pledge pins
 

Last semester I was involved in founding a new local sorority. With this fall semester quickly approaching, it is time to start thinking about our first pledge class. I have been put in charge of designing a pledge pin for our sorority and have no idea where to begin. Any ideas/suggestions would be much appreciated:)

What are your letters and some of your open symbols??

Everything on the pledge pin should (generally) be open information. Also, you have to decide if you want pledges to wear your letters (or some of your letters, example: Phi Mu, pledges wear their quatrefoil shaped badge with a Phi in it).

I would say look how others incorporated their letters, symbols (be they flowers, mascots, icon, etc.), and anything else having to do with the group into their respective pins. Obvioulsy you wouldn't want to copy anyone else's, but using theirs for examples and ideas would probably be a good start.

Think about budget concerns, too. You don't know how many new members you will have and it may not be financially feasible to commission a professional jeweler.

Brainstorm some of the ideas mentioned above-- open symbols, etc., and go to a craft store. You may be able to make a set of new member pins. Other ideas: affixing colored ribbon in your sorority colors to a pin. Or you may find a glass or china flower or symbol that you can affix to a pin back.

Does the National Panhellenic website show the different membership and pledge pins? It might be a good idea to look and make sure that you do not inadvertantly copy an existing pledge pin.

I think ariesrising's site does.

You could try Intercollegiate Designs in New York. They are a jewelry company that does a lot of work with local Greeks. They weren't that expensive. They do custom work but they also have stock dies that can be customized with your colors.

If you're up for doing something a bit different, there's no reason your pledge jewelry has to be a pin.

My chapter started out as a local sorority, Sigma Iota Phi. The founders decided to create a pledge ring instead of a pin. Most GLOs use pins, but our founders wanted to do something different. Our colors were green and purple, and our gem was the amethyst, so the ring was a silver band with an amethyst flanked by two malachite beads. We were required to wear our rings at all times during pledging. After initiation, we kept our rings and were free to wear them any time we wished except during a subsequent class's pledge period. I still have my ring and wear it occasionally.

The mother of one of our founders is a jewelry designer, so she made up our pledge rings, at cost IIRC. She also created our badges.

Just another idea for you to think about. :)

aephi_alum, that sounds beautiful.

Our pledges had necklaces majority of the time. Our campus went more for that than pins during the pledging period. But then again, everything pledges wear here are huge and ugly...heh.

you could make cool hats out of newspaper.

I jest... rings actually sounds nice.

PLEDGE BRACELETS!!!!

Sorry - it's been a long day.

At any rate - are you planning on staying local or on eventually colonizing a chapter of a national sorority? Because if it's the latter, you might want to go with something easier like necklaces and charms rather than going to the expense of having a pin made up.

p.s. yay another Pittsburgher!!

I would just suggest that you put ribbons in your sorority's color on safety pins. It's small, cute, represents the sorority, and, most importantly, cheap. That's important if you're a brand new sorority and don't have a lot of money because no matter what you decide to make, there will be a significant set-up fee and mininum quantity order.

(PS. YAY FOR ANOTHER PITTSBURGHER!! And a local sorority too! :) WOO!)

My local uses a very simple rose pin for pledges. We only recently had active pins designed since so many of us wear lavaliers...its campus culture really. We used PinSource to have ours done...they were very attentive and communicative and got them to us quick.

Will/are you the only local on campus?

Actually, that's not so far fetched! A friend of mine is a Kappa Alpha Theta. At the University of Florida they used to award a really pretty gold bracelet to the "pledge of the week" to wear for that week. I don't know if they still do that, but it was a really nice tradition.