sorority new member ed

[sarahsmilehawk]

ADPi is particularly "PC" when it comes to new members, so I imagine it was pretty different from your usual fraternity pledge period. For one, we don't call them pledges; they're "alphas." And after initiation, we're not actives, we're "deltas."

We go to chapter with everyone else, but they bring us in after the opening ritual and we leave before the closing ritual.

After chapter, we have Alpha Education. We order our pins and a bunch of other stuff (I remember bringing a LOT of checks to alpha ed), learn the history and symbols and all that good stuff, and prepare for the initiation exam. I do recall some homework assignments.

At some point, we get "diamond sisters" (bigs or moms or whatever) who are supposed to guide us through the new member period. Apparently, the older girls are supposed to drive the younger ones to chapter and decorate their doors after bid day and again right before initiation. I never got any of this because I lived off campus and my diamond sis never went to chapter.

Initiation was 6 weeks after we became Alphas, but New Delta Education continued through the whole year. We had our New Delta retreat in late April, I believe.

The only down side to this is I never felt like I earned my initiation. It was sort of just handed to me.

Originally Posted by sarahsmilehawk

The only down side to this is I never felt like I earned my initiation. It was sort of just handed to me.

What could they have done to make you feel like you "earned" it, then? PT at 6 am? Scavenger hunts? Running errands for the chapter members?

I'm really sorry that you feel that way about your NM period. I had a similar NM experience like yours, but I never thought for a second that my Initiation was ever "just handed to me".

[sarahsmilehawk]

I love scavenger hunts, but I agree that (and PT and running errands) wouldn't really help me prepare for initiation.

But I never even had to learn the material on the exam. We talked about it once and then got a "help sheet" when we took the test. I was allowed to wear letters from bid day on. It just made initiation seem kind of unimportant and anticlimactic... and that's sad.

On the other hand, I had a rough time during my new member period for a lot of other reasons. So maybe that's just clouding my opinion.

[ASTalumna06]

During my new member period, we had weekly new member meetings that we had to attend. We were also required (if we did not have any other prior engagements) to attend all of the initiated sister meetings and 2 Panhellenic meetings during our 6 week program.

We had things such as big/little night, where the bigs would help their littles make their first letter shirt (yes, we made our letters and ironed them on!) They would also decorate the cover of their new member manuals that night.

Throughout the new member period, littles would have to make paddles for their bigs, and bigs would make pillows for their littles.

As a new member class we had to put on a fundraiser (which could basically all go toward the payment of our new member dues) and we had to participate in a philanthropy of our choice. My class raffled off a few decorated Zippo lighters, and we attended a dance for mentally challenged teenagers and adults.

We had an exam at the end of our program that we had to pass.

And all of the initiated sisters have jerseys (every fraternity and sorority at our campus has these), and they’re our colors, they have our letters on the front, and our nicknames and scroll number on the back (the sororities do scroll numbers, the fraternities tend to have their new guys pick which number they want). These are given to our new members after initiation, so while they get to wear letters throughout their new member process, they still get something special at the end. And when they’re given their jerseys is when they find out their nicknames. So it’s kind of exciting.

This was all back in 2004.

As of late, the girls have added some new activities. They have a sister dinner, where the bigs and littles all go out to the store and buy different things to make dinner. Last semester, we had 4 new girls. So one set of big and little bought salad and breadsticks, another two sets bought stuff to make pasta, and the last one got dessert (all funded by the sorority). They went to one of the sister’s apartments and the bigs and littles made dinner together for the rest of the chapter.

Next semester, they are going to make it mandatory that new members attend all events that the initiated sisters must attend, and if they can not make it, they must email a legitimate excuse to our advisor. The girls have had problems with new members not showing up or showing up late to their new member events, so the chapter is now going to hold them accountable, like they would be as a sister.

There has also been talk of having more “values-based” education added to the program. It will allow the new members to understand the ideas that the sorority was built upon. And this will not only teach the new members about the ethics and morals of the sisters, and the ones that they should live up to, but also about how to recruit the best new members in the future.