I am part of a local organization that has been pretty small for the past couple of years. Right now the active house is at about 25 members because we had a large amount of girls go alumnae (myself included). Within the past couple of semesters, we have been doing really well with sisterhood, keeping drama on a low key, participation and success in philanthropies, and taking pride in knowing each other inside and out.
This semester things have changed. Maybe for the better in the long run but I can see it posing a small problem in the beginning. We have 80 PNMs signed up to go thru our recruitment process. EIGHTY!!! Now I know not all 80 girls will probably come out, but still, if half come out, that's still a lot. And from what I have seen and who I have talked to, they are ALL ADORABLE and sweet!
Here is the kicker: we stress that we don't have a quota because we want to have as many girls as possible. We seem to have a very high turnover rate. (GIrls leaving due to school, transfering, not for them etc.) SO a large class would be really nice because even if 10 out of 40 decide to drop out, the house isn't down the tubes. BUT we have always prided ourselves on knowing everyone, having a really small house so we are all close and so on. I would hate to see that close knit group expand into something too large for the house to handle. Not to mention that every sister would have to take twin lil sis's. (Which is very expensive and time consuming.)
As an alumnae looking over the house, I don't wanna come in and say, keep your numbers low and have everyone look at me like I am on crack. The last thing I would want is something terrible to happen and everyone get all stressed out and overwhelmed. BUt I want to see the house grow. I just thinking it might be growing way too fast and I don't think the house knows what could possibly happen. BUt I also don't want 40 quality girls to come out and we only take 25 and the others think we went back on our word about a quota.
ANyone have any suggestions on how to handle a large new member class? Maybe some tips on how to relive some stress off of the big sis's? Anything will help.
Don't get me wrong, I am super happy our house is on top of things. I am just worried as usual.