Initiation Ceremony: what if you can't attend??
 

My daughter's chapter's initiation ceremony and a very important event regarding her school scholarship are on the same day at the same time. She has spoken to the individual in charge of funding the scholarship and was told not to miss it or kiss your scholarship goodbye. Any suggestions?

Is she an active member or a new member?

If she is a new member she should talk to her new member coordinator or whoever is in charge of the class ASAP. If she's an active she needs to talk to the chapter president.

It sounds like the funding person is anti-greek. Go over his/her head. Initiation is more important.

NO!!!

Just have her talk to somebody in charge at the sorority. I know one of my Brothers at another chapter had to work the same day of initiation and they just did a separate ceremony for him. I;m sure they will be willing to work with her.

I would suggest that this is something for your daughter to figure out on her own.

It depends on the nature of the initiation, though.

ITA.

My friend's mom died the weekend she was supposed to be initiated. The chapter just initiated her later. Just have her talk to her new member educator.

We had a NM in the hospital one year on the day of initiation. She was initiated the next weekend with the new member class at a nearby university. As stated before, she needs to talk to her NM educator. ASAP.

I think I remember hearing that once and thinking it was really cool that you did that.

A few years ago our UCLA chapter had a NM on the tennis team who couldn't make it to initiation. They simply held another initiation for her a week later.

These things can be worked out. Keep the scholarship!

One of our sisters had to miss our colony installation for something similar. We just initiated her later!

One of the Santa Clara girls did that and was initiated at my school instead.

I'll echo everyone else and say: she needs to talk to the NM educator!!

Yes! Echoing what people said, talk to the NM educator AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!
Things can be arrange if you give people time, but if you tell them like 2 days before initiation... not a good idea.

She should definitely talk to her New Member Educator. There were a few members of my pledge class who were unable to attend our initiation - the chapter held a separate initiation ceremony for them about a week later.

I agree with most of what's been said - the scholarship is more important.

Have your daughter check the timing, because often Initiations are at weird times, like early in the morning or at night. She may still be able to make both.

If not, have her tell the New Member Chair right away. If it's a small pledge class or there's some flexibility, they may be able to move the ceremony to accomidate her.

If worst comes to worst, she can be Initiated at another school if there's a chapter nearby with a similar schedule, or they'll get her Initiated at a later ceremony. Our Nationals frowns on doing two Initiations in one semester, especially if it's just for one or two girls. A few years ago 4 girls out of a smaller class were at a meet, so we held another Initiation the weekend after. This year 2 girls of a bigger class had conflicts, and we were told they just had to wait and be Initiated next semester with our COR class since no other chapters close by were having Initiations. A pain in the butt for the girls, but not a big deal in the long run. They were treated as regular sisters, but just didn't know the ritual.

This ^.

Initiation is a lot of work for the chapter and everyone is required to be there. I wouldn't want to plan more than one a semester.

I agree.

Just a note that everyone's initiation is different in terms of complexity. :) Doing a second initiation can range from "no biggie" to "need dispensation from Pope." So definitely talk to your NME ASAP and find out what your options are.

ps: I do agree with OP that it sounds like the funding person for the scholarship is being a dick, but you really can't argue with them if you don't want to lose it.

^ This. Two of my brothers and I were initiated after the others in our class because of academics/funeral arrangements. It is completely possibly to have a separate ceremony for her.

Depending on the amount of local alumnae support, and depending on whether the chapter has their ritual down or not, perhaps they could be sold on doing a second initiation sooner than later as an initiation workshop. Something more informative and educational than normal. Our local chapter did that last year, and they seemed to really enjoy the educational aspect of it. Just a thought. :)

This just put a great image in my head.

One of our NM one year RSVP'd to a wedding that ended up being the same day as initiation. We just held a much smaller initiation ceremony for her the next day. Your daughter should talk to the new member coordinator ASAP.

Like 33girl said, maybe it is completely possible, maybe it isn't. We don't know what org the OP's daughter pledged, so we don't have any idea whether the daughter's chapter would consider it no big deal.

This. Move to end debate before we have 5 pages of "I agree, she should talk with her new member coordinator."