Welcome to the Dreamhouse

I am finally in the home stretch! Beginning last Thursday was the three formal rounds of sorority recruitment. As the vice president of membership for my chapter, I was in charge of everything encompassing each night. From selecting outfits to house decor and conversation topics to pairing who from our chapter the potential new members would talk to. Recruitment is truly a science and while I certainly enjoyed it, I’m glad it is over. 

Planning recruitment had to come close to what it’s like when planning a wedding. I only made that connection when going into work and talking with a newer employee whose wedding is in 10 or so days. Thankfully, I didn’t have to deal with any food, but many aspects are just as rigorous. When planning a wedding, seating arrangements are extremely intentional. You don’t want to pair anyone who you don’t think would get along. In recruitment, this same principle is applied to pairing potential new members (PNMs) with current members. We try our best to make the PNM comfortable and find something to relate to with one of our sisters. A lot of the time, we don’t know anything about the PNM to start, so we have to “vibe it out” until we can do better. Another important aspect is photo backdrops. That is, intentional areas where people can take photos. The inspiration for the photo backdrops I created literally came from weddings. One of which was a leafy wall with a bright neon sign of our chapter name (which from the inspiration was the newly wed’s last name). Another that consisted of silky white curtains and fake leaves from Hobby Lobby pinned to a corner and married with some zip ties. Not to mention that those photo backdrops needed to match the theme held by the outfits, the center pieces, the table cloths and level of casualty of the night as set by the Panhellenic council. 

Preparing for each night was an all day event. Each day, I got to our sorority house at 9 a.m. and left just before midnight. Can you see why I’m glad it’s over? It’s a miracle I still had three meals a day. Thankfully, the celebratory event that concluded recruitment wasn’t my show to run and I was able to have fun with the new members. 

We like to say “bid day, best day.” It’s the day when our new members run home, we all dress up to our bid day theme- which for delta zeta was “welcome to the dreamhouse,'' aka Barbie themed- and take pictures, on pictures, on pictures while getting to know our new members. It’s a lot of fun and a truly great way to wrap up the long hours of hard work that is the recruitment rounds. 

Looking back on the experience, it was definitely a lot for one person to manage and I’m thankful I wasn’t in a position where I had to do so. I had the support of my chapter, our president, the head of my membership selection committee and my amazing two very experienced advisors to help get me through. I’m not sure what I would have done without any of them.