Final Paper Draft

It was Saturday June 4^th , 2011. I had just graduated from Olentangy Liberty High school. As my family and friends began to hug and congratulate me I began to become upset. I should have been happy I had been waiting to finish grade school and go to college for the past twelve years. If I had reached this milestone, why were there tears falling from my eyes? Was it that I was upset about leaving all of my friends that I had grown up since kindergarten with? Was it that I was nervous of leaving the only town I’ve ever known? Or, was it that I was simply terrified of how my life was going to change once I left the comfort zone of the “Powell Bubble?”

The summer after my graduation began to fly by quickly. One by one my friends began to pack up all their belongs and leave for the next step in their lives. Many of my friends are college athletes, therefore they had to leave for school in late June or early July. This left me having to say goodbye to all of my closets friends while I was still stuck in the “Powell Bubble,” especially since Ohio University was on quarters and would not start school until September.

Now, one may ask what the “Powell Bubble” is. Basically, it is socially constructed term that describes the community of Powell, a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, that I grew up in. Powell is a relatively new community that is rapidly growing every year. Powell, Ohio lacks diversity with only 11% of the student population being non-white. The socio-economic status is made up of families from the upper-middle class. It is not uncommon to see brand new high-class cars in the student parking lot at the high school, and students wearing designer clothing. Needless to say, I grew up in an unrealistic society.

As it became time for me to leave the “Powell Bubble” and move in to my dorm at Ohio University, I became more and more uneasy. What if my roommate and I don’t get along? Am I going to find friends as good as my friends from home? What if I don’t like my major? These questions and many more ran through my head as move in day approached. When the day finally did come, my parents and I headed down to Athens, Ohio with two car loads filled of stuff that I would soon find out would not all fit in my tiny dorm room. After I unpacked all of my belongings and was settled in the tears from my mom’s face and mine began to fall. I had waited for this day my entire life, why was I so upset?

The first few weeks of school were almost like a movie to me. My college experience had so far consisted of partying, drinking, and barely sleeping. I had been immersed into a entirely new culture that I was never exposed to while living in the “Powell Bubble.” I soon began to forget about the life I was so upset about leaving behind, including my long-term high school boyfriend. He was attending a different school and was experiencing a different college experience than I was. Our differences and distance quickly became between us and ended up causing our relationship to fall apart. At the time I wasn’t phased by the breakup, but little did I know I would think otherwise down the road.

I had been thinking about rushing a sorority before I came to Ohio University, so when formal sorority recruitment came along I decided to register. I went through the two long, tiring weekends of small talk and house tours. It was almost like speed dating but with girls. Even though I went to nine different chapters, I only was interested in one throughout the whole formal recruitment process. When bid day came along I was more nervous than I ever thought I would be. What if the chapter I love didn’t love me? What if I get into the chapter that I disliked? As my rho gamma, my recruitment guide, handed me my bid day card I opened slowly praying for the name of my dream sorority to be on that car. When I read, “the Ohio Alpha chapter of Pi Beta Phi would like to extend to you a bid,” I was ecstatic. I finally had the opportunity to meet new close girlfriends like the ones I had in the “Powell Bubble.”

Becoming a member of Pi Beta Phi was the best decision of my college career. I not only gained 120 new friends but sisters. Even though I had just met these women I had felt as if we had known each other our whole lives. I began to tell my sisters things that I had never even told my high school friends. Over the next few months, I found out what it meant to have a home away from home. I had a place that I could go when I was bored in-between classes. I had 100 plus girls to text when I didn’t want to go to the dining hall alone. I had other girls who had been through tougher things than I could have ever imagined going through, and so I learned from them. I made friends with girls who had grown up in totally different religions, cultures, and worlds than I had (because contrary to popular belief, there are actually sororities that are comprised of more than just your average rich white girl), and you liked learning about things I had never experienced. I took note of the girl whose parents had gone through an ugly divorce when she was young, and wondered how she ever got through it. I met the girl whose best friend had died in a drunk driving accident in high school, and was amazed at the way she had channeled her energy into preventing others from experiencing the same fate by speaking at school assemblies. I met the girl whose parent was dying of cancer, and I didn’t reprimand her or judge her when she dealt with it by blacking out on a nightly basis. I just tucked her into bed and sat with her while she sobbed and realized your heart could ache for one of your friends as if the pain was your own. My sisters had opened up to me and I to them, and by the end of my freshman year I was panicking about having to say goodbye to them for summer break.

Summer could not have gone slower, it seemed like I was separated from my sisters for twelve months instead of three. Saying goodbye to my high school friends was a piece of cake now that I had made 100 plus friends back at school. These women had changed my perspective of leaving the comfort zone of the “Powell Bubble” and made me excited for the next steps of life that I would experience after graduation. Without this women I would not have stayed at Ohio University, decided to change my major, or gotten over that high school boyfriend that I brought up before. I am incredibly blessed to be a part of such an amazing organization as Pi Beta Phi. My sisters have made me into a better version of myself.