Summer pledge class?
 

Some Universities, for various reasons, are making to make the Summer equal to the Fall and the Spring in terms of classes available. (Fall runs late August to Christmas, Spring runs Early January to Early May and Summer from Early May to Late August). Has anyone heard of a fraternity (or theoretically a sorority, though unlikely, IMO, to be NPC) taking on a Summer pledge class?

My APO Chapter toyed with the idea, but never did.

A nearby chapter DID do it.

Yes, but I am sorta foggy on the details.

APhiA intake can be conducted up until the middle of June, according to our national website, and it has been that way since I crossed six years ago. I have heard of other NPHCs pledging in the summer, but I really don't remember any details or whether it was legitimate intake.

It's allowed in some instances in my organization, but is generally frowned upon.

I have heard of a few NALFO organizations that have summer lines/classes.

We never took an actual summer pledge class, but we did have the occasional holdover pledge. IMHO, it doesn't work out well. I think we had one holdover actually stick it out.

Our holdovers were usually for grades, and many of them just didn't return to school after the summer.

My chapter did a summer pledge class this past summer. We pledged a few girls in late April and over the summer they would mail their "homework" assignments to the new member coordinator and she would email them weekly updates and lessons. If some of the girls were in town then sisters would take them to lunch or coffee. We initiated them in August two weeks before formal recruitment. Once school started they participated recruitment practice just like every other sister we just waited to over the member selection process until they were initiated.

Yep, and from my observation, it is ridiculed.

We sometimes have spring classes that carry over a bit into the summer, but they are considered "Spring" initiates.

My chapter once had a new member who was ribboned and pinned in the spring and initiated at the end of the summer.

To make a long story short, she was COB'd mid spring semester, and the earliest we could have initiated her would have been during finals week (!). With nationals' OK, she remained a new member over the summer, and was initiated a couple of days before rush started. Even though things got a bit crazy, holding a major ritual right in the middle of work week, and making it a meaningful and special event for our new sister and not something that was just squeezed in between painting banners and rehearsing skits ... it also pumped us all up for rush by reminding us why we're all AEPhis.

In NPC land, though, it's definitely the exception rather than the rule.

The logistics of coordinating a pledge class (lessons, quizzes/tests, homework, etc) seems like it would be a nightmare. My organization does not do summer pledge classes and I have yet to hear of a holdover from Spring.

Judging by your organization's summer pledge program, it would be difficult for the pledges to get to know each other and bond which I believe is a crucial part in any pledge education. How did those summer pledges fare when initiated?

It could have been these were girls who knew the majority of the sorority members as it was, and actually pledging them and initiating them was more of a technicality.

Or it could be that the pool of people the school draws from is all very close together. As far as bonding, as in ANY pledge class - that's up to the pledges. There's nothing preventing them from taking, for example, every Friday night and meeting up in a chat room or such.