Potpourri: Pledge Class Pandemonium

Fall sorority rush (ahem, excuse me - "recruitment") has concluded on most campuses, and Alpha Delta Pi did fabulously in this neck of the woods.  Not saying that we didn't do well elsewhere, but, as I get my information from the local alumnae group and my good friend Melanie the Province Director, the data at my immediate disposal is specific to "Texas and surrounding." 

Aside:  how is that I am old enough (ahem, excuse me - "mature enough") to have a good friend who is a province director?  Add this to the list of "signs that you are middle-aged" (ahem, excuse me - "signs that you are a grown-up").

The thing that has me freaking out, sort of, is the size of the pledge (ahem, excuse me - Alpha) classes on various campuses.  At TCU and UT, we're talking numbers in the 70's and 80's, which sounded ginormous to me until I read the tidbit about the ADPi Alpha class at the University of Arkansas consisting of 103 young women.  You read that right:  DOUBLE-DIGIT PLEDGES.  That's, like, ridiculous.  And somewhat surprising:  given the state of the economy, you might expect sorority membership (which introduces additional expenses over and above room and board) to be on the decline.

But delighted that the trend is moving in the other direction.  In addition to the long-term benefits of sorority membership (hands-on leadership training, networking opportunities and lifelong friendships being just the tip of the proverbial iceberg), I can testify to the fact that being surrounded by sisters during your college years (particularly when you don't have any biological ones) can be a boon in any set of circumstances, and most definitely when the chips are down.  My dad's first kidney cancer diagnosis came just after Christmas my freshman year, and the following year my dad (along with countless other middle- and upper-management banker types) got handed his walking papers as part of the big bank crash of the late '80's.  I made it through some dark college-era days, with sanity mostly intact, in large part because of my ADPi sisters.  So, belated thanks, ladies.  Hoping that all of our new sisters draw similar strength from each other as they make their way through college knowing that the world that awaits them may be even less certain than what we faced in the early 90's.