Parade of Homes 2023

[SquirrelyDays]

One week after recruitment, with absolutely no prompting from me, Rosebud marched her little off-brand Converse hi-tops into the FSL office to advocate for herself. She asked if she could get the Tshirts she paid for. Whomever she spoke with was shocked, SHOCKED I say, at her tale of her whole experience. They said she should have been informed that she would have to go directly to COB or spring rush as soon as she told Rho Gam Kelsey about the band camp time commitment, way back in the middle of the summer. They said that Pan VPR should have been more on top of it, and should been more gracious at the preview event. She was given the contact information for the Panhellenic President and “we’ll see what we can do” about the Tshirts. I’m not holding my breath.

Later that same day, Rosebud attended her first recruitment event with Tau Beta Sigma, the co-ed marching band service sorority. This is a natural fit for her because she was so involved with the marching band all throughout high school and contributed extraordinary amounts of her leisure time to making sure events ran smoothly. She often was first to arrive and last to leave. She promoted membership in the band to the feeder middle schools during annual campus visits, and made her closest friends through the band. She organized the equipment cabinets with Martha Stewart flair. Her college campus has chapters of both TBS and Kappa Kappa Psi, the co-ed marching band service fraternity. She said she would first visit TBS events to see how she gets along with those members because during band camp “KKPsi moves furniture and TBS hands out popsicles.” Eyeroll. She does know there is more to it than that. The two organizations both provide support to the band, like organizing uniforms and handing out lunch or snacks on game day, and yes, moving furniture. When Rosebud came to the campus as a high school student for the honor band weekend, TBS staffed the registration tables.

Happily, she had a great time at that evening recruitment event! The icebreakers she described to me would have made me run for the hills, but she loved them. And she loved the members! Because TBS is not an NPC organization, she could actually be a member of TBS and still participate in COB or spring rush if she chooses. And because she sees the TBS members 3 days a week at band practice, she’s getting to know them really well.

[SquirrelyDays]

So: on to fall COB!

The following week Rosebud was walking near the student union and the Ca’ d’Zan women were tabling for COB. She chatted with them and filled out their interest form at the table, and then she spent time talking with a second group of sisters in the coffee shop nearby. Smallest group on campus. Half the size of the next larger group, in fact. No house. At one point she said that was all stuff she didn’t want. However: After talking with them she called me saying, “They were REALLY nice! Like I’d actually be friends with these girls!” Two of her friends from back home had accepted bids at Ca’ d'Zan at other universities the week before. She thought that would be neat to be sisters on different campuses.

Then, Rosebud got a message via social media from Mangoes sending her their COB information. However, she was less inclined to consider joining Mangoes. Once classes started, the gossip did, too, and campus chatter said that the active members don’t really like each other and don’t spend time together outside of required events. Who knows if that is actually true. It doesn’t seem like it based on their super-active social media accounts! (Objectively, they have a great PR officer.) But she certainly listened to that tent talk (sans tent). If she meets some Mangoes members personally later, she might have a different opinion, but for now she doesn’t want to attend even one event with them.

Rosebud went with her two Casements (new member) roommates and some older (initiated) Casements sisters to a movie over one weekend, and then met up with them again one evening during the week to binge-watch a TV show. From her descriptions, it wasn’t clear to me whether these were COB events, or just them being gracious and welcoming. A few weeks later she went to a grab-a-date at a local professional sporting event with them, too, as her roommate Gina’s guest. Since Casements was the organization with the most members on campus last year, I think it’s unlikely that they have spots to fill. But stranger things have happened.

El Retiro had a few COB activities, but Rosebud said they were announced with very little lead time on their Instagram stories, and they were scheduled during band practice. Sadly, she missed them all.

(If you’re keeping track: that’s 3 of the original 6 organizations that I predicted might have extra room for more members, plus the roommates’ org.)

[SquirrelyDays]

Rosebud went to another COB event with Ca’ d’Zan later in the week and had a GREAT time… and then they offered her a bid. She was SO surprised. She didn’t think it could happen that fast. She thought she would be expected to attend more than just 2 events and the info table. They told her she didn’t have to accept or decline right away. She made a plan to attend a spin class with one of the members the next day, and then she called me. Over the next 3 days we had multiple pros-and-cons phone calls (which somehow always seemed to happen right as I was sitting down to order a meal in a restaurant). A summary:

PRO: She wants to be involved in something now, rather than waiting until next fall and missing a whole year. And there’s no guarantee that she would be offered a bid next year. It’s common for upperclassmen to receive a bid, but it’s not 100%. And no upperclassmen quota on this campus.

But CON: she really wanted to live in a sorority house. We have discussed that unless she receives a bid during freshman year, that probably won’t happen. If she initiates as a sophomore, then her first opportunity to live in the house would be during her junior year … right when she would be starting her upper-level courses on the specialized satellite campus which is 30 minutes away from sorority row on the main campus. She had planned to get an apartment near that satellite campus when those classes started. (Campus culture is that only freshmen live in the dorms anyway.) She COULD live in the house and commute to class, but it’s better to be occasionally late to social events than to risk being chronically late to class due to traffic, so a location close to the satellite campus was the plan. Especially because she doesn’t have her license yet and would have to rely on the college shuttle buses for transport. (Or accommodating friends.) (Or maybe just GET YOUR LICENSE, Rosebud, let's goooooo)

So she THINKS she wants to wait for spring rush. The number of organizations participating in spring rush would be fewer … and would probably still include Ca’ d’Zan. Rosebud thought it would be bad form to decline a bid in fall and then try to join again in spring. So, if she took “living in the house” out of the equation, she really felt like she WANTED to take the bid … but she still wasn’t SURE.

PRO: She likes the idea of knowing a small number of active sisters very well, rather than being in a crowd of women where she might not get to know each member personally.

Some CONs that I thought about, but did not share with her: probably lots of COB … all year long. There could be pressure from national leadership to grow, but maybe not. They might be fine with this chapter being small. Plus if she’s in an extroverted mood, meeting more new people every week isn’t exactly a crisis. It’s fun!

PRO: it’s less expensive. I had budgeted for the high end of the range of annual costs reported on the FSL website and it would be fine if she spent that much, but she’s just so practical that she took cost into consideration. And honestly, it’s not significantly less expensive because without a house they have “facilities rental fees” built into their budget since they pay to reserve locations for ritual and activities.

Ultimately she determined that she wanted to meet more sisters before deciding. I thought that was smart. IMHO, if it’s a very small group, it needs to be cohesive to survive. She doesn’t mind hard work, but she wants to enjoy the people she’s working with. If there is bickering in a group of 50 women, it’s hard to escape the one person who gets on your nerves the most – unlike a group of 150 women.

That spin class was a killer, by the way. She left gasping halfway through.

[SquirrelyDays]

Thanks for your comment, Carnation! I missed that last night.

And now I'm realizing how much I utilize parentheses. And how often I start sentences with "and." Too late to edit now! Hope readers will forgive those, too, in addition to verb tense craziness.

[SquirrelyDays]

Remember the Tau Beta Sigma recruitment events? Rosebud was invited to join, and her roommates were just as supportive and enthusiastic as if it had been an NPC delegation that showed up in their official chapter jerseys at the door to the suite and offered her an envelope with the crest and an official welcome. They filmed her opening up the envelope and jumping and clapping and squealing. Yay! The next day my Alpha Gamma Delta Sister who has known Rosebud all her life took a vase with TBS red roses and TBS colored ribbons over to her dorm to celebrate her. Rosebud is looking forward to weekly meetings and shopping for TBS-themed merch. John Denver was in TBS! And Lizzo! And Count Basie! Pretty cool. AND their badge has 14 pearls… like another beautiful badge I know <3

After accepting her TBS bid, Rosebud started receiving presents and clues from her big sister and attempted to figure out who it was before the reveal at the formal pledging ceremony. She ended up with 4 different Beanie Babies, and a pretty hand-painted canvas for her wall, and lots of candy and notes, and she LOVED all that suspense and excitement. She was very happy that she already had a yellow dress for the ceremony, and felt bad for any of the other TBS new members who had to hurriedly find something yellow to wear. Welcome to sorority life, lol. She is now the historian of her membership class (basically official photographer), which is similar to the social media manager leadership positions she held in her high school marching band and chorus. After one of the home football games she helped with organizing the uniforms for dry cleaning, and has spent a lot of time with her big sis and grand-big: having lunch, doing crafts, shopping… It’s ideal, really. Everything I had hoped would happen for her.

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When Ca’ d’Zan followed up with Rosebud, she thanked them for inviting her to join, but said since she had already accepted a bid to TBS, she wanted to focus on that in the fall. She said she didn’t want to pledge 2 organizations in the same semester and risk spreading herself too thin and not fully upholding her commitment to either group. The VP Recruitment at Ca’ d’Zan was very gracious and made it sound like they would be happy to see Rosebud again in the spring for informal recruitment events. Whew, no bridges burned.

Rosebud happily helped her roommates get ready for their initiation into Casements, and took pictures of them all dressed up in their white dresses, even with their required white socks. Why white socks? They have no idea. I flippantly suggested that maybe they just had the floors redone in the room where ritual is being held, and they don’t want heel marks all over the room (memories of how protective the basketball boosters were of the shine on the gym floor were flooding back). My mom thinks maybe it is a modern attempt to adapt something specific in their ritual, like the way many groups now use battery-operated “candle” lights instead of actual candles because of fire hazards. It’s a mystery. All the NPC orgs were initiated within 2 weeks of each other. It was very festive on campus and on social media!

[andthen]

Thanks for sharing Rosebud's story and kudos to her for being so level headed about everything with NPC recruitment. And congrats to her joining TBS! Wishing her the best as she continues her journey with spring COB.

[SquirrelyDays]

Thanks for your kind words, andthen Spoiler alert: she was initiated into her NPC group yesterday, so keep reading - still more to come

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Update: Whitehalls are hosting COB events for a second fall membership class!
Rosebud’s dad is thrilled, and he urged her to go. This is such a surprise to me. I had assumed that all COB events would take place immediately after formal recruitment at the beginning of the semester, so that the women who received COB invitations could be added to the fall membership class right away, and then the next recruitment class would be in the spring. But this is happening AFTER fall initiation. I have never heard of 2 separate pledge classes in the same semester. Shows how much I know, lol. Maybe that’s a benefit of shorter new member periods?

Whitehalls have a house. In fact, it is the largest sorority structure on campus with the most beds to fill. However, Rosebud remembered that one of her high school classmates who she clashed with a bit had just joined Whitehalls at another university. She hesitated at the idea of being sisters with that classmate. I reminded Rosebud that she might never see that girl again. Also: Chapters are different at different campuses, so just because Whitehalls was a good fit for that girl at THAT college doesn’t mean the Whitehalls at THIS school would have a matching vibe. Whitehalls has an interesting badge style, pretty colors, and a mascot that matches Rosebud’s elementary school mascot. Their philanthropy is well-known, and Rosebud’s second cousin was a beneficiary of their services.

Rosebud said that this chapter includes funds for CPC violations in their fee structure (don’t know how she found that out), and she didn’t like that they PLANNED to break rules and then just pay the fines. I said that’s probably not the mindset. I bet they just don’t want to be surprised by fines and then have to take the funds for them out of another line item in the budget, which would affect the quality of that other event. She’s not convinced. But she did fill out the interest form online, and she does plan to attend the first event.

Fingers crossed AGAIN.

Rosebud was 10 minutes early to the COB event at the Whitehalls house, along with about 14 other women. She said they had a nice chat together outside the house and she enjoyed meeting new people. The invite for the event said it was “casual, just be comfortable” and Rosebud ended up wearing a Gillyhicks skirt – sporty material, almost like a tennis skirt – and a midriff top. Her dad grumbled about that a bit, but honestly it was an outfit that perfectly matched some of the social media photos the chapter has posted within the past year, so I think her instincts were right-on. She would have liked to wear her hi-tops, but the colors clashed, so she wore neutral tone heeled sandals, which ended up making her a tad bit dressier than some of the other participants. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. Plus, she is fun-sized, so wearing a heel helps her be more on the same eye level as everyone else. Sometimes she appears to be younger than she really is just because of her height.

No surprise at all: the first Whitehalls member Rosebud spoke with had the same major that she has. And the second one, too. She said she spent a lot of time throughout the party on career talk, and courses and professors. She said her hosts commented more than once on how smart she must be since she completed many of the prerequisites for her program while still in high school. (Hearing that my brain sparked – Uh oh! What if they think she will be graduating early, and won’t be a 4-year participant!?! But she told me afterwards that she emphasized how she plans to be on campus all 4 years and told her hosts that she likes having a less-packed class schedule so she’s available to really get involved in all aspects of campus culture. Whew. Good girl.)

Rosebud enjoyed the house tour and the snacks. She exchanged contact information with the girl who toured her around. She called me right after her 90-minute experience and said how much fun she had and how nice everyone was. There were some other guests who were staying longer, but Rosebud was escorted out. Maybe the others arrived later than she did? Not sure. And now I guess she just waits. Not sure what the timeline is, or what the next steps are. I guess one big benefit of more structured formal rush is you know the plan and what to expect.

Reflecting at the end of the day, I realized she was wearing one of the Whitehalls colors to the event. I hope that didn’t make it seem like she was trying too hard. It was not planned – just one of her favorite colors. Social media shows the active sisters were much more casual than Rosebud – all in black workout clothes, midriff tops, tennies – just like their invitation said. Unfortunately, based on our Facetime, her nails were all jacked up. Ugh! I wish she had taken the time to find a manicure place near campus instead of scheduling it on her next trip home!

So she waited. Rosebud exchanged career-related texts with her main hostess from the event for a day or two, and then asked if there were any other upcoming COB events she could add to her calendar. The girl’s response was very vague: “Oh I don’t know if we’re doing any more. This is the first time we’ve done something like this, so I’m just not sure.” Darn. Sounds like no bid to Whitehalls.

Three days later she got an email full of regrets to confirm that indeed there was no bid available from Whitehalls. At least she didn’t have to wait long.

Rosebud saw her Ca’ d’Zan spin class buddy in the student union the next week and they waved to each other happily. She’s settling in on campus, and I’m getting fewer and fewer phone calls and details as the weeks go by. I remind myself that this is a GOOD part of the process, but I miss her.

[UVASquirrel]

[QUOTE=
And now I'm realizing how much I utilize parentheses. And how often I start sentences with "and." Too late to edit now! Hope readers will forgive those, too, in addition to verb tense craziness.[/QUOTE]

Spoken like the English Teacher you are!!

[Cookiez17]

And now for the official congrats! Congrats to her and Gamma Phi!!

[amIblue?]

Coming out from lurking to say congratulations!! I hope Rosebud enjoys every single minute of her Gamma Phi college days!