Most lavaliers are now the letters - they make them where they go straight down or at a diaganal. You can even get them with pearls in them. Most NM classes (at least in Texas!) get their "drop" sometime their new semester - depending on the chapters tradition. Some give it on bid day as their first "letters", some at pledge pinning, some at big/lil revealing and some at initiation.
So, the lavalier tradition is still alive and well - at least in Texas!
Another big thing now it so have dangles on your pin for offices you have held. I have a dangle for having attended national convention and for being a chapter advisor.
If you go to the Masters of Design site - you can see all this stuff and it's variations.
