[adpiucf]

When I was a PX, we had a really fun retreat.

We played a game called "Get Up and Move." To start, everyone sits in a circle, except for one person. That person says "Get up and move if..."
and says something like "If you have ever visited New York City," "You love the color yellow," "your favorite food is sushi," "you are a legacy," etc. Everyone to whom this applies leaps up and runs across the room and sits back down. The last person to sit is "out." That person is the next to say "Get up and Move if..." The game continues until the last person is out. This is a great way to learn about people and the things you might have in common because you only get up and move if the scenario applies to you.

If you have limited space, you can do "Stand up/Sit Down." This is the same idea, except that no one is "out." It's just a way to learn about one another.


We also learned about first aid. Our recruitment takes place at the end of the summer, and it's hot outside. So it was important to know how to recognize heat stroke, etc.

We learned sorority songs and facts about the other organizations. We split into groups, too, and each group was responsible for making a poster to promote one of the sororities to the other PX's.

We had a campfire, sang songs and even made up songs about being PX's.

We also learned about recruitment infractions, and what do with PNM's in certain scenarios-- how to counsel them if they were sad, what to do if we encountered a question we didn't know how to answer, what to do with a PNM who was late or missed a party.


There's a book out there called "If"-- it is a book of questions that have no right or wrong answers. It's a great book for a group dialogue because you see how people "think."

Have lots of food and snacks on hand. If you're going to be at a campground, do a nature walk.

We did a special PX initiation. It's not ritual-- just something that our local Pan made up. We used electric "tapers" (no candles!), and took the Panhellenic Oath, and were given pins (safety pins with ribbons in our school colors).

One thing we did later when recruitment started were PX Buddies. Like having a Big Sis, but you're all mentoing one another since you're in the same class. We would leave notes for one another, give each other little gifts, etc.

A word of advice: being a PX can be a tough job, depending upon how well the Pan Exec communicates and the duration of disaffiliation. Make PX's feel appreciated, feed them (recruitment is a long day!) and allow the chapters to send them gifts and "We can't wait to see you on Bid Day" notes each day of recruitment. Integrating back into the chapter can be hard on PX's, so don't impose disaffiliation longer than necessary and give the chapters pointers on ways to re-acquaint the PX's with their sororities when they reaffiliate.