I confess, I had heard about recruitment for many years. I even knew that it’s a big deal. What I didn’t know is just how intense it can be; at least it was for me anyway, as I didn’t realize there is the possibility of “mismatching” or not getting selected. It didn’t help matters that on our return home from Athens that Sunday morning there was a feature front-page news story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about…yea, you guessed it…sorority recruitment. And not just any sorority recruitment mind you, but sorority recruitment at UGA. And as many newspapers do, they put every negative spin possible in that article to make Greek Life seem like the cause of every evil in the world today. Needless to say, I got a sick feeling in my stomach to go along with all the other emotions I was experiencing.

I have good news though. Recruitment went very well for my daughter-and for me, too. I became so interested in the whole process that I researched everything. So much so that by the time bid day rolled around, I actually knew more about the philanthropies of the AOPi’s than I did about the depth chart of the UGA football team; more about the GPAs of the Zeta’s than who was going to start on the offensive line; I knew the flower of the Pi Phi’s and the Phi Mu colors but not who was leading the FedEx cup on the PGA Tour. And for an avid sports enthusiast like myself, that is saying a lot.

My point to all this is . . . Dads, you have a very important role in recruitment. Be there at the end of the day for encouraging words. Even though your daughter can’t tell you much, you should be able to get a general feel for how things are going. Just show the love and support. And most importantly encourage her to keep an open mind and to not get her heart set on any one sorority because the truth is, all of the sororities are great and do great things. It’s all about finding the right fit for her. My daughter did, and two years later I can honestly tell yo that it has been an incredible experience for her in many ways that I look forward to sharing. Hope this helps and best wishes to your PNM. Yea, Dads . . . you’re about to find out what that means-haha!