By: Sarah Geegan

A Year in the Life: Sorority Prez

Sarah Geegan

Oh, sorority life. Is it all about date parties, Vineyard Vines bags, Monday meetings and Lily-patterned letters? Nope.

Those “date parties” require meticulous planning. Venue selection. Transportation. Theme.

Those Monday meetings announce a multitude of undertakings. Membership education.  Financial upkeep. Recruitment. Panhellenic activities.

And those girls will wear those Lily letters and carry those Vineyard Vines bags to campus-wide philanthropy events that take a full year to plan.

Sororities at UK are well-oiled machines with officers, committees, advisers and long-standing traditions to uphold. This poses a question: Is it possible to oversee one of these groups and graduate, sanity intact?

Enter Elizabeth Shemo, integrated strategic communication senior and president of Alpha Delta Pi Sorority, Beta Psi chapter — one of the UK Greek women organized and stress-resistant enough to handle the president’s gavel.

Being president is definitely a big undertaking,” says Shemo. “It requires a lot of time management and delegation; but I love it.”

So what does a typical year in the life of a sorority prez look like?

December:

-Plan officer transitions for the 33 incoming officers

-Formulate goals for the year with officers and advisers

January:

-Begin planning for District Leadership Conference — a conference for all ADPi chapters in District II

-Communicate with each officer about requirements for the conference

-Coordinate hotels, rides, paperwork for the trip

February:

-Assist the social chair with sign-in table at social function

-Assist philanthropy chair in planning an event for Parents Weekend

-Attend DLC

April:

-Host Parents Weekend and help coordinate with special event chair

-Assist recruitment chair in preparing freshman members for recruitment

June:

-Attend Grand Convention in Phoenix, Ariz., with over 200 other ADPi chapters from the U.S. and Canada

-Draft and distribute summer letter to all members

August:

-Recruitment week

-Assist recruitment chair in leading chapter through preparation week and recruitment week

September:

-Assist Philanthropy chair in planning The Main Event, ADPi and Sigma Chi’s traditional and successful philanthropy event

-Attend meetings with new members and contribute to their membership education

November:

-Attend and help announce at The Main Event

-Coordinate officer elections for 2012-13 school year