getting rid of bigs/littles?

[ISUKappa]

Originally Posted by 33girl

If I'm not mistaken, KKG got rid of big/little then brought it back. (Please correct me if I'm wrong, KKGs)

Yes and no. With the implementation of the shorter new member program, we switched to something called Kore groups, which is basically like a pledge family. It's a new member, sophomore, junior and senior who are grouped together. The sophomore or junior member is call the "Key Sister" and acts as the direct mentor to the new member, but the other actives in the Kore group still interact with the new member.

In theory, it's supposed to be different than bigs/littles/families, but most of the time, it still ends up being similar.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by ISUKappa

Yes and no. With the implementation of the shorter new member program, we switched to something called Kore groups, which is basically like a pledge family. It's a new member, sophomore, junior and senior who are grouped together. The sophomore or junior member is call the "Key Sister" and acts as the direct mentor to the new member, but the other actives in the Kore group still interact with the new member.

In theory, it's supposed to be different than bigs/littles/families, but most of the time, it still ends up being similar.

This sounds like a great idea because it ups the chances that the new member will have close connections in the group from the beginning. It also sounds great because it keeps seniors involved and values their role in a different way that just expecting them to take another little sister.

[ForeverRoses]

I can't imagine doing away with bigs/littles in some form.
In both theory and practice it works pretty well.


In fact my son's school just started a "mentor family" program for the new parents to the school. The principal even described it as a "big/little type program". I have my first mentoree family and next year, they will take a mentoree family and so on until we have built a network of older and newer families. in theory, when my son reaches 8th grade, there will be 8 other families that we are linked with as part of the mentor family.

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by ISUKappa

Yes and no. With the implementation of the shorter new member program, we switched to something called Kore groups, which is basically like a pledge family. It's a new member, sophomore, junior and senior who are grouped together. The sophomore or junior member is call the "Key Sister" and acts as the direct mentor to the new member, but the other actives in the Kore group still interact with the new member.

In theory, it's supposed to be different than bigs/littles/families, but most of the time, it still ends up being similar.

Are members of a Kore group together year after year?

For sake of discussion, lets say that new member = freshman. So basically the senior Kore member graduates and the following year, everyone else (the previous junior, previous sophomore, previous freshman) "moves up" a year. Then this *new* Kore group adds (or is eligible to add) a new member (i.e. freshman).

[ISUKappa]

Originally Posted by TSteven

Are members of a Kore group together year after year?

For sake of discussion, lets say that new member = freshman. So basically the senior Kore member graduates and the following year, everyone else (the previous junior, previous sophomore, previous freshman) "moves up" a year. Then this *new* Kore group adds (or is eligible to add) a new member (i.e. freshman).

In theory, the Kore groups are supposed to switch every year so there are different members in the Kore group than the previous year, but that can get complicated, especially if the chapter is large. If chapter members resign or are abroad, the Kore groups will be rearranged so there's the NM, So, Jr, Sr, (or something similar) grouping. Personally, I think it works just as well if the Kore groups stay the same from year to year, with each member just moving up and adding a new member, but again that doesn't always work with individual chapters. The nice thing is the chapters do have some flexibility with the NM program and Kore families to tailor it to their specific needs, as long as the core outline is followed. Kore groups can be great, but it varies from chapter to chapter in how well they're utilized.

Even though it's been in place for more than ten years, the Fraternity is continually evaluating and adjusting the NM program to make it work best for the chapters and the incoming new members.

[DGwithagrey]

Gosh, that'd be so sad. It's been a long time since I was a collegian and my bigs (I had one technically and one by "adoption") and little are still very important to me. At least with my chapter, there was a lot of emphasis on "family ties"--have "aunts", "cousins", "great-aunts", etc. For my little (I only have one because I went alumna early), I actually made a fancy family tree as part of her Initiation box and that thing is still being passed around and updated.