Wait! You Live With How Many People?

By Stephanie Burke, Assistant Account Executive

I never thought that living in a Sigma Kappa sorority house with 17 other people would relate to my major. And no, I am not a psychology major counseling myself to sanity. In my public relations major you have to learn how to work with all different types of people, and living in my crazy household has definitely taught me a few lessons about how to do so.

Returning home from class on a Monday night, for instance, I have two choices of television shows: “Pretty Little Liars” or “The Bachelor.” But then again, since there will be no space on the couch, sometimes I decide it’s better if I just go to my room and do homework. Like working on a PR project where I might not get my ideal choice – I’ve learned sometimes it may still steer me in a better direction and allow me to strengthen my skills.

Growing up I shared a house with two other people, but most of the time I was by myself. Now if I’m home alone, I worry there’s a sorority meeting I’m missing. Living with 17 women in a sorority house seems shocking and impossible to some, but, for me, it’s a constant support system and a home away from home.

Each member of the house takes on a responsibility around the house, whether it be getting the mail or food shopping. Just like working in my Tehama Group Communications PR team, we all have responsibilities and tasks to accomplish. We all (well, some of us) do chores based off of our chore chart, but after that the house still needs some extra sprucing up. That’s where our maids come in.

Our maids have to hate us; they probably have never picked up so much hair in their life. I personally avoid them every Monday when they clean – not because I’m rude but because I feel so bad about our overflowing bathroom trash that I don’t want to look them in the eyes.

Although the house is sometimes dirty and there’s constantly four genres of music blasting from bedrooms, I love living with all my best friends. But what else does living with 17 women have to do with public relations? Two words: team effort.

In public relations you often work as a team to accomplish a given goal, and that’s exactly what I do at my house. Whether it’s moving cars out of the driveway so the car blocked in can get out or cleaning the dinner dishes, we work together to accomplish it.