[KSUViolet06]

Tri Sigma dropped its traditional new member education program and unveiled its total membership education program (pioneered by Sig Ep's Balanced Man program) in 2005, called Essental Sigma. The program had been in development since 2001, when our Executive Council started to notice the exact issue that cuteASAbug is talking about in this thread.

i'm going to attempt to explain how it works:

Each class in the sorority (from new members to seniors) has a different stage within the program, called a sequence. There's the Declaration (new member), Arc, Triangle, and Circle Sequence. Each sequence has its own goals, events and activities (some fun ones). In order to progress through the sequences, there are different goals that must be met.

For example, the new member sequence is first. One of the 4 goals is to become eligible for initiation. In order to reach that goal, there are activities and expectations that have to be met (i.e. attending new member meetings, planning a program for the chapter w/other NMs, attending NM retreat, passing the NM test). The biggest change: They are also required to make 85% of attendance points just like actives (with the exception of ritual).

The post initiation Sequences (Arc, Triangle, Circle) have their own goals and activites. They explore things like taking chair positions, offices, and preparing for graduation.

For example as a senior, I was in Circle Sequence. My sequence included all the other seniors. One of the goals was to prepare for life after graduation. We had a Career Day where we invited a speaker to come in and critique our resumes and talk about interview attire. Then we went out to a local mall and went shopping for job interview clothes.

One of our FUN events was our Circle Sequence retreat at a local campground. We also took Arc Buddies where we left inspirational notes and candy for an Arc Sequence (soph.) sister every day for a week.

Each sequence of membershp has something new to learn and experience, so it's not "all downhill" from initiation. With every Sequence, you have something new to look forward to/work towards.

It's hard to explain, but the program grows with the members. The new members still have fun (we still do Big/Little, Pearl Pals, etc), but they also have goals and responsibilities within the chapter. There's not alot of "post-initiation" shock, because you're used to having goals and mandatory events.

If implemented properly, I think it does an excellent job of preparing the new member for what life as an active is like. Chapters who have been using it since 2005 (the pilot chapters) have noted that their retention among newly initiated girls has gone up.