It is natural to be competitive – to want yourself and your organizations to win; but this shouldn’t be at the expense of others. Like it or not, other sororities exist. These Greek women will be friends with some of the fraternity men you hang out with, will be in your classes, and may even be your boss one day.
During college it’s easy to have rival houses. There are many events and challenges that force us to compete – Homecoming events, Greek Week, and intramurals. Though these times call for each house to try to win, this shouldn’t encourage slandering others. Honestly, it’s not a good look for you or anyone to talk trash. It makes the person saying those things seem jealous, incompetent, and unhappy with themselves and/or their sorority.
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Because of these competitive events – we often forget that sororities are more alike than we think. Each sorority is driven through high achievements in grades, giving back nationally and locally through philanthropies and service hours, as well as developing members into successful women. Instead of being petty and gossipy – houses often leverage these similarities to make a larger difference. Also, just because someone wears different letters than you, doesn’t mean they couldn’t be a great friend – you just have to learn to look past the letters stitched on their shirt.
So when you are thrown into a competitive event, do it with dignity and grace. If you win, congratulate the other competitors and accept the honor humbly. If you lose, congratulate the winning sorority and work with your sisters to develop a winning strategy next time.
We can all get caught up in the craze of competition, but we must work to keep it a friendly competition.
Most competitive Greek events are derived from our unified standard to “give back”. Usually the money raised from these events support a great cause; the winning chapter’s bragging rights are just a result of a highly successful philanthropic event. We all know how fast these bragging rights can be handed over the next year, so when you are the current victor act with elegance, because you may be on the losing side the next time around.
Just keep in mind what holds us all together as a panhellenic community and don’t focus on just winning, but rather having fun!
Cheers!
Casey, Kate & Rachel
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