New Member Scholarship
 

All right, so I posted this in the Phi Mu forum, but it might get more perspective on this one...

I'm the Scholarship Director for UNCG's Panhellenic. I'd like to focus our first roundtable discussion on methods and strategies for incorporating/emphasizing the importance of scholarship to new members. Many groups have trouble helping new sisters balance the brand-new college experience, academics, and all the activities involved in the new member period. Anybody have any ideas that worked for them? Or even, ideas that didn't work? Suggestions? Tips? Gut feelings? I'd welcome any input you guys have.

Study hours...plain and simple. I know some people will complain, call it hazing, or what not but seriously, putting a new member class in the library for three hours together not only encourages studying but also bonds of sisterhood. Besides, by the definition on www.stophazing.org study hours are not hazing at all.


It's simply another "activity" for new members to go to, but in this case it's to help them get off on the right step, making sure that they are up to speed in their classes. And no one can skip out on them b/c they have to study, unless they absolutely have to use a computer and don't have their own laptop...

There are other methods to encourage scholarship, like my chapter gives a $500 scholarship and a 14k gold Beta Theta Pi ring to any pledge who achieves a 4.0 in their first semester. However this doesn't really help our pledges get used to college, or help them to balance the other required activities.

Study hours can be misused but there does need to be some acknowledgement that joining a GLO may impact even the best student's study habits. Where is becomes "hazing" is if you only require it of new members and not of initiates, no matter what their GPA. Study hours can become another 'activity' if you are requiring a single, inconvenient location or if study hours become social hours (some folks can study with 20 sisters around, some can't and they should not be penalized because they need solitude to concentrate)

Where a GLO can assist their new members academically is by mentoring them... helping them select courses (telling them the things that campus advisors won't), role modeling appropriate time management and study skills (yes, this can be done in a group setting but might be more effectively done one on one) and of course rewarding success. Let's face it, do your floor mates give you a warm fuzzy everytime you get an A or B? I'm sure your sisters will!

We make it mandatory for our new members to do 8 hours of study hours a week. They can be in the computer lab, library, wherever as long as it's not in their room. We don't have a set time that they have to do them in. I know that other GLO's on campus also do study hours but they have it that it's all of the new members together at a certain time and place (i.e. every Monday- Thursday from 7-9). I think that study hours are a great way of helping new members balance their time. I know I had my highest GPA when I pledged!

Another thing that we do that you might want to consider looking into is a Time Management Workshop. Our advisor has one with the new members and pledge mom and assistant pledge mom right at the start of pledging, and even though we all complain about having to go to it, it really does help a lot!