[OrigamiTulip]

Sorority recruitment comes to an end

By Claudia Adrien
Alligator Writers


After the envelopes were torn open and the tears wiped away, the partying began. The weeklong grind of sorority recruitment week came to an end when 900 potential members walked in packs to 15 different sorority houses to unwind Sunday night.

"Everyone was bubbly," said Kate Dahl, a freshman who accepted a bid to Kappa Delta.

Dahl was greeted with hugs and given a rose as Kappa Delta sisters welcomed her into the chapter's house. Partygoers ate a spaghetti dinner and a pudding and Oreo cookie dessert provided by Kappa Delta alumnae.

"It was all really comforting," Dahl said. "Girls I didn't know would hug me."

Rooms in the Kappa Delta house were arranged by themes.

A western montage draped one room and another devoted the decor to the 1980s.

The movie "Dirty Dancing" played on a TV screen, said Natalie Citarella, Panhellenic Council director of publications.

Although everything was "spastic," Dahl said it was much better than recruitment events, at which potential members had to make friends with everyone quickly.

Once admitted to the initiation process of a specific chapter the sentiments are stronger, she said.

"We know we'll be together for the next four years," Dahl said.

For Delta Zeta members, the celebrations occurred around the pool of The Exchange at Gainesville apartments.

The chapter, established at UF two years ago, doesn't yet have a house on Sorority Row.

"We have to work harder for sisterhood," said Marlena Martinez, the chapter's vice president of new member education.

The chapter members rented a tour bus to escort the 60 potential members to the apartment complex, where a luau awaited.

"It was nice," said Adam Miller, an employee at the Exchange's home office.

A craft-project of fake palm trees and colorful flowers decorated the apartments' clubhouse.

The potential members of Delta Zeta received more than bids.

Perks at the party included Bono's Pit Bar-B-Q and a DJ.

But the celebrations weren't all-nighters. At midnight, the parties came to a halt.

"We want to guarantee the safety of new members," Citarella said, noting that sorority sisters were escorted home early, most to campus dormitories.

Other party limitations included parties without "boys and alcohol," she said.

"We aren't allowed to have alcohol in the chapter houses, even if some members are 21," Citarella said.

Once the parties ended, those left behind had the responsibility of cleaning.

Miller said the sorority women left the clubhouse cleaner than they found it.

"We'd have (Delta Zeta) back any time."

But cleaning after the party may have been easier than cleaning Norman Field.

Though hundreds of spectators lined the area and about 1,000 stomped across the field, Citarella didn't notice a lot of debris when she sprinted across the field.

"I ran from the far right of the field to the left" she said.

"I even got shin splints."

Citarella said people arrived at Norman Field to witness Bid Day as quickly as they left — in about 10 minutes.

"They didn't have a lot of time to make a mess."