Dear BBG,

Three letters that stand for more than anything that could ever be described. A feeling that sparks the moment one's candle is lit at inductions and never burns out.

You are the honor and courage of a young Jewish woman stepping into her power. You’re a place where strength and dignity are more than just words, but something that we carry with us everyday.

You are the cheers shouted with full hearts. The laughter echoing through hotel hallways at midnight during a convention. The whispered small talk that becomes the deepest of friendships. The pins over our hearts. The candlelight. The tears during separates and the smiles that follow.You are the easiest hellos and the hardest goodbyes.

The kind of connection that forms after devouring Spooey with a stranger who somehow already feels like a sister. You're our perfectly written speeches that carry a vision, "submitted withs" filled with memories, and the slamming of hands on the floor during the BBG heartbeat.You are every late night planning a program that might just change some girl's life. You are the chants that shake the room, the group chats that never die, the way we cry when it’s time to say goodbye.

But above all. You can be found in every BBG. Those that make up the greater picture. The hundreds of thousands of proud members that have shaped you the past 80 and the even more that will create you in the next 81.

BBG, you’ve never been just three letters. You’re a connection. A sisterhood. An Order. A promise that no matter the language we speak, the country we live in, or the accent we carry, each of us belongs.

BBG, you’re not just something we’re part of. YOU are a part of us. And for that, I want to thank you.

Submitted with an undying love for BBG,

Joelle Abaew