Lately there seems to be a lot of bad press surrounding sororities and fraternities. It also seems as though no one talks about Greeks unless its to criticize them. To counteract this, I've found articles talking about the good that specific organizations have done for their schools and communities.

• ISU's Day of Service
• From the High Chair, to High School, to Higher ED
• Sorority chapter comes up with $1,000 for Orland K-9
• Fraternity Raises Money for Susan G. Komen for the Cure
• Sorority gives luggage for kids

One of the most important tenets of many Greek organizations is service to community. Unfortunately, part of our society is that we like to look for the negative. Please take a time to learn more about the positive side of Greeks if you are starting to get discouraged.

Greek Letters

Some of you may be in Fraternities or Sororities. If so, how do you get your letters that you wear? Make them? Gifts? Buy them? What places do you use to buy them? What kind of fabric do you prefer? Do you have a favorite set or a set that is most meaningful to you?

When I do buy them, I generally use greekgear.com, but I think I just discovered another great site called somethinggreek.com that you can get the letters made out of personalized fabric. Most of the time, however, I make my letters with fabric that I buy. It takes longer, but saves a lot of money. Plus, my sorority likes to have letter making nights when we hang out in the lounge and trade fabric and stencils

As for my favorite sets, one is one that I made. They are sisterhood letters and have colored anchors on them (my sorority's national symbol) and are on a gray t-shirt. The other two were gifts: one is a purple t-shirt with gold letters and the other is a black hoodie with my sorority's creed on them.

Related articles

• Decorating a Sorority Themed Room (bedroom-decor.suite101.com)

Recruitment for Organizations

During the first few weeks of school, the main concern of many upperclassmen is how to get freshmen to join their organizations. Everyone from fraternities and sororities to the psychology club are hosting recruitment parties and interest meetings. And its no wonder; if recruitent doesn't go well, an organization may not survive another year. There are a few stand bys; advertise an interest meeting and give out free pizza, or talk to freshmen during orientation week. Of course, getting people to show up to the first meeting isn't the hard part, nor does it indicate the success of your recruitment methods. The only way to do both those things is to see how many people become members and keep showing up to meetings.

What recruitments have been successful in your experience? What weren't successful? If you were a prospective member, what would make you want to join or not join?