Re: The beginning of the fall 2004 pledging process, A tradition debated by many students

I do realize that I’m an alumnus now, and it’s kind of “uncool” to be writing to my old school paper, but I started thinking that it was almost pledging time soon and felt obligated to pass this on to any of y’all who are trying to decided whether or not to pledge …

Do.

I know some of you social club haters are spouting the usual “it’s like buying friends; it’s pointless and doesn’t prepare you for the real world” arguments, so I just want to offer myself as a practical example of good that can come from pledging:

I am currently in London, working on production of my second reality show. Working in this industry is unlike any other job-it is INSANE, and I probably wouldn’t have lasted on my first show had it not been for the experience of pledging a social club. Seriously…

Everyone starts off in this business as a production assistant, better known as a PA. There is a saying that “being a PA is like pledging into the fraternity of the entertainment industry,” and this couldn’t be more true.

During pledging, I spent six weeks learning how to be a member of a club. As a PA, I spent six weeks learning how to work on a production crew.

During pledging, I was required to do random, pointless things if and when the members asked. As a PA, I did whatever random and pointless things anyone on crew asked of me.

During pledging, I pushed aside other social obligations to work with and make friends within my club. As a PA, my only social outlets were the others I worked with on production.

During pledging, I never got sleep. As a PA, I didn’t even know what the word meant.

During pledging, I always had to have a good attitude even though I never knew what was going on. As a PA, everything was always my fault even when it wasn’t, and I never knew what was going on. Yet, I had to maintain a good attitude-one of my fellow PA’s was even fired for having a bad one; it was almost as though she didn’t pass the infamous “second vote.”

The list of similarities goes on and on … Pledging, nor PA’ing, may be the easiest thing in the world, but the benefits of both far outweigh the negatives.

I am immensely proud to claim to be a part of both Simple Life 2 and GATA. I earned my involvement in these and feel such a sense of accomplishment knowing that I stuck with it.

Again, speaking as one who at first thought social clubs were stupid and was not going to pledge, consider it! There are often more benefits to being part of one of these than you may at first realize. You learn things that could very well affect you in the “real world”. Trust me-I know!

Ronni Gregoire
electronic media graduate
Class of 2003