[silverpearls]

Now that most of the chapter (including me!) has recovered from the swine flu, I can give you a better update on how COB went! I’m really pleased with the New Member class and I think the girls are a great addition to the chapter. We ended up adding one more new member late, for a total of nine girls. They’re all quality women who seem excited to be Venuses. Seriously, I love every single new member we have!

We’ve had a bunch of events for them and they seem to be getting along really well with the sisters. Like the spring recruitment, though, I worry that we’re going to have trouble getting them to know everyone. It’s still early in the semester, but I wish sisters were taking more initiative to get to know all the New Members instead of just assimilating a few of them into their groups of friends within the group. I wouldn’t call us a cliquey group – we all get along with one another just fine, and know who the others are – but there are definite groups of friends and they don’t always make a big effort to hang out with girls outside of that group. I feel like this would happen in any group, but I know it’s possible for everybody to at least know everyone’s name and a little about them. I think we’ll get there by the end of the semester.

Another thing I realized today is that this may have been our last COB… ever. We’ve COBed every semester as long as I can remember! It will be really strange if we don’t COB, and I’ll miss it. It’s more work, time and money, but I think it’s recruitment more like our founders intended. Instead of fast-paced bumping, chanting, frills, etc. you just get to sit and just hang out with the girls and see how they mesh with the sisters. Oh, well.