Staying in Touch With Your Sisters

When you’re in a sorority, it’s almost too easy to see your best friends on a daily basis.  Just going to lunch in the kitchen usually meant talking and laughing with your sisters for a couple hours while snacking on whatever treats the house cook made.  However, as an alumna, post-graduation socialization takes much more effort than simply walking out of your room!

As a former sisterhood chair of Mu Chapter, I readily admit that sisterhood is especially important to me (I might even be a little obsessed…).  After all, it’s part of our Sigma Kappa values that we are “bound by a Promise to demonstrate sisterhood and friendship throughout life.” That’s why it’s so imperative to plan events, happy hours, girls’ nights, and find other ways to stay close with your sisters. Here are a couple of my favorite ways to keep in touch:

1) Plan a girls’ night! While this is an obvious one, take the extra effort to create an “official” girls’ night. Make a Facebook event, invite your favorite sisters, and let the fun begin! On a budget? Girls’ night in is always a great option. Make it potluck style so you aren’t footing the food bill (your sisters are probably dying to try that new recipe they found on Pinterest anyway!), pick a favorite old movie you already own (Mystic Pizza, anyone?), and then just get excited to see everybody! Plus, if you want to make the event “Classy with a K,” have everyone dress up, put on some pearls, and be sure to take lots of pictures!

2) Find an exercise buddy! Now that you’re graduated, it’s an excellent idea to find fun new ways to work out now that you can’t just go to the campus gym, or run on the elliptical in the sorority workout room. And the best way to gain motivation is to have a sister by your side! For example, after forcing two members of my pledge class to buy hot yoga deals on Groupon with me, we all thought we were going to die of heat exhaustion after the first class. If I were on my own, I definitely wouldn’t have ever gone back! But because my sisters were sweating along with me, we gave it another shot, until it actually felt good to pose in that scorching room. Plus, then you can go to happy hour together afterward, guilt free!

3) Go to alumnae events!  While Founders’ Day is only once a year, hopefully your nearby chapter’s vice president of alumnae relations has planned a couple of other events for alumnae to stay involved. My collegiate chapter had an ice cream social for new alumnae in the fall so we had a chance to meet the new members… including my new great grand-little! We also have an alumnae mentorship program, and I absolutely adore taking my “alum chum” out for Starbucks or froyo and hearing about how the chapter is doing.  Additionally, make sure you find your nearest alumnae chapter – our Seattle chapter has a quarterly meeting to eat, chat, network, and even sends representatives to Convention.  They also regularly team up with the collegiate chapter for events such as the yearly Walk to End Alzheimer’s. If you’re worried about not knowing anyone, this the perfect opportunity to bring a couple of members from your pledge class to the next meeting so you can get involved as alumnae together.

The alumnae at Mu's Founders' Day 2011

There are thousands of ways to stay in touch (and I’ll definitely keep sharing my favorites!), but the important thing is to extend the invitation. Don’t let the fantastic friendships you made through Sigma Kappa fall by the wayside. Sisterhood is far too important for that.  Make a resolution to take the time to see your sisters, no matter how busy you and they might be. I promise it’ll be worth the effort!

SLAM!

Dana