[ASTalumna06]

I know I’ve been slacking when it comes to updates, so here is one giant one from the last three recruitment events (sorry, but it’ll probably be really long..)

Going back to last Sunday...

The all-Greek event went very well. It started at 11:00, right before one of the freshmen orientation meetings let out. There was a ridiculous number of people who came over to grab some free food all at once, and from what I hear, we went through 40 pizzas, I don’t even know how many pounds of wings, and tons of snacks. There were a lot more freshmen men than women, but it was still a successful day for all of the groups.

I was happy to see the sisters approaching other young women and talking to them. I also met a few who seemed to be excited about the idea of joining a sorority. The campus culture has changed so much in that respect since I first became a member, and it’s an exciting thing to witness.

The chapter’s first recruitment event was this past Thursday. They have tried to move away from extremely specific themes, so they did, “Be Sweet with AST” and they had tons of candy and cupcakes, all colored green and gold. They had 12 PNMs show up! It was a very diverse group of PNMs, in many senses of the word. While there were a few girls there who looked like they had just rolled out of bed, most looked very presentable and were more than fun to talk to. There were different races and ethnicities represented, which has been very rare in the past. I think the campus as a whole is becoming more diverse in that way, so it makes sense. It's great to see these changes making their way into sorority recruitment.

There were a few familiar faces from past semesters... including one girl who came to recruitment events two semesters ago, but then decided joining a sorority might not be for her... and another girl who has showed up for the third semester in a row. There were also a few girls who had come to the recruitment event that the new members had put on last semester, including a set of twins.

A couple of them actually approached me and introduced themselves, which was refreshing. Even though one of them started our talk with the question, “So do you girls throw parties?” the conversations I did have generally went well.

This past Monday, the girls held their latest recruitment event... “Spice It Up with AST” where they served chips and salsa. There were 9 PNMs who attended, a few of which had already shown up on Thursday. Everyone talked and mingled, and then as a group, everyone did an icebreaker... Truth and Lies. The girls all sat in a big circle, and each person said their name, two truths about themselves, and one lie. The next person in the circle had to determine which statement was a lie. It was actually pretty funny to listen to everyone’s statements, and the sisters and PNMs seemed to have a really good time with it.

After that, the Recruitment Chair explained a little about what we do as a sorority, and she had myself and another alumna who was there explain a little about how you can get involved after you graduate.

Then the girls all got up and talked some more. I was actually wearing a lettered shirt that had Patriots material for the letters that I’ve had for quite some time. One of the PNMs walked over to me and got all excited because I actually like the Patriots. Apparently she’s their biggest fan, and being in Steeler country, it was exciting to find a fellow outcast. Haha

Overall, it was a very good night and from what I could tell, there were a couple PNMs that the sisters REALLY liked.

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And to keep everyone up-to-date in terms of what’s going on with the more technical and complicated aspects of recruitment this semester...

We are now able to bid first semester freshmen. However, it is a trial-basis. The main thing that the administrators are going to be looking at are the GPAs of all of the new members to see if they can keep up with their school work, on top of joining a Greek organization.

The freshmen who are eligible: There is a number that is calculated for every incoming freshman. I forget what it’s called... their EI number? I don’t know. Anyway, from what I understand, it is somehow calculated using a student’s GPA, SAT score and University Entrance Exam. If this so-called calculated GPA is above a 3.0, a student may be considered for a bid to a fraternity or sorority. Those students were also sent a letter over the summer from the Greek life office, introducing them to the idea of going Greek. However, the chapters don’t receive that list of names, as members are encouraged to get to know all students, rather than a select few who are eligible this semester. Therefore, we have PNMs sign in on a grade release form when they attend recruitment events, as we always have, and it is submitted to the Greek Advisor so that she can tell us who is eligible to receive a bid.

The supplemental new program, which I mentioned here (http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...2C+alternative), is going to be implemented this semester. It will be 8 weeks in length, including two longer sessions; one which will cover alcohol and risk management issues, and another that will include a philanthropy project. The Greek life advisor’s view is, “If a student isn’t willing to join because of this extra program, then they obviously don’t want to be Greek,” and some of the members of the chapters are starting to say the same thing. I won’t get into my feelings about this here, but I’m curious to see whether or not this will affect the PNMs’ decisions to join. We will see...

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Anyway... a recruitment kick-off event was added to this fall semester, which will take place tomorrow night. Why they pushed it back into the second week of school, after all of the sororities have already had recruitment events, I’m not sure. But we’ll see how that goes.

The chapter has also decided to require each sister to spend time with at least one PNM outside of a recruitment event. This worked very well last semester, and hopefully it will be beneficial again.

The rest of the recruitment schedule is as follows:

Recruitment event: Tuesday, September 8 (8:00pm)
Recruitment event: Wednesday, September 9 (8:00pm)
Bid Day: Wednesday, September 16 (6:00pm-10:00pm)

There might be an additional recruitment event thrown in between the second recruitment event and bid day, depending on whether or not the sisters feel comfortable that they know all of the PNMs well enough.

Excited for tomorrow...