Sisterhood Retreat

Friday, March 2^nd members of my chapter met together at the sorority house to begin our sisterhood retreat.

Throughout the year Zeta Tau Alpha has multiple sisterhood events that are designed to bring members of the chapter together. Some of these events include going to the movies, having chapter dinner, working out, watching a football game, cheering on your sisters at one of our intramural games or anything you can think of that creates a bonding experience between you and your sisters. Besides the smaller sisterhood activities, each semester we have one big sisterhood retreat. Sisterhood retreats are usually an overnight event where the girls of the chapter stay the night together at a planned location. We eat dinner and play games and bonding activities together to strengthen our sisterhood. Sisterhood retreats also give girls a chance to get away from “the real world,” relax and talk about whatever you want. Ilissa Fregal is the Sisterhood Chair, part of Programs Council, along with Co-Chair Sarah Stobb, who organizes and sets up these events for the chapter to experience.

This semester we all met up at the Zeta house first and ate dinner together. Ilissa got Italian food from her dad’s restaurant that was amazing, and since we all love to eat I don’t know anyone who didn’t get seconds. After dinner we all carpooled together to one of our new members house, Kelsea Ames, whose family she lives with generously offered their home in River Oaks to house 56 girls for the night. The fact that the homeowners said we could all stay on the third flood should be an indicator to how massive this place was and turns out the decided to go to Cabo for the weekend, so we ended up having the whole house to ourselves.  Once everyone made it to the house and finished exploring, or being lost we all met in the living room to begin the “fun and games.”

 First we all got in a big circle and realized the living room was too small and moved outside. In the circle one person started off with holding the end of a piece of string, then picked one girl in the circle to say something positive about and why they are thankful for having them in their life. You could pick anyone that you wanted, but girls tried to say things to some of the newer girls or girls that you might not hang out with on a daily basis. Once that one girl said something she then passed the string on to the girl she talked to while still holding on to her end of the string, then the rest followed. Once something was said about every single girl, the inside of the circle looked like a spider web. This spider web represents how each girl is connected in some way that makes our chapter special and unique in whom we are.

Next we went inside and played a more serious game. The game played was called “The anonymous board.” A note card was passed around for each girl to spread out and write something down that you have experience that you have never told anyone and to keep in anonymous. We then folded up and put them in a bowl. Once everyone was finished, Ilissa read each one out loud. As bad or terrifying as most of them were, there wasn’t a single situation that wasn’t repeated by someone else.  At the end everyone was crying as we played a sad song. This was done to create a trust circle within our sisterhood to show that no matter how hard things have been in life or how down you might feel, you are never alone and should never feel that way. After this we moved to a happier tone and had a dance party, went swimming, snacked, watched movies, played the piano, talked and did whatever we wanted for the rest of the night. The next morning after breakfast, a few girls woke up early to support and participate in another sorority’s philanthropy event and the rest of us packed up and drove back to the house.

When it comes down to it years from now, your not going to remember what we talked about in meeting or how much dues were. Years from now your going to remember the late nights, long talks and countless memories shared with girls that you know will be there and apart of you for the rest of your life. Its moments like this that makes us a true sisterhood.