Dear Delta Gamma,

Dear Delta Gamma,

Freshman year of college was probably the worst year of my life. Leaving my family and the three or four friends that I had never seemed so scary to me until it actually happened. I came to Kent and had nobody. Just a small little girl in what seemed to be such a huge campus at the time. I’d walk to class alone, I’d eat alone…sometimes I didn’t even eat because I had the worst anxiety of being alone, I didn’t want to be looked at. I’d spend almost every other weekend back at home with my family because I felt more comfortable and I missed them more than I’d like to admit. Honestly, my favorite weekends were the ones where my roommate was at home because then I could be alone at peace in my dorm room. What a loser, am I right?? I had never been this way until I came to college. I was scared to get myself out there in a whole new world where I didn’t have or really know anyone. I was lost and awkward. Then summer hit and I was so happy to be home where I didn’t have to worry about those things. To be completely honest, I didn’t even want to come back in the fall for sophomore year. But you know how mothers are. We discussed the issues and went back and forth for a while and compromised and here I am back at Kent!!

Coming into sophomore year I decided I needed to make some changes. I took a leap of faith and went through recruitment. Now I know this is all going to sound like cookie cutter BS but hear me out because it’s all true! Right as I took my first step into the Deeg I knew right then and there that this would be my home away from home. Getting my bid and running home to my new sisters was and still is my favorite day at Kent State. It’s a moment in my life that I can play back vividly, and I will never ever forget how happy I was. For the first time in college I was genuinely happy. My sisters welcomed me in with open arms and made me feel so loved and important. Like I actually had a place in each of their hearts. Little did I know that on that very day I had met my very best friends, my future bridesmaids, my soulmates. The type of friends I could call at any given hour and they’d pick up. The girls I would laugh till I cry with, complain about school work with, get my heart broken with. They were my support team and I was theirs. A sisterhood.

Throughout the remainder of the year I saw a side of me that I hadn’t seen since high school. I was confident again with the person I am, and I wasn’t scared to be my normal goofy self. I got involved within the chapter and participated in almost every event. I met so many people and realized that Delta Gamma was literally my family. The love and support each of these girls has for our chapter and for our philanthropy and the love and support they have given me in so many different situations, good and bad, is out of this world! The only thing I can think to say is thank you.

Thank you, Delta Gamma, for bringing back the real me. Thank you for accepting me for who I am and loving me not only on my best days, but on my worst as well. I could say it a million times and nobody would ever understand the impact these girls and this chapter has had on my life. I am so thankful to be a part of something so amazing and I am so excited to be back in the fall and for the next two years I have as a Kent State Delta Gamma.

LITB, Elizabeth…Lizard…Beth…idk I have too many nicknames nowadays