Sigma Alpha Iota is a women’s music fraternity with chapters around the world. Sigma Alpha Iota, Gamma Eta chapter was founded at Agnes Scott College in 1958. I joined in early 2016, becoming a ‘rose’ and a member of a sisterhood tightknit and closely woven, one created out of a love of music and a love for each other.

The requirements to join Sigma Alpha Iota are simple: one semester in a music ensemble, or a music class credit, and a 2.5 GPA. I met these requirements, I took a test, I memorized the chorale, and I joined a national fraternity. It wasn’t something I expected to do when I entered college, but four years grateful, I’m so glad I did.

Besides meeting new people and making great friends, through SAI, I’ve served my school and community through service in the music department, I’ve grown as a musician, and I’ve grown as a leader. I served as Social Chair in the 2016-2017 school year, then Editor, which included social media management, in the 2017-2018 school year. Now, as a senior, I was elected to serve as the Vice President of Membership, and it is my turn to recruit new members to join the sisterhood I’ve grown to love so nearly and dearly.

SAI has taught me to be better organized, to be more fiscally responsible, to support others wholeheartedly and without jealousy, and to learn to be flexible. SAI is like running a business and managing a family at the same time. It’s challenging, but the results are so, so worth it.

Reflecting on my experience in Sigma Alpha Iota is now necessary, as I attempt to recruit a new class of Roses to join our ranks. It’s hard to put into words the confidence SAI has given me, or the maturity it has instilled in me. It’s even harder to put into words why someone else should take a leap of faith and join our little sisterhood– why the benefits outweigh the cost of membership and that pearl-encrusted pin that I’ve come to treasure.

It’s time for me to organize the information sessions I once attended as a first year. It’s time for me to teach the material I once studied. It’s time for me to guide new members into Sigma Alpha Iota. I’m excited, but nervous– just how I felt when this all began.