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The Diverse World of Kappa Delta KD: A Sisterhood Sisterhood, cheering, honesty, laughing, and bonding are only a few of the aspects of this close-knit group. Kappa Delta Sorority is far from what the average person may expect it to be. Although from an outside view one would think of KD consisting of just t-shirts and parties; there is so much more that makes up this lively group of girls. Throughout my research of Kappa Delta many discoveries unveiled the true KD diversity and sisterhood that may be hard for people to see from an outside perspective. In the past, KD has continuously grown into thriving subcultures at different colleges, creating a variety of characteristics that make it a unique subculture today. How KD is considered a subculture Not only is KD a subculture here at Georgia Southern, but also at different schools around the country, making it multiple subcultures. Just like at GSU, there are many chapters across the country of KD that are their own subcultures at whichever university they are located at. But how is KD different from the rest of the GSU campus? The answer to this question is complex and not direct, because a lot of the members of KD are not all the same. The rituals and events that KD does together is only half the reason why they would be considered a subculture. There are a lot more characteristics apart of KD that makes this group different from the rest of GSU. KD girls are brought together by the bond they feel with each other and the strong sisterhood they have between 140 girls. Most people would think that the sisters of KD do the same activities, wear the same clothes, and have all the same interests; however, their differences is what makes this

subculture unique. While the majority of subcultures contain the same characteristics, KD shares some but differs with others. Members within KD have their own individual interests that other girls may not be interested in what-so-ever, but this is what makes KD closer, by their differences. As an insider, why did I choose this subculture? Throughout my study, being an insider of KD was definitely more surprising and educational than I thought it would be. The reason I wanted to study my own subculture was not to find out more about KD, but to find out the diversity within KD. My goal was to eliminate any stereotypes or misconceptions that people may have towards sorority girls or Greek life in general. Beforehand, I felt that outsiders thought people in Greek life were all the same and only liked to hang out with each other; I knew this wasnt true so I decided to base my study off what true diversity KD holds. I also wanted to explore what KD meant to other girls besides myself. I didnt realize how other girls cherished the sorority differently than I do, but still in a positive way. The convenience of studying this subculture was definitely a factor of why I chose to study KD, because I had numerous ways of talking to members along with interacting with various events that were connected with the sorority. I am glad I chose this subculture as an insider, because I ended up learning more about my own subculture than I originally thought. The True Culture of KD KD takes pride in their rituals along with how hard they work so they can continuously be a thriving chapter. Having a sisterhood gathering is very important to the girls of KD because it gives time for the girls to eat food, hang out, relax, and bond as sisters. This

gathering is separated from all of the events and meetings that the girls have to go to, giving the sisters and opportunity to hang out as a sorority and focus on their sisterhood. KD also takes prides in the awards they have received in the past, which covers a variety of academic, philanthropy, and achievement awards. Some of these awards include: above all Women's Average- for Georgia Southern University, 2010 Miss Georgia Southern: Anna Treadway, and 2010 HQ Excellence in New Member Education Award. These are only a select few of the awards that KD has received in the past few years. KD continues to strive for more awards that they can receive nationally and locally, where they can be recognized by the community and other chapters throughout the country. One main award KD is proud of receiving this year is the best grades on the row. KD was recognized in The Olympian News claiming that all of the chapters hard work this past fall paid off when they received top grades amongst the sororities (The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Relations). Receiving the best grades on the row was huge success for KD, considering all sororities work hard to have high grades because of the GPA requirement that is needed in order to stay active in a sorority. Culturally, KD works hard to be what they are today. They stay close to their sisterhood along with what they take pride in. KD sticks to their own morals and values, which makes them individuals to other sororities, but still diverse within their individuality. With a variety of achievements they have received in the past few years proves how their diversity strives to reach towards different goals.

Observations

To start out my official research I wanted to observe the atmosphere within the KD house to get a feel of how all the girls are as a group, and not individually. Although I am around this atmosphere many times during the week, I have never observed and paid attention to details of what is going on. During chapter one Monday evening I decided to write down some notes of everything that was going on around me. It was informal chapter, so it was much more of a laid back setting compared to formal chapter, where you sit in alphabetical order in pin attire, or formal clothing. Since it was informal chapter there was more of an energetic feel where girls were sitting in circles with each other talking and laughing. I noticed that some girls were on their phones while others, such as council members, were preparing their notes and agendas for the meeting. As I looked around there were different composite pictures hanging on the wall from past years. As I continued to look around the chapter room I noticed how the color green was the main color that stood out to me. Even though this is KDs main color, I never paid attention to how repetitive it was throughout the house. One specific feature that intrigued me from my observations at the KD house was how, although, KD together is a group, there are also subgroups within KD as well. I noticed how members would divide themselves up into their own mini-groups, and they would unite with the girls they talked to or hung out with the most. I found this interesting because from an outside view one might think everyone hangs out with everyone in KD; however, after my observations this seemed to not be the case. The next step I took in my research was interviewing various girls in KD. I chose these girls by random as well as by how much diversity I thought I would find by interviewing them. First, I interviewed my roommate, Brittany, who is in the same pledge class with me. I found

that she had many different interests like joining the biology club and becoming active in the Greek life bible study. Brittany felt it is important to branch out from Greek Life and get to know others that may not be involved with the aspect of Greek organizations (Johnson). The reason why Brittany felt such a close connection with KD is because she felt she could relate to the girls in the sorority, but she also felt like she was gaining so many new sisters since she never had any biological sisters. Another girl I chose to interview was my big sister, Cameron. I thought she would be a great interviewee because she is one of the few GSU athletes we have in KD. Cameron is on the Swim and Dive team of Georgia Southern, where her life consists of balancing schoolwork, practices, meets, and any event that has to do with KD. She says she basically has no life during the school year because she is trying to keep up with everything she is doing during the weekdays as well as weekends (Robertson). One similarity I found between Cameron and Brittany during my research was that they were both attracted to KD for the same reason; by how they felt they could relate to the girls in KD. After my interviews, I chose to observe an event that KD hosts in order to raise money for one of their philanthropies, to prevent child abuse in America. War of the Wings is a fundraiser event put on annually by KD, where they are able to raise thousands of dollars to go towards the prevention of child abuse. The mission of the Prevent Child Abuse program is to prevent the abuse and neglect of our nations children which includes educational, physical, sexual, and emotional abuse (Carroll). At this event I observed the interaction the KD girls had with the people who came to the event along with each other. KD girls would pass out wings from different restaurants to the guests, where the guests would then vote on who has the best

wings, hence the name War of the Wings. I found that girls had many different friends who came to the event, where these friends were either in a different sorority or fraternity, or not Greek at all. This was a great finding in my research because it really proved how diverse a lot of KD sisters friends were. Far From Similar My overall research confirmed that KD as a subculture was different in many ways, including the girls within it. There were definitely still some similarities that I found to be new to my knowledge of KD. I discovered many findings, which to my surprise, were what I had not expected. I was satisfied with how diverse I found KD to be, where at first I was only expecting a slight diversity in the sorority. First, I found that from an outside view one might think everyone hangs out with everyone in KD; however, this seemed to not be the case in KD. This does not mean that girls didnt like each other in KD, but obviously had closer friends than others in the group. Girls united and bonded by different interests and similarities while others bonded just because they could relate to each other and got along well. I found this to be very intriguing, considering one would think a lot of the girls would come together as a whole because they would have a lot of common interests. This created diverse groups within the subculture because there was a different uniqueness to each group of friends. This aspect was only one of the few factors that contributed to the diversity I was looking for. Another discovery I found to be interesting was girls were not specifically attracted to things related to KD all of the time. Many outsiders would assume that if you are in KD you probably only want to do KD related activities, this seemed to not be the case however. During

my interviews, I found that girls either had different activities, such as Cameron with diving or Brittany with biology club, where it did not relate to KD at all. Some girls thought it was important to interact with various groups around campus, where you could grow from different interactions as a person. Another key discovery I found during my research was how girls were friends with many people from outside organizations. During my observation at War of the Wings I found KD girls to be interacting with many different groups of people who were not members of KD. Although I knew girls had friends outside of KD, I was surprised to see how many people they actually hung out with outside of KD. By observing body language and conversations, I could tell that they were close friends with a lot of these people. This discovery showed the diversity of KD by proving how girls can hang out with various people, but still be close to their KD sisters. Conclusions Overall, this study of Kappa Delta proved to me to be very acknowledging to my previous awarenesss of KD. My main goal going into this study was to find some form of diversity that was apparent in KD. I was surprised at how much diversity I found during my research. KD girls are originally attracted to the sorority because of how they could relate to the girls who were already members of KD, but I feel they can put a sense of their own diversity into the sorority, making them feel a sense of belongingness. Since girls feel comfortable with bringing their diverse characteristics to KD demonstrates how close of a sisterhood they have with each other, because they are not afraid to show who they really are. I intend to share my findings from this research with many of my sisters in KD to show how unique and diverse we are united together.

Works Cited

"Awards." Kappa Delta Sorority Georgia Southern. Georgia Southern University, 2012. Web. 19 Mar. 2012. Carroll, Ben. "Kappa Delta Sorority hosts War of the Wings." The George Anne Georgia Southern University. Georgia Southern University, 1 Apr. 2009. Web. 8 Mar. 2012. Johnson, Brittany. "Brittany's KD Interview." Personal interview. 20 Mar. 2012. The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Relations. "Kappa Delta Puts Safety First." The Olympian News. Georgia Southern University, Jan 2012. Web. 19 Mar. 2012. Robertson, Cameron. "Cameron's KD Interview." Personal interview. 27 Mar. 2012.