Visit the organization's national and local websites. These websites are ran by the organizations and give the most accurate account of their national projects, brief history, notable members, and membership requirements. The national websites for the Divine 9 are listed below. The local websites give more details about the chapter on your campus and should be updated with their upcoming events and service projects.
Read The Divine Nine: The History of African American Fraternities and Sororities by Lawrence C. Ross Jr. This book discusses all 9 organizations in details and I read it before I became a member of my organization, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. There are other books/sites too that break down the history of BGLOs. Recently, I came across this post on the HBCUStory Blog, which discusses the history of the Divine 9 in general. It is not as much detail as The Divine Nine Book. However, still a good source of information.https://hbcustory.wordpress.com/2015/05/22/this-is-why-we-step-a-history-of-stepping-in-black-greek-lettered-life-culture
Schedule Individual Meetings. Take the time to get to know the members in the chapter that you want to join. Think about it this way, once you're selected and initiated, you will be spending A LOT of time with these individuals. Therefore, you want to make sure that you feel that particular organization is a good fit. Individual meetings gives you the opportunity to see if you connect with the members and learn more specific details about a particular organization. This is also a more discreet and easy way to express your interests.
Observe. Don't just go by what you read and hear, but trust what you see. When you're at events, service projects, other things happening on campus, etc. learn about how the members:
- interact with each other
- get involved on campus
- support each other
- engaged in the local community
I have witnessed all of the Black Greek Letter organizations do great things for their local communities and take on national projects. Therefore, doing your research is really about finding out which organization is the best fit for you so that you can continue to participate for a lifetime. The more you learn about each BGLO individually, the better you will be able to assess if it aligns with your personal goals and values. If you are a member of a BGLO, please feel free to share other tips in the comments section below.
- Danae
Blogger Comment
Facebook Comment