Sister Spotlight + Why ADPi

Claire cumbo, Ac '15

As a rising senior, I can genuinely say nothing beats freshman year at Clemson University. Although there are many ups and downs as you try to navigate new experiences and friends, it is easily one of the best years of college.

Let’s talk recruitment. When I signed up to be a potential new member of the many sororities at Clemson, I had no idea what I was getting myself into (and neither did the hundreds of other girls). I picked out my outfits two months in advance and mentally prepared what I would say about myself. The day finally came and I was ready to conquer recruitment with my freshman year roommate aka my high school bestie. In reality, I was totally not ready. Here’s how it went:

Day 1: I talked for approximately 7 hours straight. Did I eat? I couldn’t tell ya. I’ve said my name is Claire so many times I don’t even know what my name is anymore.

Day 2: It’s raining and I forgot an umbrella. Who needs perfect curls anyway? Oh my shirt got soaking wet and now you can kind of see through it? Everything is going perfect.

Day 347 (jk): My voice is almost gone. I’ve made some great friends through this process. Really glad because I’m not sure I’ll survive these blisters and I want an entourage at my funeral.

Okay, so obviously I’m kidding (maybe). Recruitment was, and still is, one of my favorite parts of the Panhellenic process. I met some of my best friends and joined the perfect sorority for me, Alpha Delta Pi.

So I guess you can say freshman year started out tremendously well. My roomie ended up joining another sorority and I’m not going to lie, I was a little sad at first. Luckily ADPi fosters an environment that celebrates the Panhellenic community as a whole so, regardless of our affiliations, we were able to enjoy Greek life together.

Fast forward to sophomore year and life on the ADPi hall. I lived with Caroline Cavendish (our current president and quite possibly the future president of the United States). I never thought I’d say this but I truly miss waking up to her cooking turkey bacon in the microwave at 8 AM and drinking coffee from our Keurig machine that totally failed all sanitary regulations.

Second semester, I ran for merchandise chair with my best friend Hope. We had so much fun making the coolest shirts for our insanely fun functions. Side note: my box of function outfits may or may not look like a five year olds costume trunk and leaks glitter every time you move it.

I loved living on the ADPi hall with my pledge class, even if it meant another year of communal showers. My group of friends grew tremendously, with diverse personalities and backgrounds that make our friendship so special.

Junior year came way too fast and went by even faster. It taught me how important the connections you make can be. I interviewed for an on-campus internship and my boss ended up being a Clemson ADPi alumna. That same semester I began pursuing departmental honors within the Calhoun Honors College. My greatest resource and favorite professor, Dr. Thyroff, just happened to be an ADPi too. She has played a tremendous role in helping me conduct my honors research and I am extremely grateful for Alpha Delta Pi’s network of strong professional women.

Now it‘s the summer before my senior year and I’m currently interning for the Events Marketing team at Universal Studios Hollywood. I’m having such a great time in Los Angeles but not a day goes by that I don’t I wish my ADPi sisters were here with me. Everywhere I look I see something that reminds me of one of my best friends! I saw Kim Kardashian at the Beverly Hills Hotel eating lunch and I thought of my roommate Julie who leaves Keeping Up With the Kardashians running on our TV constantly. Everytime I step into Harry Potter World at Universal Studios I think of Hope and Elli who might just love the books as much as I do. I met Marshmello backstage and thought of Hannah, my groovy festival sister who loves going to concerts as much as she loves making A’s in her Biology classes.

I’m extremely lucky to have friends that I miss this much and I am even luckier to be able to move across the country and come back to my sisters like I never left. In the meantime, I get to wake up and laugh at a billion goofy snapchats in our group chat. We all bring out the best in each other and encourage each other to be the best version of ourselves. These are truly the people you will be friends with for a lifetime and I’m humbled to say that I get to spend a lifetime with my best friends in ADPi.

That's it for our sixth Sister Spotlight / Why ADPi of the summer! Make sure to keep up with us on Instagram, VSCO, and Facebook to see more of our sisterhood and to know when our next blog post is up!