Thanks for the update! I think things sound like they are off to a good start! I really like the Sweet and Spicy themed parties - very fun and very universal in their appeal.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Regarding that extra program, it sounds like something that is already implemented on may campuses although it could be presented in a different form. My experience with campus Panhellenic is that there is always a required speaker or session on these types of issues that the houses are required to attend. Once it becomes the norm, no one will notice as much (nor will it be a deterrent to joining a sorority, imo).

AST, can't wait to see how much more you grow the house. You're doing a great job encouraging your girls. Wishing them all the best on this years recruitment!

Like the others who have followed this thread for the past year, I have been intrigued by the story of your young women.

In a way, I understand your situation since I used to teach at one of the small Penn State campuses. The students called it Fogelsville High and with good reason. It didn’t feel like a college at all.

Many years ago, I was rush chair for 4 semesters and I can imagine the obstacles to organizing at one of these schools.

We learn the most from adversity and your women have my admiration. What they are building along with the other chapters, can change the campus for the better.

I hope that you tell them about the support and the interest that you have received on GC and the over 14,000 views. And that they belong to something much larger than they may realize now.

Thank you everyone for your wonderful words of encouragement! :D

I have desperately wanted to update, but I’ve been so busy the past few days! Anyway, on with it...

I figured out why they moved the Recruitment Kick-off event... because Club Rush, which is usually held in October, after recruitment is already over, was moved up to September 3rd. So what better way to get more girls to come to the recruitment event than to say, “It’s tonight, you should come!”

Each sorority had a list of names that they accumulated at Club Rush. I knew that our Recruitment Chair couldn’t attend, so I sent a quick text to the President to find out how many names they received. She told me that they had a list of over 20 names, there were even more on the list that Panhellenic was building, and that the Greek Advisor, through an email, had invited hundreds of women to attend! A little panic had set in, but I figured I’d wait and see how many PNMs showed up that night before freaking out completely.

All of the sisters started arriving to their designated rooms around 7:30. I had walked by the other two at some point, and I found it funny that all three sororities used streamers (in their respective colors) to decorate their rooms. But anyway, everyone was busy setting up and getting ready when some of the PNMs started to show up. The three rooms that we use are all lined up down a hallway, and perpendicular to that hall is another, which starts right in front of the middle room (the one us ASTs were in). The PNMs signed in and were then led into a large lecture hall, all of which we could see from our room. And they just kept coming!

Before the short presentation to the PNMs started, the Greek Advisor made a stop to each sorority to tell us that 62 PNMs were there!!! We realized that about 20 PNMs would be coming to our room at once, and with 19 active sisters, myself, and another alumna present, we were basically all going to have to take on one, maybe two PNMs at once.

When the PNMs were released into the rooms, it was crazy. There were so many people! There were some familiar faces from our other recruitment events, but there were also a lot of new girls to get to know. And I was happy to see that even the shyest of sisters were having conversations with PNMs.

Unfortunately, by the time the third group of girls had come, the group was noticeably smaller. While the PNMs are “required” to attend all three parties at this event, they really aren’t. It’s not formal, so they can still leave whenever they’d like. But there were still a whole bunch of people to meet and talk to.

Our Recruitment Chair, who is also the Panhellenic President, had to be impartial, not indicate which sorority she was a member of, and help move the PNMs between the three rooms. When the whole thing was over, she rejoined us. She told us that while some of the PNMs were moving from one room to the next, she overheard some of them saying that they liked how we had our party set up, and they really enjoyed the one-on-one conversations. I’m not entirely sure what the other groups did, but it was good to hear.

We were all sitting around afterward, talking for a bit, and the Greek Advisor popped her head in the door. She told us that while there were 62 PNMs that had attended, because we bid to total, there are only 55 spots open between the three sororities. She told everyone to keep a more formal kind of recruitment in the back of our minds, and that we’d have to see where the numbers ended up over the next two weeks or so before bid day.

While the sisters were kind of nervous about how membership selection procedures were going to go because there were so many PNMs, I reminded them to simply keep inviting girls to future recruitment events, and to see how many of them actually attend. I think that tomorrow and Wednesday’s events will give them a better idea of the girls they will really be focusing on.

I’m unable to attend the recruitment event tomorrow night, but I’ll get an update afterward, and try to provide as much information about it as I possibly can.

And the sisters have also planned an extra event. This Saturday, September 12th, they are co-hosting a kind of "Greek Olympics" with Delta Chi that will be open to all students. There will be games such as cornhole and ladder golf, and from what I understand, a few members from each organization will dress like Greek gods and goddesses and will act as judges and/or officials for the games. It should be entertaining!

Just a little over a week left until bid day...

:)

I know it's a small chapter, but this is a bad plan, hon.

To be honest, there wasn't much else they could do, but why is it a bad idea? Would it be bad for our chapter, or for Panhellenic as a whole?

I guess I could see where problems might arise, but I don't know if they would with the system we have now...

Can you provide examples? I'm just trying to understand where you're coming from.

I think a problem with it is that being that she is panhel pres, she has to remain neutral, and your recruitment chair should be the biggest proponent of your chapter to all the pnms. If there seemingly is no recruitment chair due to her "mysto" status, it could hurt your recruitment efforts.

Best of luck to y'all I can't wait to hear how it goes.

Oh, well she doesn't have to remain neutral throughout all of recruitment. It was just that one night while taking the PNMs back and forth between the three parties. Again, this is still COB. It was just one event that was a little more formal than the others, and since there are no Rho Chis (or whatever you want to call them) the Panhellenic President and VP (I think?) are used, in addition to the Greek Advisor, to bring the PNMs to the different rooms.

I think this is the issue, though.

You want your recruitment chair to be the welcoming person (with your president) when the PNMs show up. They should be right at the door with a huge smile and welcome your guests into the room. They should be "working the room" all night.

Once the party is over, instead of making sure that she is in place to take the next group (and being neutral) to the next party, she would be better served making sure that she is saying bye to each PNM and exuding mad-love for AST!

In other words, this is *her* event. Both the PNMs and the chapter should be looking to her to set the mood, enthusiasm, organization, leadership, etc. You want someone who can be in the room the entire time.

On the flip side, since there are no Rho Gammas, it sounds like she and the panhell president are the only ones that the PNMs can discuss things with. It might be better to have 2 completely neutral individuals in these positions. My campus (and I am sure that others as well) had all panhell officers disafiliate for recruitment.

I know that you are a small chapter and system, but it sounds like you are growing quickly. (yay!) This may be something to consider for future years when officers are selected. The bigger that you get, the more that you will want these two positions to be completely separate.

Best to you and your chapter. I love following your story.

I completely understand what you're saying. But the PNMs aren't really discussing anything with them. We're talking about a few feet in between doorways. The whole point is to simply bring them from one room to the next. This isn't nearly as formal as I might be making it sound.

And again, our chapters are still very small (which hopefully will change very soon!), so it's extremely difficult to even find people who are able to attend Panhellenic meetings and hold a position, let alone stay neutral and avoid holding certain positions within the chapter.

And remember, PNMs here are still completely clueless about sororities and how this whole process works. To be honest, so are most of the sisters, as they have never worked with a formal system before. I can see, at the very least, a partially structured recruitment coming in the near future, and I think problems such as this will be tackled then. For now, everything is still very informal, and we're all working on things slowly.

Hopefully I'll be able to post an update for you all tonight :)

The recruitment event on Tuesday consisted of “speed dating” and was more of an informational night where the sisters explained what it is we do as a sorority in greater detail. They also answered any questions posed by the PNMs.

In speaking with the Recruitment Chair following the event, there were approximately 25 PNMs who attended!

The next night was supposed to be philanthropy night, but there were scheduling conflicts with rooms, and it turned out we had no where to go! The Recruitment Chair, on a whim, decided that we’d have our event outside. It was actually a really nice night, and the sisters spent most of the time talking about their favorite memories of being in the sorority, while the PNMs (about 20 of them!!) told us some of the reasons why they were interested in joining. Everyone eventually started in again on one-on-one conversations, and one PNM, who I’ll refer to as Melissa, really seemed to be getting along well with some of the sisters. One of the sisters came over to me and said how funny it was that she was having a great time and kept coming back. I inquired as to why, and she told me that she had seen Melissa at Club Rush last Thursday. Melissa had tried to get this one sister to join the College Democrats, and the sister basically told her, “I’ll make you a deal.. I’ll go to at least one of your meetings if you come to the Panhellenic Recruitment kick-off tonight.” Clearly it paid off!

Bid Day is Wednesday...


:)

The girls added in a recruitment event for tonight, in order to get to know a few PNMs a little bit better. It was very relaxed and laid back, and very helpful for the sisters, as well.

And I know how many bids they're giving out...

... but I'm not telling!

Tomorrow! :)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGH

I would never bug a PNM, but an alumna doesn't get to leave us hanging this long! ;)

Hope that all went well. Update when you can!

It's so interesting to "see" how things have changed on your campus in such a short time. So a year ago you were at, what, 9 girls, and now you're at 25 and you're going to have to limit new members due to meeting campus total? It does sound like it's time for some sort of formal recruitment, and you definitely don't want your recruitment chair to be on panhel. Now that you have the members to work with, get someone else to do it. More exposure and less pressure on one girl!

When this recruitment is over, is the plan to gather the 3 sororities and make a procedure for spring/next year? There are SOOOO many different ways to recruit (I'd have never guessed before spending time on GC), that I bet you can find the best of the best from here. Kudos to the Greek Advisor. I'm assuming she/he must have a strong role in this new interest in Greek life on campus. Besides, success begets success. Do you have any sister chapters in nearby and fairly similar campus size/style to visit and brainstorm with?

The next stage of your saga is going to be really interesting because here's where you make a jump to 50 and 60 members, and then is a house or a dorm floor far behind? The possibilities are very exciting. Do I jump too many steps ahead? That's me. I can never just be happy for what I have right now.

AHHH! I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to update. It wasn’t until Friday afternoon when we found out how many new members we received, I was at a wedding all weekend, I’ve been working and running around like crazy for the past few days... but it’s finally time!

The Gamma Theta chapter of Alpha Sigma Tau now has...


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11 wonderful new members!

They originally gave out 15 bids... one girl went Theta Phi, another went ASA, and two others (who are both freshmen) were really excited about it, but they decided to wait for a semester and focus on school first.

But everyone is very excited! I was also happy because 4 of them are freshmen, while the rest are upperclassmen.. so even if first semester freshmen still weren’t allowed to be bid, there would still be a class of 7 (which is excellent for the fall semester!).

This is the entire chapter (minus one sister) after the ribboning ceremony this past Monday:

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos..._7175187_n.jpg


30 sisters total!

The wedding I was at this past weekend was actually for one of my pledge sisters. There were a lot of AST alumnae there, and I ended up sitting with my New Member Director who joined a couple years before I did. She had asked about the chapter, and I told her they were at 30 members. She was extremely excited to hear the news, being 1 of 4 active sisters of the chapter when the national organization was about to close it. In fact, all of the alumnae were thrilled (and amazed) to hear this. We always struggled so much, and it’s good to know that Greek Life is thriving again on campus.

I hope all of the active sisters can appreciate and really see what they’ve done for the chapter, and for a few alumnae who wanted nothing more than to see it become what it is today.

And speaking of hard work, this is the Recruitment Chair and I after the ceremony. I know that by the last recruitment event this semester she was tired and overworked, but her efforts have paid off, she was truly a pleasure to work with, and has really made my job a whole lot easier! Thanks a bunch!

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos..._2233179_n.jpg


Final numbers for Fall ’09:

Alpha Sigma Alpha - 12 (39 total members)
Alpha Sigma Tau - 11 (30 total members)
Theta Phi Alpha - 16 (35 total members)


Until next semester!

:)

Wow all three of you guys are right up there! What's total again? 40?

Congratulations! All the hard work has paid off! It's wonderful to see Greek life growing across the whole campus!!!

Yes, 40. I think they're going to be discussing a quota system for next year.

Even the fraternities are doing really well. I don't know exact numbers for Sig Tau and KDR, but I know that Delta Chi received 16 (doubling their chapter).

Everyone is doing very well, and we're hoping that the trend continues :)

Those numbers are great! How exciting for you! Congratulations, and good luck in your future recruitments :)

Congratulations to you!!! What a story of perseverance and it really goes to show what can happen when you care and see worth in your organization. I wish you all the best and you will be stronger for it.

What an inspirational story!

And what a tribute to the collaboration of actives and advisors focused on the wellbeing of the chapter they both love. Here's to advisors!! I never appreciated them enough when I was an active....

Ok, so this semester there has been A LOT going on, and I've been much to busy to post after all of the recruitment events. But I thought I would give a brief update of what has gone on since I last posted.

Unfortunately, last semester, there were 2 new members who dropped out early in the process. One of them was having a lot of family issues, and felt that she would be unable to fulfill the time commitment (with the sorority, and with many other things), and in turn, her financial obligations.

The other, well... it was probably a good thing that she left when she did. I won't go into details, but let's just say I'm not quite sure why she went through recruitment and put on a happy, smiling face, only to join, stay for a week, and then drop. It almost seemed intentional.

But... from there the chapter moved on. As I mentioned in another thread, in order to bid first semester freshmen, everyone had to agree to a Greek-wide supplemental new member program, "New Member Academy". It was actually quite successful, although I'm not sure how the new members felt about it as a whole. But everyone made it through the semester, and the chapter initiated 9 lovely ladies in the fall.

This semester, kicking things off with 27 sisters (one of them graduated in December) was a good start. While last semester saw a very large number of PNMs come through recruitment, now allowing first semester freshmen to join, this semester was a little slower for the sororities as a whole. However, our chapter still had a lot of PNMs come out... about 20-25.

Our last recruitment event was on Monday, but the sisters are hosting a game night with Delta Chi on Thursday, and they're hoping to gain a lot of attention from that. They have invited all of the PNMs to attend, so hopefully a lot of them will make an appearance!

This semester, the chapter has also completely re-vamped their membership selection process. Not being used to such a large number of PNMs proved difficult last semester, but they're hoping that this new system will make things run a little smoother.

Bid day is next Wednesday!

:)

Good luck - I hope everything goes well.

And if you could let us know how Delta Chi is doing too, I would really appreciate it! :D

I'm sorry for the delay with the update. But there's a good reason! I'll get to that later.

After having a successful game night with Delta Chi where most of the PNMs who had consistently come to recruitment events had shown up, and an extra recruitment event the weekend after that, it was time for the new membership selection process to take over.

It went surprisingly well! The entire process was very productive, and everything ran smoothly. The girls extended bids to...

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Nope, not yet.

On bid day, the girls decided to do something different. A year or so after I joined, Panhellenic (after many accusations of bid promising being thrown around) decided to do away with giving PNMs ANYTHING on bid day. Our recruitment has always been some weird breed of informal and formal (with informal recruitment parties, but planned recruitment times and a designated bid day). But recruitment rules weren't really known and giving gifts on bid day wasn't really seen as "bid promising" when I was active, even though PNMs hadn't yet signed a binding agreement when they received a bid.

So again, a few years ago, they did away with giving anything away on bid day (even though I just got a few balloons and a poster saying "Welcome to the AST family!"). So bid day kind of became a boring day. "Here's your bid... go sign it if you like... blah blah blah." This year, the girls decided to do something different.

The President had found a short ceremony on the national website that she suggested the sisters perform on bid day. The whole thing was a poem about a "lonely sailor girl" who found a ship of sisters who wanted her to join their crew. By the end of the whole thing, all of the sisters and PNMs formed an anchor. The President then presented the PNMs with their bids.

The sisters had covered the entire room with green and gold decorations, and the whole thing was adorable!

And I am happy to say that all of the PNMs accepted their bids, and the chapter now has...

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Nope, not yet.



Ok, just kidding...

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6 new members!

Each one of them seems very excited about joining the sorority, and they are all very involved around campus and seem to understand what it means to be a part of the chapter. I think that this semester will go very well!

There are now 33 ASTs! (but there are quite a few missing from this pic) The new members are the 4 standing directly in front of the banner, and the 3rd and 4th girl in the middle row.

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos..._6963053_n.jpg


Theta Phi Alpha has 4 new members. They also had some new members drop last semester, so I'm unsure as to how many total sisters they have right now. Alpha Sigma Alpha decided not to participate in recruitment as they are so close to total (38, I believe) and they wanted to focus on other things right now.

Now... the reason it took me so long to update... I've been in the process of moving to New Jersey. Needless to say, I won't be the chapter's Recruitment Advisor any longer. :( However, at the very least, I will try to keep updating with recruitment numbers and will report any small (or large!) victories.

:)

(And Gusteau... Delta Chi has 9 new members!)

Wow- thanks for the update ASTAlumna! 33 is incredible, especially up from so few. My chapter went from 5 to 30 in the time I was there and it's quite the sight to behold. Definitely a lot of learning opportunities, and having dedicated alumnae made a world of difference. This chapter was lucky to have you there to help them get up to 33!

Good luck in your move to NJ... you can start a new thread with the recruitment story for the new chapter you go to. Growing, struggling, or successful- they're all interesting in my book, especially when you're a great storyteller. Thanks for sharing!

Update!

I know I haven't provided any updates since last year, but things have been crazy with my travel schedule for work, and I haven't been able to keep up with the chapter and all that's been going on. But.. I briefly wanted to mention that Panhellenic has now moved to a partially structured recruitment system in the fall. They implemented it last year, and everything seemed to work out a-ok!

And while last year they had just over 60 girls show up on the first day for the recruitment kick-off, last night, 84 PNMs attended! Needless to say, everyone is thrilled :)

I only started reading this thread this morning but I have so enjoyed every post. I love how this small group has blossomed and grown. You have very special young women on your former campus. I sincerely hope that you will be able to update or maybe someone from your chapter might continue to update. Thank you so much for sharing the story of your chapter - the other side.

The very same with me. Great posts, and an even better story :)

Wow, I didn't even know this thread existed. I'm so happy I found it. What an amazing story to read through. I can't wait to hear more :)

Thanks everyone, I'm glad you've enjoyed it!

It was tough for Greek life on the entire campus for a while, but things seem to be looking up - for both the sororities and fraternities. All of the chapters are growing, and I know a year ago there was some talk of expansion on the fraternity side, so we'll see where that goes as the chapters continue to expand.

Again, I'll try to keep up with what's going on and provide any updates that I can. And I'll definitely get some final numbers together when recruitment has concluded.

I just started reading this yesterday, but it's so great to see how your chapter has grown in such a short time! Best of luck!

Again, it's difficult to follow recruitment from beginning to end now, but here's an update of how everything played out in the end:

Recruitment is partially structured. In order to receive a bid, a PNM must attend the initial kick-off event, plus at least 2 events for each of the chapters, and she must be invited to Preference.

Last year, Panhellenic decided to lower total from 40 to 35, and I'm happy to say that 2 of the chapters are above that!

The numbers for Fall '11 are:

Alpha Sigma Alpha - 16 (40 total members)
Alpha Sigma Tau - 15 (39 total members)
Theta Phi Alpha - 15 (27 total members)

I should have some pictures soon!

That's awesome!!! So proud of your chapter from going to struggling to thriving in just a few years. I'm sure they couldn't have done it without you :)

Oh, and here's a fun fact that the Greek Life Coordinator posted on Facebook the other day:

Today, there are more sorority women at Penn State Behrend than there were total fraternity and sorority members when she started there in 2007.

:)

I started reading this thread 2 years ago, and love to see updates!

Perfect example of how historically struggling with numbers chapter "get's it"...pre-plans and executes recruitment events well, steps out from their usual comfort zone, thinks "out-side of the box" for fun informal events...and never, never gives up!

How exciting to see how the chapter has grown. Well done ladies!