Rho Chi/Rho Gamma/ HELP

[MaggieXi]

I loved when I was a co-head PX! We had a day long retreat where we did ice breakers, learned facts about other organizations, we had one of the campus rec aerobics instructors come and we had a work-out and did some yoga so we could work on our own stresses, we learned the other groups cheers etc. We did a lot of role-playing of stressed out pnms and scenarios that could happen. Our panhellenic made sure to keep us mixing and really tried to keep the girls who were not of the same GLO together.

We also had our own T-shirts made -- greek life approved (besides the PX letters given to us by panhellenic and panhellenic shirts), 110% buttons (its an Elon thing with the buttons) that we would have on our bags, we all had PX buddies -- like secret santas and we would make crafts for each other, leave each other notes, etc. We also had our own date party and would all go out together. Our panhellenic had a rule that at least 3 rho chis had to be together to go to a bar or something, so we made a rule that it had to be at least 5. This got us to bond sooo much! We had our own cheers and we actually a very close group of girls. I still talk to other PXs that I would have never met or known had it not been for our PX program.

Right before recuritment started we learned about how the computer ranking system worked, release figures, and how girls would get their invites back, etc. Which is really helpful so it can be explained to the PNMs individually if they have questions.

Once recruitment started --which was over a week between winter term and spring term, so there aren't any classes -- we had daily meetings to go over problems and also funny things that may have happened during the day. We would also review facts about the different orgs and would have random dance parties in our room just to relieve some stress.

[violetpretty]

My Rho Gamma training was a sham. We were selected in late September, began disaffiliation in October, and we had 6 Rho Gamma classes on Wednesday nights in the fall semester (we do spring FMR).

The first two classes we did a few icebreakers, but none of them stuck out to me.

I do know that we spent the third class learning about counseling skills with the [Chi Omega] house director of a fraternity on campus. And then the fourth class, we learned the same exact thing from a sorority woman who works in the counseling center.

The fifth week, they tried to teach us about recruitment as a numbers game (ie release figures, bid matching, quota additions, etc). I was already considerably knowledgeable about the subject, so I started asking Green Book type questions that the Rho Gamma coordinators didn't even understand. (The Panhellenic advisor was able to answer my questions). Most of the Rho Gammas barely had a grip on what the difference between total and quota was. So then the PHA VP Recruitment finally says, "Ok you guys don't really need to know this, let's focus on counseling. If one of your PNMs asks you a question that you don't know the answer to, you can ask us." That's fine if you want to be bombarded with questions or have your Rho Gammas giving out information that they THINK they know but is actually wrong.

I know one of my sisters who pledged a year after me said her Rho Gamma told her she had to suicide. She went to SigKap, Tri Delta and KD for preference, and she is a KD and Tri Delta legacy. Her dumb Rho Gamma told her that she had to suicide SK if that's what she wanted, because even if she put KD or Tri Delt below SK, she'd get whichever one was higher because they wanted her more. NO NO NO NO NO! Thank God she matched with us even though she suicided.

I had one of my PNMs ask me a similar question. She attended preference at her legacy chapter, along with two others. Her legacy chapter was not her first choice and she asked me if that would mean that she'd automatically get her legacy chapter if she listed them regardless of her choices. Fortunately, I told her that if it is indeed true that this chapter puts legacies on their first list, you'll still get your first choice unless they fill quota before getting to your name. You will have a "spot" at your legacy chapter until you match elsewhere. She ranked all 3 chapters and got her first choice

Ok, sixth class, we did nothing other than put labels on postcards to be mailed to the homes of all unaffiliated freshman and sophomore women over winter break advertising recruitment. Sure, it was great use of 34 pairs of hands since we got it done in about 30 minutes. My complaint is that the Rho Gammas were not armed with enough knowledge to answer questions that PNMs will have. Their attitude was "If you know too much, you'll probably tell PNMs things that they shouldn't know."

Make sure your Rho Gammas are knowledgeable.