“Hi! My name’s Madison and I’m an Agricultural Education major from Mount Eden, Kentucky”. This sentence was said on repeat during my Freshman year of sorority recruitment. Due to the circumstances of COVID 19, recruitment was conducted through my MacBook screen in my dorm room in Woodland Glen IV. I was a farm girl who wanted to take her love for cows, crops, farmers, and agriculture into Greek life.

To say I was nervous was an understatement. I felt that I was different from the majority of the girls going through recruitment. My classes consisted of lectures on floral arrangements, herbicide and pesticide use, and reproductive anatomy of livestock. I was a social butterfly who wanted to branch out  and meet girls from various walks of life, especially those who had different passions and interests than I did, but what would they think of me? Would I fit in? Would they even want to talk to me? I thoroughly enjoyed each round of recruitment even if I could not experience them in person. I laughed, I cried, and I learned about myself and my personal values along the way.

The last day of virtual recruitment had arrived and I filled out the bracket for my top two houses. This was the moment that I felt I would find my “girl gang”. The next day I virtually opened my bid card. Although it wasn’t exactly as I planned, I ran home that day.

After a few weeks of immersing myself in Greek life I chose to drop before initiation and work on myself. I knew that in order for me to uplift the girls in my chapter I had to uplift myself. My Freshman year of college at UK I continued to work on myself, mentally, physically, and emotionally. I worked on finding out who I was and what I valued. The summer coming into my Sophomore year I decided to try Greek life again. I signed up for recruitment feeling even more nervous than before. My interests were still the same and different from many college aged girls that I encountered. I  was excited, nervous, but ready to find a group of girls who truly loved me for me. I went through recruitment again and fell in love with Alpha Delta Pi all over again.

Every time I entered the Pi Palace I never wanted to leave. I felt genuine love, care, and investment from the girls within the Beta Psi Chapter. I felt that Alpha Delta Pi was a place that would challenge me in the best ways, invest in me, and always make me feel loved and supported. These girls were strong, powerful, and driven and I admired them in so many ways. After crying my eyes out during the sisterhood round at ADPI I knew this was where my heart belonged. I felt as if God had led me back to ADPI because he knew it was a place that would continue to help me grow and continue to improve myself and the world around me. 

I opened my bid card on bid day of my Sophomore year and cried huge tears of joy. There was a reason behind my Freshman recruitment story. I ended up exactly where I need to be, in the arms of all my beautiful, amazing, and supporting sisters who never fail to make me feel as valued as a diamond. My heart goes out to Alpha Delta Pi for allowing me to grow, learn , and find a home.