"Some things are just worth it."

On November 19th, MD Gamma initiated 10 new angels! Shari, a sophomore transfer student, shares her experience joining Pi Phi and the Hopkins community.

    Before deciding to join Pi Phi, I never really understood the need to join a Greek organization. I honestly could not comprehend the desire to sport neon shirts with Greek letters and call genetically dissimilar girls my sisters. However, after becoming an initiated member of Pi Phi I realized that Greek life is about a lot more than the physical symbols that can be seen around campus. As a sophomore transfer student, I came to Johns Hopkins knowing very few people. During my first week of classes, I would ask friendly people I met generic questions such as “Where are you from?” and “What’s your major?”. I also always made sure to include the question “What organizations do you participate in on campus?” to try to discover interesting things to get involved in. The link that connected all of the nice girls I met within my first few weeks here was three simple words: Pi Beta Phi. Realizing that I had nothing to lose by trying out the sorority, I figured I would give it a shot. I would like to thank my impulses for telling me to take a risk that day because I could not be happier with the result of my experience.

Ilana and Shari at Pink Party!

    As a new member, I immediately felt welcomed by every girl in the sorority. I opened my Facebook to find a number of messages filling up my inbox all from Pi Phi girls telling me how happy they were that I was choosing to join their sorority. This sense of enthusiasm and positive energy made me smile, knowing that this sisterhood was more than nominal. These girls would be there to support me. In addition, as a new member I attended meetings to learn about Pi Phi history, rules, and PanHellenic Council as a whole. I found these meetings so interesting that I often caught myself saying things to friends like “Don’t you think it’s interesting that Pi Phi was coined as a Fraternity?” which would immediately delve me into a long story about the history of Pi Phi.
    I also really enjoyed our first cookieshine, when all of the girls surprised the new pledging members outside of our meeting with loads of candy, cupcakes, and enthusiastic cheers. This show of happiness and enthusiasm further reinforced in my mind that joining Pi Phi was one of the best choices I had made since coming to campus a few months earlier. Interestingly, later on in the process, all of the pledges were interviewed by members of the AAC about what we liked and disliked about the new member process. When the woman turned to ask my opinions I had literally nothing negative to say. The only thing I could think of was that I wished I had more time to get to know all of these amazing and diverse girls better.
    As a newly initiated member, I couldn’t be happier with my decision to join Pi Phi. The girls are kind, genuinely caring, and continue to surprise me each and every day. When I receive a text on my phone from a sister just wishing me a Happy Thanksgiving, always with an enthusiastic smiley face, or run into a sister to eat with on campus, I truly feel like a member of the Hopkins community. Pi Phi has truly helped to make my transition to Hopkins a million times smoother and I could not be more grateful for that. I am now proud to be a new member of Pi Phi and sport our colors and letters around campus.
    On initiation day my friend saw me walking in a white dress and heels towards Charles Commons, where initiation was held. He stopped me and proclaimed, “I didn’t know you wore heels. I thought you said they were uncomfortable and painful.” To which I instantly retorted “Some things are just worth it.” In this case, Pi Phi is one of those things.