Last week, the Panhellenic sororities on UNK’s campus completed their final days of recruitment. Each year the four chapters spend three days getting to know potential new members who are interested in joining their chapter.
This year was the second year for recruitment to take place during the academic term and the first for recruiting in the new housing.
“We started with recruitment chair meetings last February,” said Lily Seibert, the Panhellenic vice president of external recruitment. “In the beginning of August, our planning started to pick up a lot and that’s when we started nailing things down like scheduling and how it’s going to work with the new housing.”
New housing is a recent addition to the Greek community. This past January, the Panhellenic sororities were able to move into the new residence halls after construction was completed. While this was a new step for the members, it posed a learning curve for the recruitment process.
Seibert is responsible for planning the entire schedule for recruitment week as well as training their selected members from each chapter to bridge the gap for the potential new members. She was also a part of mapping out recruitment in a new location where timing is crucial. Everything is timed out to the second from when the potential new members arrive to a chapter house and to when they leave.
While the obstacle of a new location is challenging, this is only the second year that recruitment has taken place during the semester. Prior to last year, recruitment took place the week before classes, but with engagement numbers decreasing, the sororities decided it was time for a change.
“All summer we focused really heavily on our marketing because the number of potential new members has been decreasing over the past few years, especially since COVID-19,” Seibert said. “The main goal of making it during the school year was to increase the number of potential new members signed up, and it definitely works.”
Prior to classes starting, there were around 50 girls signed up to go through the recruitment process. When registration closed, the final number was 90.
Throughout the recruitment process, potential new members visited each of the Panhellenic chapters and had conversations with a few girls from each sorority. Every evening after the conversations concluded, the potential new members ranked the chapter of their choice in order of most favorable. Each day they found out which chapters asked them to come back where they got to know each other more. The potential new members found out which sorority they were asked to join on the final day, bid day.
“I am really excited to make new friendships and for potential new leadership opportunities,” said Jessica Vetick, a potential new member who went through the recruitment process. “I think it’s a great way to meet new people.”
While it can be nerve-wracking for the potential new members, there is a lot of anticipation behind the scenes from the current members.
“My favorite part about recruitment is just the excitement,” said Daylee Dey, chapter president for Gamma Phi Beta sorority. “It is so exciting to bring home new girls because you want more people to join the community that you are a part of.”
Photos by Gabby Roche / Antelope Staff
