getting rid of bigs/littles?

Originally Posted by MaggieXi

Kind of a hijack - I am confused when people say how many littles they have. Like I was talking to an AXiD from another chapter and she asked me how many littles I have and I said one. She looked absolutely puzzled. I asked how many she had- she had 3. When people say they take more than one little - are they talking about taking twins or their little taking a little (which would be the original bigs grand-little)?

Did I confuse everyone with my question?

I have three little sisters. But they are not triplets because they are from different pledge classes. My chapter was really small when I first joined and has grown very quickly. There simply weren't enough people available to give every new member their own big sister.

[ForeverRoses]

Originally Posted by jessicaelaine

I have three little sisters. But they are not triplets because they are from different pledge classes. My chapter was really small when I first joined and has grown very quickly. There simply weren't enough people available to give every new member their own big sister.

That makes sense. So what do you do if the pledge class size drops dramatically. Can one little have two bigs?

[33girl]

Originally Posted by ForeverRoses

That makes sense. So what do you do if the pledge class size drops dramatically. Can one little have two bigs?

No, the women who don't get littles just wait till the next pledge class or don't get one.

Originally Posted by AGDAlum

Out of curiosity--I don't think it's a rule, but rather a tradition for many groups that at initiation the big pins her badge on her little. At least it used to be that way, since it took a while for the new badges to come in. If you have two littles initiated at the same time, is it any big deal who gets to borrow your badge and what other active member lends hers?

We've had that happen to us on more than one occasion. In the past, the sister-mom asks another collegian who doesn't have a sister-daughter to borrow her Badge for Initiation. The Badge then gets returned immediately after Initiation. Usually the President, VPMD, and NME didn't take on a sister-daughter.

[FSUZeta]

Originally Posted by ForeverRoses

That makes sense. So what do you do if the pledge class size drops dramatically. Can one little have two bigs?

my daughter has 2 bigs and 2 littles. the year that my daughter went thru recruitment quota was not as high as the prior year or the year after. to accomodate everyone in the sophomore class that wanted a little when my daughter rushed, a few pnms got 2 bigs. it worked out really well for my daughter because she was truly torn as to which girl to list as her #1 choice-little did she know that she would end up with both her favorites as her bigs.

jump forward to this past fall, more girls went thru recruitment than when my daughter did in the fall of 2006, so some of the girls in my daughters class were asked if they would mind taking two. my daughter was the first to volunteer, and then began the mad dash to accumulate enough loot for both littles. we thought we were being so smart by shopping for "little" gifts that summer, and then found out we were back to square one! we did manage to duplicate most of the gifts that had already been bought.

as to badges , in my chapter the big sister loans her badge to the little(unless the little is a legacy and they use the legacy badge) and the little gets to wear the bigs badge until hers comes in. at my daughters chapter, the chapter has 5 or 6 plain badges which belong to the chapter that they use -they take the badges back before the next ceremony.

[BabyPiNK_FL]

When I had twins being initiated (which was twice, once in 06, once in 07), I used my Big One's badge. She didn't see that thing for like 2 years because everytime it got time to give it back/ or everytime I saw her to give it back it was always time for the next set! She finally got it back when the badges for the second set came in and since the last little was a single she just got mine until she got hers.

[LΩVE]

Originally Posted by jessicaelaine

I have three little sisters. But they are not triplets because they are from different pledge classes. My chapter was really small when I first joined and has grown very quickly. There simply weren't enough people available to give every new member their own big sister.

I have the same situation, though our chapter isn't SO small. It's just that due to money/time constraints and good standing requirements sometimes there are not enough eligible for all of the new members.

[Kevin]

[preciousjeni]

Originally Posted by risa06

A friend of mine mentioned this morning that her (NPC) org's HQ was beginning to discourage the practice of big and little sisters because it promotes seniority. Does anyone know if their HQ's are actually pushing for this?

That would be sad!! I realize this question is posed to NPC members, but ultimately the decisions all of our organizations make affect others. I would be very sad if our big/little program and families were disposed of.

[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.

[I_Call_Bond_AXO]

Yeah, our chapter has to take twins sometimes depending on how many lifetimes we have in comaprison to new members, primarily because we are a really small chapter.

PS- the Phi Sigma Sigma at my school have "sapphire sisters" so same concept