Please, help my chapter

[sdidavide]

hello lovely sisters of Alpha Sigma Tau. My name is Sarah and I am part of the Delta Delta chapter in Chicago. We are in serious trouble. We have a small greek system and last semester we had 17 girls well half of us graduated(good job to them) and now we have 8 girls. In the fall all of the other sororities will be coming back with 20 or 30. We were wondering if anyone had any really great ideas or if anyone would be interested in coming to Chicago. We do not have a house but most of us leave in the dorms or in apartments on campus so you would not need anywhere to stay and we would try to cater to you every whim. One of our Rush parties is a philanthropy so we need any idea's that would stand out. You can e-mail me and I will answer any questions. If you would like our Rush schedule you can email me and I will forward it to you. The overall rush theme for Pan-hell is Starbucks

[PsychTau]

Sarah,

I am not an expert in rush, but here are some things to consider.

1. Get those graduates to come back and help with rush. (Hopefully your campus doesn't have rules against alumnae helping with rush!). This would be vital for you guys. They still know the campus, your sisters, etc. and would be the best fit. Of course, any alumnae to help you with rush would be great!

2. Does your chapter have a positive reputation on campus? Be honest about why you lost half of your chapter! Graduation is a great thing, that's why all of you are there!! Project an air of pride and confidence about this situation. Brag on those girls and the wonderful careers they now (hopefully!) have. See if a few of them will commit to visiting the chapter to talk about "life after college" and see if that would be a selling point also.

3. Is your chapter going to convention? If so, go find Susan Watson Hardy (National Recruitment Coordinator), or Elaine Martin-Kneebone (Parliamentarian, but the best dang rusher I have ever seen!!) and ask them for help. Of course, convention is where you can ask all of the chapters for help, and see which ones can come to you for rush.

I don't have any really good ideas for philanthropy party, but one thing that I would be impressed with (as a rushee) is doing something that can be continued when I join (like painting flowerpots that we can later put a plant in and take to a nursing home as a NM class--ok, kinda cheezy idea, but it was easy to explain!! ) This would help me see myself on the other side. . .what would I be doing once I pledged?

BTW. . . you are not the first chapter to have this dilemma, and I have seen chapters turn this around easily. This is where rush 24/7/365 really comes into play. Prepare to COB like crazy!!!
I hope I could help!!! Are you going to convention?

Tau Love,
Teena

[hammylovin]

Hey Sarah! My name is Michelle, I'm from the Delta Tau Chapter at Oakland University in Michigan. I know what you're going through with the small chapter thing, and i would love to help out in any way i can. My friend, who is the president of our sorority and i were planning a trip to chicago at the end of the summer for a weekend and perhaps we could meet you and your girls and help you out. I actually think i may have met some of your girls before. I went to the officer academy in Pennsylvania last year and met about 8 girls from chicago. I'm not sure if they were from the same chapter as you, but if so, our schools/chapters are a lot alike. I go to a really small commuters school, which makes it a little more difficult for greek life. Let me know if you would maybe want to meet up with us.

Off the subject of sorority life, do you know a cheap hotel outside of chicago that my friend and i could stay in? We were tring to plan the cheapest trip possible, but don't know the city at all so we don't know what city's are nice just outside of chicago.

Tau Love and Mine,
Michelle Urban

[Little E]

Hey sarah!
email
phillips@stu.beloit.edu, shells@stu.beloit.edu, slighting@stu.beloit.edu
That is our pres, rush, vp, in that order
let them know when rush is and maybe you can get Delta Nu out there. We have a lot of very excited pledges who might be willing. school will just be going. make sure that they understand the urgency and get some women out there. We are so close and we're small..ok 20 but we have some energy that we could put in.
love ya girly! good luck with this all!
oh yea. i'm in rome for the fall but i want to go visit you guys in spring. we could do something w/phi psi maybe???
tau love hon!

[parrotsbay]

Dear Sarah~

Dear Sarah~

Hi, I am Adrienne...I was informed about your chapter's problem during AST National Convention this summer...one of my Delta Nu sisters called me on her cell phone while she was on the elevator and told me that you were having issues with numbers, as well as the fact that you no longer have a chapter advisor....

I am moving to Logan Square in Chicago on the 25th of August to finish my Master's Degree at UIC, so I will be very close to Delta Delta. I have already talked to Becky Pietrzak about meeting with all of your sisters and talking with you about ways to improve your rush program and recruit more women, and I will also provide you with some advising to help mend some of the problems your chapter may be having. I would even be more than happy to attend rush events on occasion to increase your numbers and help you out.

Delta Nu is a new chapter (only about 3 years old), and we have had this problem before. We started out with 25 women, went down to around 8, and now the chapter has almost 30 again. Although we don't use Formal Rush, which can work to our advantage, our girls would totally sympathize. It can be even more difficult when you don't have a house (which we have also had to deal with, like you do).

So, although I am not your fairy godmother, I will be there for you and do my best to help you through this.

One of my sisters, Cindy (the VP of Delta Nu) and I will be in Chicago on the 10th of August to move some of my stuff into my apartment. If you would like to gather some of your other sisters (or just you) for lunch, let me know!

So maybe I can help you, and in return I will be so happy to meet some sisters who I have never met! It will be nice to have some new friends in Chicago...

I look forward to hearing from you! Keep a positive attitude and things will work themselves out!

Tau Love and Mine, Adrienne

Feel free to e-mail me at parrotsbay@hotmail.com