Allegra

I had been away from home before.

And as an only child with older parents, I just felt a lot of pressure and scrutiny and focus on me all the time, which I do appreciate all the resources that went to me and all the activities that I was able to do as a result of being an only child.

But I needed the space to develop my own sense of self a little bit more.

And

not be so defined by what they wanted me to do, what they wanted me to be.

I was definitely eager to forge my own path and not be so supervised all the time.

The girl that I roomed with was from the island of Tonga, the area of the United States that Western University is located in, is very connected to the church of Tonga.

Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or LDS.

A lot of missionary work is done in Tonga and in that geographical region.

Tonga is just something I had no concept for.

Like we didn't really even do beach vacations when I was growing up.

So I was like, wow, that's really cool.

Well, I went through recruitment in the fall of 2015.

So my freshman semester, right when I came onto campus, my mom and my cousin were involved in Greek life.

Over the years, I'd met a bunch of their friends from Greek life that had become lifelong friends.

I just admired those close bonds and wanted that for myself.

Initially, I was not happy with the house that I got into.

But it's so funny how things work out in that way.

If recruitment is done right, it should be about the shared values that you hold with your sisters and identifying that through the recruitment process and looking back now as an alumni going through all four years of active life in a sorority.

It was very positive for me and was a thousand percent where I was meant to be.