What’s the backup plan for recruitment in August?

[chi-o_cat]

I hope we can at least get a Wizard of Oz themed recruitment story!

"I was right in the middle of an amazing Zoom conversation with my absolute favorite chapter, LOLLIPOP GUILD, when all of a sudden everything just shut off!"

[Sciencewoman]

^^^ LOL...best wishes to your daugher, BBH!

[BBH]

Still waiting on more information if the campus was hit by a tornado or just straight line winds but we know gust of 99 mph were reported. Most of the town of Ames was without power and they are reporting lots of old and big trees down all across campus and the city.

Some of the pictures on campus of the damage are pretty incredible when you see the size of these trees. Also saw some 18 wheelers blown over on the interstate. No idea when power will be restored as they are still assessing the damage.

Sounding like power in some parts could be a day or two to come back up. As of now, rush is on hold while they try to figure out things. Daughter I think was on her 2nd or 3rd party out of 9 today when this all hit. They were supposed to rank their top 7 tonight and then round 3 start tomorrow. Now not sure what is happening. Bid day was to be Thursday before Destination Iowa State started but with today's events, not sure how they will pull all of this off as most of town still is without power.

Not hearing of any injuries on campus but Interstate 35 is shut down in both directions and sounds more like widespread damage even down into Ankeney and Des Moines from this storm.

[ISUKappa]

Originally Posted by BBH

Still waiting on more information if the campus was hit by a tornado or just straight line winds but we know gust of 99 mph were reported. Most of the town of Ames was without power and they are reporting lots of old and big trees down all across campus and the city.

Some of the pictures on campus of the damage are pretty incredible when you see the size of these trees. Also saw some 18 wheelers blown over on the interstate. No idea when power will be restored as they are still assessing the damage.

Sounding like power in some parts could be a day or two to come back up. As of now, rush is on hold while they try to figure out things. Daughter I think was on her 2nd or 3rd party out of 9 today when this all hit. They were supposed to rank their top 7 tonight and then round 3 start tomorrow. Now not sure what is happening. Bid day was to be Thursday before Destination Iowa State started but with today's events, not sure how they will pull all of this off as most of town still is without power.

Not hearing of any injuries on campus but Interstate 35 is shut down in both directions and sounds more like widespread damage even down into Ankeney and Des Moines from this storm.

It was a Derecho (high straight line winds). Horrible damage all throughout west, central, and eastern Iowa. My parents and sister are in north Ames and are guessing they'll be without power for at least 1-2 days. (ETA: they must have gotten power restored to their area late last night) Seeing all the old trees down around campus and Ames makes me so sad. Central campus is so beautiful, in large part because of the large trees and green space.

Hopefully there was no significant damage to any campus or chapter buildings and they can come up with an alternative to be able to finish out recruitment over the next few days. I'm glad your daughter seems to be taking everything in stride. What a strange year!!

[BBH]

So latest update, power to my D's dorm was restored around 10 pm last night and as of this morning only around 25% of the town had power. Several dorms and pretty much all the greek houses do not have power.

So rush is now at least two days behind as they were to be starting round 3 today and they still have to complete round 2. Assuming they get power back not sure how rush will resume. Typically bid day activities end and then the incoming Freshman Destination Iowa State starts that same afternoon. Now it looks like rush activities will have to conflict with the DIS activities in order to get everything done in time for classes to start on the 17th. This certainly is the strangest year for everything. Doesn't seem like anything has gone right this year.

[TLLK]

BBH glad that your daughter's dorm has power again though I feel for those who are still without. Thank you for your updates.

[BBH]

Originally Posted by TLLK

BBH glad that your daughter's dorm has power again though I feel for those who are still without. Thank you for your updates.

Yes, feel bad for the town. The impact on business with COVID and now loosing days with no power and dealing with clean up is not good. Also the residents having to deal with this mess as well. On top of that they have students still trying to move in. The whole situation is a mess.

[KatieKate1244]

Originally Posted by BBH

So latest update, power to my D's dorm was restored around 10 pm last night and as of this morning only around 25% of the town had power. Several dorms and pretty much all the greek houses do not have power.

So rush is now at least two days behind as they were to be starting round 3 today and they still have to complete round 2. Assuming they get power back not sure how rush will resume. Typically bid day activities end and then the incoming Freshman Destination Iowa State starts that same afternoon. Now it looks like rush activities will have to conflict with the DIS activities in order to get everything done in time for classes to start on the 17th. This certainly is the strangest year for everything. Doesn't seem like anything has gone right this year.

Iowa State has moved preference to online, although I'm not sure of dates or times. They refused to let recruitment interfere with Destination Iowa State. They've also moved bid day to next week. The Greek houses went without power for about 27 hours or so. There are still neighborhoods in Ames that don't have power.

Overall, the members seem to be okay with the Zoom calls. They indicate it's not ideal but they like that it feels more intimate, more authentic and less rushed.

[BBH]

Originally Posted by KatieKate1244

Iowa State has moved preference to online, although I'm not sure of dates or times. They refused to let recruitment interfere with Destination Iowa State. They've also moved bid day to next week. The Greek houses went without power for about 27 hours or so. There are still neighborhoods in Ames that don't have power.

Overall, the members seem to be okay with the Zoom calls. They indicate it's not ideal but they like that it feels more intimate, more authentic and less rushed.

Yeah, we just heard that pref and bid day may both go virtual. We are also hearing the University is canceling a lot of other planned events with other student organizations.

As for virtual rush, my D said all of her virtual parties were good but because they were one right after the other things started to blend together. She seems to be enjoying to process so far and the Zoom calls seem to be working well.

We have a friend who’s daughter goes to ISU and she is still without power. Saw video of her yard and all the trees were knocked over. Miracle that they didn’t hit the house.

[BBH]

Originally Posted by KatieKate1244

Iowa State has moved preference to online, although I'm not sure of dates or times. They refused to let recruitment interfere with Destination Iowa State. They've also moved bid day to next week. The Greek houses went without power for about 27 hours or so. There are still neighborhoods in Ames that don't have power.

Overall, the members seem to be okay with the Zoom calls. They indicate it's not ideal but they like that it feels more intimate, more authentic and less rushed.

Yeah, we just heard that pref and bid day may both go virtual. We are also hearing the University is canceling a lot of other planned events with other student organizations.

As for virtual rush, my D said all of her virtual parties were good but because they were one right after the other things started to blend together. She seems to be enjoying to process so far and the Zoom calls seem to be working well.

We have a friend who’s daughter goes to ISU and she is still without power. Saw video of her yard and all the trees were knocked over. Miracle that they didn’t hit the house.

[ISUKappa]

Originally Posted by BBH

Yeah, we just heard that pref and bid day may both go virtual. We are also hearing the University is canceling a lot of other planned events with other student organizations.

As for virtual rush, my D said all of her virtual parties were good but because they were one right after the other things started to blend together. She seems to be enjoying to process so far and the Zoom calls seem to be working well.

We have a friend who’s daughter goes to ISU and she is still without power. Saw video of her yard and all the trees were knocked over. Miracle that they didn’t hit the house.

How did the rest of the week and DIS go for your daughter? DIS is another thing I wish the university had done when I was a freshman, it's such a fun way to feel connected to Iowa State right away.

[BBH]

Originally Posted by ISUKappa

How did the rest of the week and DIS go for your daughter? DIS is another thing I wish the university had done when I was a freshman, it's such a fun way to feel connected to Iowa State right away.

Good, had to miss DIS due to rush . Just opened her bid card. She is now a Pi Beta Phi.

[msbeta]

Virtual recruitment parties were interrupted by some technical difficulties for one of my rec girls. The parties were supposed to be held in the afternoon and early evening but there was some sort of system failure (I don't know exactly what) after the first two parties of six. They were trying to finish the remaining parties tonight. Apparently the communication has been pretty good as they try to work out the issues.

[3DGator]

Stanford's Greek Community may be in trouble. There was no recruitment in 2020 because recruitment is held in April and the pandemic happened. A fall recruitment was planned and now it was just announced that undergrads will not be coming in the fall quarter. The winter and spring quarters are still up in the air. The sororities only have juniors and seniors and if there is no recruitment this year, I fear that the Greek System may be in trouble.

[BBH]

Thanks all. We’re happy for her as they were her favorite from the start. As for virtual rush, she enjoyed the process but did say that it was one right after the other which made it hard on her as everything started blending together.

They used Zoom and she found it to work well. She had one bad experience were the girls she was assigned to showed zero interest in anything she said but overall the virtual rooms worked well. Pref was to be in person but the University nixed that at the last minute.

Today was bid day and her Rho Gama group sat outside and at 1 pm they opened their bids. Groups were only like 10 girls so very intimate setting. Don’t know about other chapters but she was quickly assigned a temporary Big who reached out and is taking her out tonight. They also did a Zoom call to welcome the new members to the chapter so given the situation the rush experience has been very positive.

Much more relaxed than our older D who rushed at Indiana. Glad I’m done with rush for good. Good luck to others who are rushing or getting ready to go through.