need ideas for educating new members!

[ASTalumna06]

Make flashcards for all of the new members. You can print them up and have them cut out their own. This way, they won't have to read pages and pages of information.

Try giving the information in a lecture, or historical discussion, rather than just having them read out of their new member manuals, or whatever they have that they need to read from. Talk about why your history is important. Talk about what the symbols of your sorority mean (without giving away any information you shouldn’t), and discuss the intentions of the founders. When people find meaning behind things, they are more likely to want to learn about them.

And remember… a lot of people are visual learners. Try making a Powerpoint presentation with pictures and descriptions. Give the new members actual items or pictures that they can see when learning the information. Something as simple as having a banner with your crest on it during the discussion, or having a picture of the school where your chapter was founded, or pulling lines from your creed and using visuals for each one can help people to remember.

I know that when I was memorizing the founders of my sorority, I used visuals… and even though some of them seem absolutely ridiculous, it helped me to remember who they were at the time.

Just a few examples of what I used…

Ruth Dutcher = map of the Netherlands
May Gephart = ‘May’ page of a calendar
Harriet Marx = picture of Karl Marx
Adriance Rice = rice!
Mayene Tracy = Dick Tracy movie

And although it might sound absurd, it helped me to remember. Me and one of my sisters, Lindsey, we also turned one of our ritual songs into a kind of rap, and we remembered it better that way when it came time to write it down. Now I know how it goes and what it should sound like, but it helped us to learn it at the time… and it was fun!