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Want to Know More About Our Canadian Sisters?

March 5th, 2018
Filed Under: Collegiate News | District Leadership Conference

Morgan Van Deynze, Beta Theta – University of Manitoba, tells us about her most frequently asked questions while attending DLC. So, if you’ve ever wanted to know more about our Canadian sisters, Morgan’s got you covered!


Attending my first DLC was daunting at first. I was a new Delta and had never experienced international sisterhood on such a large scale. Especially with coming from a small chapter of fifteen members, I was afraid I would feel out of place in place where Greek Life seems to thrive. Upon arrival I was welcomed into international sisterhood with open arms and experienced a type of love like never before.  Being from a small Canadian chapter, we got asked a lot of questions.  I have listed below a few that stood out, or that I particularly liked, below.

Do you speak French?

 

I liked this question!  Surprisingly, it was not one I expected to be asked.  A small majority of Canadians speak French, except those from Quebec, the primarily French province.  Most people learn some beginner French in middle school, but they can opt out in high school.  Of the girls in our chapter who attended DLC, one spoke fluent French, one (myself) spoke French in high school, and the other doesn’t speak any, but she speaks Spanish and German among others!

Are you all from Canada?

 

Not necessarily, but usually.  While our university has a strong international population, not many Canadians go to school in another province, if they can help it.  We tend to stay close to home. I was born only an hour away from the university I attend, although it is outside my hometown.  The most common reasons for going out of province for school is athletic scholarships, cheaper tuition, or not having a university within close proximity.  It is much different than in the US where a lot of collegians attend out of state universities.

How big is your Greek Life?

The University of Manitoba has considerably low Greek Life interest.  We have 3 small sororities and 3 small fraternities.  Most organizations average a total of twenty members yearly.  This year, we welcomed ten new members through formal recruitment and continuous open bidding.  It seems not many people on campus are even aware that there are sororities based on campus, despite that fact that the Beta Theta chapter has been active since 1930.  One of our chapter goals is to create more Greek awareness and knowledge on and around our campus.  That is why our social media has been so important to us lately!

We’re a small chapter too! What do you girls do for X?

 

First, I was pleasantly surprised by all the sister support! Despite being told by our senior members about all the love spread at DLC, I could not prepare myself for how it would feel in real life! Knowing other sisters, no matter the size of their chapter, deal with similar issues and situations is truly an amazing experience.  I loved attending the officer training sessions and being able to learn and collaborate with other sisters.  While we were paired with other chapters of comparable size, I was able to get an idea of how their chapters were run and bounce ideas off each other.  It was also super exciting to hear from the larger chapters and learn about events that I had never heard of such as Date or Crush Parties.  I was inspired to see the potential that my small chapter could eventually grow to be.

How many Canadian Chapters are there?

ADPi currently has two Canadian chapters, one at the University of Manitoba, and one at the University of British Columbia.  Greek life is very predominant in other parts of Canada.  One of our sisters is originally from Ottawa and she joined because all her friends back home were joining sororities and she didn’t want to feel left out.  There are numerous different organizations in the Toronto-Ottawa area in respects to Greek life, we just don’t have chapters there currently!

You must be used to this cold then!

 

I love talking about the cold.  It’s a Canadian thing.  We like to brag about the cold winters and our ability to thrive in them. The cold in Chicago was nothing to a February day in Winnipeg.  I like to compare it more to a late April day.  Our chapter didn’t wear jackets while waiting for the bus, and we got a lot of weird stares and a few “Aren’t you cold?” questions from strangers.

Do you guys have a house?

Unfortunately, no, while we would love to have a house and live with our sisters, it is just not financially feasible for us right now.  But fear not! We’re saving as much as we can to one day buy a house.  The University of Manitoba does not have a “Greek Row.”  We would have to find a regular house and change it to meet the standards of a sorority house, while meeting the regulations set in our province.  Our fraternities have houses, though. I imagine they’re like any other fraternity house, except smaller.

When was your chapter founded?

 

Our chapter was founded September 19, 1930! So, it’s not a new chapter by any means! Just because our chapter is small in numbers doesn’t mean that we aren’t rich in history.  Our chapter’s first New Member Coordinator, Grace Black, left us her pin, and we cherish it so dearly.  We also recruit women from more than one university!  There are multiple universities within the city of Winnipeg, and we recruit from a few different campuses.  This allows our sisters to be more diverse!

How often do you visit other chapters?

We try to visit others as much as we can! Our chapter LOVES to plan road trips! But, because we’re across international lines we don’t get to interact with other chapters as much as we would like.  However, when we meet with other chapters we’re super excited! Recently, our sister visited Chicago for her graduate degree interview, and she visited the Delta Omega chapter house  at Northern Illinois University. She FaceTimed us from their house while the rest of us were at our chapter retreat. Our EVP cried because she was so excited to meet other sisters. We met some of the Delta Omega girls at DLC, and we were so excited to meet them in real life! We exchanged numbers and interact on Instagram now.  We would love to meet more though! If you ever find yourself in Winnipeg, hit us up! We’d love to meet you!

 

We were humbled to be truly immersed in the caring and thoughtful ADPi culture and to be surrounded with similar goals and values as us.  We were blessed to participate in such an informative and loving weekend event.  We are grateful for the love and support we received from all the chapters. We believe every ADPi member deserves to feel the love and emotions of true international sisterhood. The weekend inspired our chapter to become better leaders and more importantly, better sisters.  We will carry our experiences with us through our collegiate years and into the alumnae association.



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