albeit sometimes stressful and expensive) world of crafting. You’ll spend days covered in glitter and paint but it will all be worth when you get that first hug from your brand new little on big reveal day. It’s a moment you will both treasure for years to come.

So if you’re ever nervous about transitioning into your second year, remember all of the special moments of your first year and realize that now it’s your time to make your new sisters feel just as loved as you did when you joined.

Transition from Summer to School Smoothly

Summer is winding down and it’s (unfortunately) time to get back into the academic flow. It’s beyond exciting to get back to campus and see all of my friends who have scattered across the US this summer, but it can be especially difficult to transition if you’re like me and spent the summer babysitting one of the world’s cutest families instead of a 9-5 internship or job like I have every other summer. When it comes time to transition from summer fun to school drudgery, I need a definite system to keep myself on track.

Probably my favorite back-to-school organizational tool is my dry erase calendar. It’s perfect for my very Type A personality and without it I absolutely would be a disorganized mess. At the beginning of each semester, I grudgingly print out the last page of every syllabus: the assignment list. I set up my month by using my vast array of markers to assign each class, work, DZ, and other things like university events (aka football games, Go Bucks!) a color and mark the assignments accordingly. If I have an extra important assignment like a midterm, I border the entire box so that date is heavily outlined and when I look at my calendar from afar I can clearly see when it’s appropriate to start panicking.

It's actually become infamous among my friends 

Another great way to stay organized is to hang each assignment list somewhere in your room. As the weeks go on highlight the assignments you’ve already completed. I think highlighting is a better alternative than crossing out assignments because you can still read what the assignment was in case you need the dates or anything later on. It’s a really easy way to look at your month week by week to ensure you don’t miss anything important.

I do carry a planner around but since my assignments are pretty spread out, the week-to-week setup of a planner isn’t very helpful and the monthly calendar is so small it would be impossible to fit five or six classes worth of info in those tiny boxes. While I depended on my planner in high school to get by, four years later it’s not such a helpful utensil for me. But my roommate lives by her planner, so it can also be used as a really helpful tool to keep you organized and have a monthly assignment list with a week-by-week breakdown. The same way I use different colored markers on my calendar, I’d suggest different colored pens for your planner just so every assignment doesn’t blend together.

This is probably the most I ended up using my planner… #priorities

One last really easy trick I use to keep my life organized? Since I always have my computer with me (most of my classes run on PowerPoint presentations) I saved my syllabi to my desktop and keep them all in the same place. Next to them I have the document outlining my graduation requirements for quick reference. So when I’m on campus and far from my insane calendar, I have an easy way to find my assignments, even when the wifi decides to kick everyone off the network.

I hope this helps keep your life in order as you switch from summer to school mode, good luck!