Kim Baker Rebecca Agosta English 1101 November 18th 2013 Into The World of a Sorority

Introduction In Swales writing in __________ he explains the jist of what a discourse community is. He talks about the aspects of what makes up a discourse community.

I am a part of a very important organization on UNC Charlottes campus. It is my sorority, Zeta Tau Alpha. ZTA exemplifies a discourse community in many ways. There is a very strong sense of belonging in my sorority. We all share the common goal of wanting to participate in raising money for our philanthropy, breast cancer education and awareness. We have secrets about the history of our organization that also brings us closer together being that the knowledge only exists between those of us who are sisters. One interesting fact about Zeta Tau Alpha is that we are technically called Fraternity, due to the fact that we did not have any boys members assist us in starting up our organization in 1898.

We communicate through a Facebook page that any sister can have access to. We share dates of events and thoughts on certain things on this page. We have sisters of all ages, and all levels of knowledge, creating a varying threshold. Another thing that

would make one consider us as a discourse community is that we have a specific vocabulary or lexis. After reading mirabelli ___________ I was able to better understand and actually see these aspects within my sorority. Before I was just looking past all of the details and seeing my sorority as a whole.

I think that our lexis is one of the most important things about our sorority. We use specific words and acronyms that would greatly confuse the everyday person who might happen to listen in on one of our conversations. To understand almost everything having to do with this sorority, it would help to have an idea of the meaning of the words we use.

Chapter: 1) A meeting that a sorority or fraternity has, usually weekly, where important matters of the organization are handled. 2) The sorority at a specific school, has its own chapter name. UNC Charlottes Zeta Tau Alpha chapter is called Eta Tau. Creed: A statement of our beliefs, written by Shirley Kreasan Strout. Memorized by every member of the sorority. Family: Within the sorority we also have a family, sometimes made up of a Big, Little, Grand Big, Great Grand Big, etc. There is a process to find the girl who will be your big, someone who you get along with really well and will be a good role model to you throughout your time in Zeta Tau Alpha.

Big: A sister who takes a little, through the big/little process, and acts as a role model and older sister to her. Gives her gifts and welcomes her into the sorority once she becomes initiated. Little: A new member who is taken by an older sister to be shown the ways of ZTA. Grand Big: A sister whos little also has a little. EC: (Executive Council) Sisters that hold a position having to do with an important aspect of the sorority. Made up of a President, 3 Vice Presidents, Ritual Chair, Risk Reduction Chair, House Manager, Treasurer, Historian, Sisterhood, PHA delegate, and the Academic Achievement chair. The members of the sorority vote on EC each year towards the end of the first semester. All EC members live in the house. New Member: A member of the sorority who has been given a bid to the sorority but has not yet been initiated. Older Sister: A member of the sorority who has been initiated. Mixers: An organized social event between a sorority and a fraternity.

Observation Every Sunday, Zeta Tau Alpha meets to have a chapter meeting. During this meeting many things are discussed regarding the sorority. The meetings are just called chapter and they usually are scheduled to start at 6 PM in a room in Denny. Sometimes chapter will be held at the house if there are other conflicts with the scheduling.

The room that chapter is held in does not have any air conditioning; we have come to learn this so we usually dress appropriately. Since the weather is chilly, girls wear shorts and a T-shirt with a sweatshirt to remove. There are no assigned seats but often times girls will sit with other members in their pledge class or members of their family (aka Big, G-Big, Great G-Big, Twins).

The meetings are supposed to start at 6 PM, but usually dont start until 6:15 or 6:30. Specifically on this Sunday, we started around 6:10. We say that we run on ZTA time (meaning 15 minutes late for everything). We start off the meetings by reciting the creed together. The creed is basically explains the purpose of being a member of Zeta Tau Alpha and our values and goals. We all stand up to recite the creed, and when we finish. Our president will begin discussing the matters that she in charge of. This usually consists of briefing over big events coming up, or what other EC members are going to talk about. All of the information for the entire chapter is posted on a power point presentation, while the EC members discuss their topic.

Next up is the VP 2 & 3, this year the positions are held by the same girl. She talks about things having to do with the new members and our activities, at this meeting she discussed our mandatory events that we will be having the week before initiation. Then the Ritual Chair will speak about any upcoming rituals that we need to know about. The most important ritual is of course our initiation. Lately she has

been discussing important information with us that we need to know regarding initiation.

The Treasurer gives the dates that all of our dues need to be paid by, and informs us of any extra fees that need to be paid. The Risk Reduction Chair will sometimes give an occasional presentation on alcohol education and safety, otherwise she will just give reminders to us that we need to be monitoring the kinds of pictures we post on social media, making sure that we dont jeopardize the reputation of the sorority. That is one of the special things about Zeta Tau Alpha. We pride ourselves in being known as respected leaders on campus and we want all of our members to reflect this image. The rules are very strict and if anyone disobeys them they will get a judicial hearing with our council.

The next member to come up and speak is our PHA Delegate. She tells us about upcoming events that other Panhellenic sororities are hosting that we can go to, reminding us that its important to show support to our fellow sororities so they will support us as well. The House Manager then comes up to speak about matters dealing with the girls who live in the ZTA sorority house on campus. She will tell them if there is an upcoming inspection and to make sure to follow the cleaning schedule and keep the house looking nice. The House Manager also keeps track of girls moving in and out of the house, making sure that each room in the house is filled in order to not have our sorority fined. Then our Academic Achievement chair will talk to us about ways to make sure we are maintaining our good grades.

ZTA prides itself on keeping a high average GPA amongst our members, as we were first in grades out of all of the sororities last semester. The Academic Achievement chair will also do a drawing called Smarty Panties where she picks from a jar of names of girls who have sent in good grades theyve received, and the winner gets a $25 gift card to Victorias Secret. The Sisterhood chair then talks about any upcoming sisterhood bonding activities that are planned. She plans a number of fun activities such as pumpkin carving or ice skating that girls have the opportunity to go to if they want to bond more with their sisters.

After all of the EC members have spoken, there might be a few extra girls that come up and speak about something they want to tell the sorority. Girls might ask us if we are interested in participating in an event with another fraternity, or girls might tell us about a fundraiser their church is having, and ask us for our support. After chapter is concluded, the older sisters are allowed to leave, and the new members stay for our New Member Meeting. We meet with our new member groups and our new member leader. We usually go over one lesson at each of these meetings. The five lessons are on Loyalty, Responsibility, Service, Leadership, and Commitment. There is a part of the creed that goes along with each of these lessons, and we learn each of those parts as we go, so that we will know the entire creed, and the meaning, by the end of the New Member Period. During each lesson we are also given discussion questions to talk about with our groups that have to do with the

lesson topic. At the end of each lesson we fill out a review sheet in our New Member binder.

Interview To get a more in depth outlook on this discourse community, I interviewed my Great Grand Big, Katie Koltz. She is a senior and has been a member of Zeta Tau Alpha for 4 years. I interviewed her because I thought that she could give a good description of her time in this sorority based on all of the experience shes had. I started off by asking her what the typical day of a member of ZTA consisted of. She said that when she lived in the house, she was a lot more involved in sorority activities than she is now that she lives off campus in an apartment. During her stay in the sorority house, she said she would wake up, hang out with some of the sisters, go to class, come home, and then have dinner or watch a movie with some of the sisters. When I asked her what makes our specific chapter unique, she replied by saying that ZTA has the best philanthropy, and we donate a lot of money. Our chapter is unique because we all get along really well and we dont have a lot of drama like some other sororities. Katie talked about a time during her junior year when she thought that she might want to quit. She said, I was having a hard time paying my dues, then I felt like it was worth it to stay just because I had come so far already. Katie said she feels a strong connection to her sisters because they have similar political and religious views, and they enjoy doing a lot of the same things for fun. I also asked Katie if there was anything that she would like to change about this sorority and she said, The dues, because I spend a lot of money doing ZTA stuff. In

turn, I have to pick up more hours at work, therefore I miss out on more events, sometimes causing me to have to pay fines, and then I need to work more. Its a vicious circle. Since Katie is a senior, I asked her how she wants to be involved for her last semester in Zeta Tau Alpha. She said that she wants to participate in more events and go to things like mixers that she wouldnt normally go to. One of the benefits of being in a sorority is that it will positively impact your future. It gives me connections in the business world because there are a lot of ZTA alumni. Ive gotten a lot of job offers because employers wives are ZTAs. Also being Greek in general can help you get a job because a lot of employers were in a sorority or a fraternity and so you have that bond with them, and they know that you have good social, responsibility, and leadership skills. Katie said that one of her favorite things about ZTA is her family, and the fact that she always has someone to hang out with. If you want Taco Bell at 3 am, there is ALWAYS a sister who will go with you. Lastly, I asked Katie about her experience as a new member. She said that it was different for her because her pledge class only had 45 girls, as opposed to mine, which has 67. It was very stressful having to learn everything and feeling like you had to go to a bunch of events to earn your place as a member. Koltz, Katie. Personal Interview. 6 Nov. 2013