The heat wave holding Washburn’s campus captive was perhaps the best excuse to indulge in free ice cream at the Greek Life Ice Cream Social on Tuesday, Aug. 31. This event was organized by the Office of Student Involvement and Development and had representation from each of the campus’ greek life organizations.

“[We wanted to] answer questions for people who are interested in joining greek life,” said Faith Butler, a senior representing Delta Gamma.

Rachel Janzen, the president of Zeta Tau Alpha explained her reasons for joining her sorority in the first place.

“I joined Zeta because I did not know anybody on campus and so I really thought it’d be a great opportunity to meet people,” said Janzen. “I’ve seen so many things everywhere where people were like, ‘it’s my forever home, it’s my family away from home,’ and I was like… shoot, that sounds kinda fun!… I just really wanted to find a good support system at Washburn because I didn’t know anybody here and I found that which is awesome!”

Butler explained that there are multiple reasons to join greek life.

“Washburn’s greek life is definitely not stereotypical, it’s more relaxed and sisterhood bonding is something really special for me,” said Butler. “It’s just a way to build a lot of memories throughout college instead of just going to work, to class and studying. You have another fun aspect to add to your college experience.”

There are a few requirements in order to join; one must be a full-time student at Washburn University and maintain a certain GPA, as dictated by each organization.

Butler also added that they have systems in place to help students in case they are struggling with their grades.

“We have a director of scholarship who kind of keeps an eye on grades and everything, every semester,” said Butler. “We encourage people to go to tutors, office hours and we all have study nights together, so it’s really fun for both studying and sisterhood bonding.”

To wrap up, both Faith and Rachel shared their favorite parts of their sorority experiences.

“I absolutely love and treasure every single movie night we have had in the basement of our sorority house with my sisters, also all of our board game nights–I love board games,” said Janzen. “I was so excited to find people that have the same interests as me, so we could really create that family atmosphere with each other and it has been my favorite part of college so far, easily.”

“I have to say that’s my favorite part: the relationships you build,” said Butler. “We’ve made lots of memories together that I will always remember.”

Edited by: Madison Dean