Writing Assignment 2

Gamma Phi Beta as my Literacy

I would like to say that I consider myself an involved person at Texas A&M-Commerce. Last semester I was in Spirit Den, joined the Gamma Zeta chapter of Gamma Phi Beta, and apart of Spirit Committee and the Pride Marching Band. I love being involved in all these different groups. They are all so different from each other and have such different literacies but I feel like Gamma Phi Beta has the most distinct literacy for me to be able to do my project on.

Every sorority in the world has a distinct literacy of their own with their rituals, traditions, and philanthropies. No sorority can discuss their rituals since it is all supposed to be kept a secret within their sorority. For example, one saying we have in Gamma Phi Beta that we say amongst each other is love in KE. I can’t say what it means, but it is something that we say to each other that only other Gamma Phi Beta members will understand. Other than that, we don’t have any other secret sayings that we use. We do have quotes and little sayings that do specifically relate to Gamma Phi Beta. Our open quote is “Founded upon a rock”. One of our founders, Helen M. Dodge, came up with this quote because she thought our sorority should be on something that is very strong and she thought rock was the strongest foundation for our sorority.

We have all these little things that make us Gamma Phi Beta and gives us our distinct characteristics. Then within each certain Gamma Phi Beta chapter at each university, it shows what kind of girls that each Gamma Phi Beta chapter recruits into their sorority. For example at Texas A&M-Commerce, the girls of Gamma Zeta chapter of Gamma Phi Beta are known for being the nicest sorority girls on campus. Though we’ve also been called “the new KD Chis” and told our house should be turned into a Golden Corral based on what some of our girls look like. Even though people on campus have said that about Gamma Phi Beta we still had the best reputation amongst all the CPC sororities. At other universities across the country, Gamma Phi Beta doesn’t have that kind of reputation. At Texas State University, the Gamma Chi chapter of Gamma Phi Beta is a newer chapter and most of the girls aren’t very nice and accepting of others. Each Gamma Phi Beta chapter at each university is different, but when it comes down to it, we still have the same values and things we stand for.

Our four core values for our sorority are love, labor, learning, and loyalty. To us love means having a love for our sorority and for our sisters. Labor means giving back to the community and volunteering and doing work for your sorority chapter. Learning means taking your college studies very seriously and always wanting to learn more. We ask right before chapter how many chapters have you read and we would answer there is no end because to us you never stop learning. Then loyalty means being trustworthy and honest with your sisters and everyone else. In Gamma Phi Beta when we are recruiting new members, we look to find girls who exhibit all four of these values.

I hope when researching the sorority I am a part of that I can gain a better perspective on why I joined Gamma Phi Beta to begin with. I hope to get more information on what my sorority is all about and what sisterhood is all about. I also wouldn’t be doing my project on just my chapter but multiple Gamma Phi Beta chapters. I would be able to get a better perspective on all these things I want to research if I choose to not focus only on my chapter. We all have the same values and reasons as to why we all joined Gamma Phi Beta that it’d be easier to research multiple chapters.

Works Cited Page

http://www.gammaphibeta.org/Gallery/Gallery/34

http://www.gammaphibeta.org/aboutus