My candidate process with Tau Beta Sigma, Epsilon Kappa has been the most fun, stressful, eye-opening, and memorable experience I’ve had in a very long time. Between rushing around like a madwoman to get all of my interviews done, to the always-entertaining lessons with our Vice President I formed a bond with my candidate class that I cannot even begin to describe. I have to say that I think my favorite part about the candidate process was the interviews. I got to ask the silly questions that don’t normally come up on a regular basis. Those always bring up interesting conversations that expand into 4 hour discussions on how much Disney rocks my world or how awesome someone thinks gel pens are.
But then, I also learned about what really makes people unique, not just the boring basics of major, year, instrument.
The best part about the interviews were that they forced me to go outside of my little stubborn shell and sit down with people that I would never have spent 2 hours with at Bruin Café before. At first, I was a little uncomfortable, to be honest. Although I don’t seem shy once I get to know you, if I’m unfamiliar with someone, I can be cripplingly awkward. Interviews made me get over that. I’ll admit, I still get shy around new people, but I’m less guarded and more open to getting to know people, which is awesome.
Although the interviews were my favorite part of the candidate process, I can’t leave out the crazy lessons we had learning about TBΣ. I really enjoyed learning the history of TBΣ in a way that didn’t bore me. Although lessons got a little insane sometimes, I feel like that was an element that helped solidify the bond I formed with my class and got me really excited to become a part of the great organization I was learning about.
And naturally, there is no way I would be able to reflect on my candidate process without mentioning degrees. First degree was just amazing and thrilling; I had no idea what to expect! Second degree was no different. I felt so honored to take part in those rituals. And I know my third degree was not as traditional as people usually have, but I really appreciated the support I received from my friends when I had to go through it alone.
Yet, I never really was alone. After my third degree I realized that the amount of time I spent with my class already made them sisters to me, even before I was rewarded my active pin. I realized that although I wasn’t able to be there when the rest of my class “graduated” to sisterhood, I was with them the whole time. Yea, yea, mushy I know, but there’s really no other way to paint it.
Although the entire candidate process was a tough time for me with all the struggles I had to deal with in the other aspects of my life, I cannot cherish that time enough. It made me closer with my class and extremely excited to become a sister and become equally as close with the rest of Epsilon Kappa.
- Robyn Kamp, Alpha Omicron
