My Zeta Story: Rebecca Petty

When Rebecca Petty enrolled at The University of Texas at Austin in 2016, she wondered if a woman of color from Sherman, Texas, (population 32,000) would fit in on a campus of 52,000 students. During summer cheerleading activities, she met members of Kappa Chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha and ultimately chose to join ZTA. She was elected House Manager for 2018 and President for 2019, becoming the first Black woman elected chapter President of a National Panhellenic Conference organization on that campus.

This is Rebecca’s Zeta Story.

Belonging: Dissipating fear

When my friends talk about Preference night, our experiences were the same. We were scared about making connections. I was scared about being from a small town and about not having friends other than people I cheer with. We saw all that fear dissipate when we came to ZTA. We saw how the other women in the chapter were connected to our cheer friends. We felt at peace about the things that scared us, and that made us super comfortable.

Support and encouragement: A cornerstone

I immediately felt support and encouragement about cheering, even though it took up much of my time. Everyone would say, “No it’s fine. We’ll make it work.” After I stopped cheering after sophomore year, support and encouragement made me stay involved with the chapter. The support and encouragement I received from all types of people—our advisors, our House Director and my friends—is the cornerstone of my ZTA experience. When I decided I wanted to run for President, my friend group said, “Let’s go. You’ve got this. You have everything within you to do it.” They gave me the confidence in myself to run.

Humility: The precedent of being first

When I decided to run for President, being the first was not at the forefront of my mind. I learned I was slated the night after my grandmother’s funeral. My dad said, “You know, that is so like your grandmother. She would be that person to step up to be in that role, whether somebody who looked like her or didn’t look like her had been there before.” I realized then this was not about something I had done or accomplished, but what precedent I had set. I hope all women—not just women who look like me but women of any creed and color—don’t ever stop themselves because no one like them has been there before.

Finding satisfaction in being Black and being chapter President

At first I thought, “I don’t want them to think they picked the wrong person.” The more I got that out of my head, the more I realized everything I was nervous about wasn’t real—like monsters under my bed. It was really important for me to say “Yes, I am Black. That’s very apparent. But just because it’s very apparent, never underestimate what I can do.” I hope I showed the people I worked with how Black Girl Magic works when it’s in power. In the end, our chapter received Chapter of the Year on campus, and I realized all the late nights and all the worry were not in vain. I had represented my chapter well. It was my mountaintop experience to see all of our team’s hard work come to fruition.

Seeking Understanding that We Might Gain True Wisdom

Many of the sisters in my ZTA friend group are Jewish. We were not the same different, but we are all different; so we took the time to learn about those differences. I appreciate them forever for letting me have a voice. My hope is that more people across Greek life gain understanding of why saying and doing things that insult or appropriate other cultures is not okay even if that’s what you’ve done all your life. College is a place to learn about people you haven’t been around before. So, let’s take advantage of it by being transparent and pointing out those things. When you do, you gain understanding. With understanding, you gain wisdom, and wisdom is something you can pass on to someone else.