With another year of recruitment complete, it’s important to highlight how it went for each chapter and for the Panhellenic community at large during a fully-virtual recruitment. This year, the quota was set at 25 and the average member class is 27. One of the more surprising statistics is 7 out of 8 chapters are eligible for COB this semester which is not normal for Lehigh. Panhellenic had a very successful virtual formal recruitment and that was partially due to National Panhellenic Council (NPC) policy, which stated that total would be the same as Spring 2020. This allowed Panhellenic chapters to be able to recruit more members in a much less stressful environment than the formal process. In the month since formal recruitment ended, an additional 26 bids have been signed through Continuous Open Bidding (COB) and Panhellenic will continue to welcome more members throughout the semester.
In a year like none other, we felt it was important to hear from our chapters about the virtual experience, specifically the added challenges and benefits that came along with it. Erica Dougherty, the Chief Recruitment Officer for Kappa Alpha Theta said, “Virtual recruitment was definitely not how we expected recruitment to look this year, but we were thrilled with how well our chapter members and the PNMs were able to adapt to it. Recruiting in any year or format is not easy for anyone, and I am so incredibly proud of how our members rose to the challenge and thrived.” For the benefits of virtual recruitment vs in-person, Kate Brady of Alpha Phi said, “Being virtual made certain aspects easier. For instance, our members could focus on just getting to know each PNM instead of things like memorizing chants, lining up at the door, what to wear, etc. We also were able to utilize Zoom backgrounds and slides to match the themes of each day, which was super fun!”
The experience did come with unique challenges, such as each chapter had to adapt and focus on making the recruitment process as seamless for PNMs and the chapters missed out on the bonding experience of doing recruitment at their houses. Vice President of Recruitment for Alpha Gamma Delta, Yasmine Azzouz, explained that, “One of the challenges of being completely virtual was missing out on the experiences we usually have together in our chapter house during recruitment. Our chapter did our best to include these experiences virtually, however we missed out on some things that we would typically have like eating dinner all together after a long day or getting ready together! The small things that we would do together in the chapter house were missed and I look forward to being able to do them again hopefully next year” The chapters are really excited to return next year in person with all of their sisters.
In a year like none other, we felt it was important to hear from our chapters about the virtual experience, specifically the added challenges and benefits that came along with it. Erica Dougherty, the Chief Recruitment Officer for Kappa Alpha Theta said, “Virtual recruitment was definitely not how we expected recruitment to look this year, but we were thrilled with how well our chapter members and the PNMs were able to adapt to it. Recruiting in any year or format is not easy for anyone, and I am so incredibly proud of how our members rose to the challenge and thrived.” For the benefits of virtual recruitment vs in-person, Kate Brady of Alpha Phi said, “Being virtual made certain aspects easier. For instance, our members could focus on just getting to know each PNM instead of things like memorizing chants, lining up at the door, what to wear, etc. We also were able to utilize Zoom backgrounds and slides to match the themes of each day, which was super fun!”
The experience did come with unique challenges, such as each chapter had to adapt and focus on making the recruitment process as seamless for PNMs and the chapters missed out on the bonding experience of doing recruitment at their houses. Vice President of Recruitment for Alpha Gamma Delta, Yasmine Azzouz, explained that, “One of the challenges of being completely virtual was missing out on the experiences we usually have together in our chapter house during recruitment. Our chapter did our best to include these experiences virtually, however we missed out on some things that we would typically have like eating dinner all together after a long day or getting ready together! The small things that we would do together in the chapter house were missed and I look forward to being able to do them again hopefully next year” The chapters are really excited to return next year in person with all of their sisters.