Sorority Parents » Recruitment

A Message From the Chairman: Tap the Best Resource on Sorority Recruitment

npc — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:12:16 +0000

Parents know what it’s like to be swamped with information as their daughters prepare for college – sorting good from bad, deciding what reliable sources are online and being inundated with junk mail.

NPC has now made one of those stops as easy as friending on Facebook.

Our organization has launched RecruitmentPrep, an online tool that should make the process of recruitment simple, friendly and easy to follow.

While there are many recruitment guides that exist, none have been done in partnership with the NPC – the one reliable and valid source of information by sorority women and for sorority women.

As we’ve expanded to reach targeted audiences in recent years with targeted messaging, this has been long on our “to do” list.

A standard guidebook already in print may cost $20 – the same cost for our online tool. But those texts are not generated by the one and only organization steeped in 110 years of sorority history. With that foundation, NPC is constantly updating and repurposing for today’s young women.

Pushing out to pilot campuses across the nation this upcoming recruitment season, the site will become even better as we engage our participants to provide feedback and help us fine tune this important tool.

As times change, NPC changes. We advance sorority with every decision made by women. Join us as the recruitment season begins anew in 2012 on campuses across the nation. And stay with us as we plan for the next adventure.

Jane H. Sutton
Chairman 2011-2013

And the winner is…

ptillner — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 14:21:46 +0000

It’s been a couple of stressful weeks for the Tillner girls (or at least for the Tillner girls mom!). Two big events, besides the typical getting adjusted to college life, etc. First, Lane finished her application to go abroad this spring for a semester. A semester! Not the short 30 day jaunt she took this past May to Nice, no a full semester in Ireland. Wow! Am I ready for that? Letting my first born head off to the unknown. I have determined it really doesn’t matter whether I am or not. She’s almost 21, she’s smart and focused and does nothing in a rush. I know it’s all good but it scares me. And it’s hard not to say, “No, you just can’t go…” Learning to be the parent of an adult is a lot of work I tell you. And then there is Ruthie…she just finished her second full week of classes at Union. And let me tell you, I am so impressed by Union. What a great school! But I digress. The second week of school meant it was time for recruitment. Ruthie has grown up hearing about Kappa Delta her entire life. I’m a KD, her sister is a KD but as with Lane, I didn’t want to pressure her to be a KD. She had to make her own choices. Now I’m not going to lie, I would have been quite happy with her choosing KD but I couldn’t make her decision. She had to be happy with her school, campus and friends. So, Ruthie started her week of recruitment not even sure she would bid. She wanted to see the groups, meet the girls, learn about their values and philanthropies. But by pref night, she wanted to be a member of a group and she knew which one. I knew also in my heart but I didn’t say anything. I just encouraged her to go with her heart. To feel the love that I felt when I went through recruitment back in the day at Millsaps. And as Saturday dawned, I waited for that text telling me what she was… (drum roll please) one of the newest Zeta Tau Alpha’s! I was so happy for her because I knew all along from listening to her tell me about each group during the week that Zeta would be the winner. And with her as happy as she was, I was thrilled. But I think the thing that pleased me more was the confidence that Ruthie has. She was brave enough to go her way, to not make her decision just to make me happy…she’s her own woman. And that’s the best thing of all! Now time to learn about Zeta and be the best Zeta mom ever!

Seasons of Love

djoswalt — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 20:19:01 +0000

Sadly this is my last blog. I have enjoyed this year and will continue to be an involved parent with my daughter’s sorority experience. But I felt I wanted to give Emily her privacy as she moves forward in college and her life. We both have learned so much about each other and our love for sorority life-and I have been grateful to share those experiences with you all. I will keep reading the blog and hope other parents are having great experiences like mine.

So, how to put an end to this year? I am a big Broadway Musical person and as I am thinking of what to write I am drawn to RENT-Seasons of Love. How do you measure a year?

I measure this last year in:

Letters-from the letter my daughter wrote me after she pledged AOII, to the matching patterns of AOII and ZTA that we bought and to the set of large wooden AOII letters that my husband and I made for her chapter. I love my ZTA but have come to love AOII just as much.
Phone calls and visits-I have always had a close relationship with Emily and I wondered a year ago how that would change with her not living at home. I am so blessed to have a daughter that wants to talk to her mom! Weekly phone calls, my 2 trips up to App. State and her visits home have kept us connected. I love having her call and tell me about her experiences. We have laughed until we have cried-I love that she is having such a great time!
Achievement-Deans List, choosing a major, becoming an officer in her chapter, serving on a Panhellenic Committee, getting her first job. What a year!

I also would like to leave some words of wisdom to for parents who are just gearing up for their daughters to go through recruitment:

Be supportive. You may have not been Greek, or she may choose a different Fraternity than yours. She needs to know that you are on her side no matter what.
Prepare her for recruitment. I think recruitment is like a wedding-everyone looks great, there is dancing and singing and people laughing. Everyone is in love! But after the wedding there is a marriage that needs to be nurtured. It won’t always be like that-there will be ups and downs. Help her not get caught up in the glitz and glam and really look at the underlying values.
Be a good listener. The more she is willing to tell you about what she is going through, the more you will understand. I struggle with this from time to time, but am learning that her experience is not mine and I need to not butt in and tell her how I did it. I just need to listen and be there for her.
Be proud of your daughters. Sorority life is like no other experience. To decide to join a Fraternity is a big decision. And while most enter the experience just wanting friends, they leave with so much more: skills to use in the work world, an understanding of how to get along with others, committing to a purpose and a mission, aligning actions to a set of values. You are going to be amazed at how your daughter grows and learns with the support of her Fraternity!

Thank you NPC for giving me this opportunity to share my thoughts with our community. I hope I have made an impact and will continue to find ways to promote Sorority life!

Fraternally,

Darlene

Can you only join a sorority in 1st year?

NPC Experts — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 20:17:13 +0000

To my almost-certain knowledge, no NPC sorority stipulates that only freshmen (or “first-years”) are eligible to be admitted to membership. For generations, our organizations have been enriched by the talents of women who joined as upperclassmen. Some groups even allow for graduate students to be accepted in the regular recruitment process.

Because sororities emphasize the academic, social, cultural, and service components of the college experience, we do encourage qualified students to seek affiliation at the earliest possible opportunity. This way they are able to take the fullest advantage of the benefits of collegiate membership. Also, the support and mentoring offered by chapter members and alumnae advisors can have a tremendous positive impact on their initial adjustment to college.

If your daughter is an upperclassman who is undecided about participating in recruitment, it would be a great idea for her to seek advice from the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs (sometimes called Greek Life) on her campus. Although it is traditional at some schools for most participants in recruitment to be freshmen, sorority membership is for a lifetime.

A Wish for My Daughter: Lifetime Friendships with Greek Beginnings

Mary Beth Rice — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 19:48:23 +0000

Hello again. My name is Mary Beth Rice and I am the mother of a potential new member going through recruitment this month at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). Mary Claire is my oldest and only daughter so both of us are transitioning to a new place; she is leaving home and setting off on her college adventure and I am trying to redefine my role as her mother and as a mother who will now be living with only people heavily laden in testosterone?! (My very own Guy land?) Off topic but, seriously, if you have sons you must read the book Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men by Michael Kimmel. My friend suggested I dive right into it to try and save my men as a diversion from my melancholy mood brought about by Mary Claire leaving the nest?! Couldn’t hurt…and the book, so far, is enlightening yet sobering.

I describe myself as Panhellenically “well rounded”since I am a Delta Gamma with a Pi Beta Phi mother, an Alpha Phi sister in law, a dear Tri Delta aunt, a Pi Beta Phi cousin, and a Gamma Phi Beta niece. My husband, Rich (a Sigma Chi), and I have four children ranging in ages 8 to 18 and their Godparents are comprised of two Delta Gammas, a Gamma Phi Beta, a Kappa Kappa Gamma, a Sigma Alpha Epsilon and a Sigma Phi Epsilon. Many of my close friends in Lincoln happen to be Kappa Alpha Thetas.

I have enjoyed volunteering on our local Delta Gamma Advisory Team, serving as Chapter Advisor for a number of years and have always been a member of our local Alumnae group. At UNL I have also served the Panhellenic office in a number of roles and have provided leadership training for the 40+ recruitment guides on campus who assist the potential new members each fall in having a memorable and successful experience. When I am not mentoring, transporting, or mothering the four young people in my life, I facilitate relational retreats for various groups and social leadership/etiquette seminars for youth. I recently wrote a seminar curriculum for middle school students entitled CLASS: a social requirement for youth and teens^TM.

I share these things about myself with you because I want to bring home the point that the Greek system has enriched my life with so many wonderful relationships! My wish for Mary Claire is that she has an incredible recruitment and sorority experience that will provide that spark in creating her own lifetime friendships. Friends ask me if I desperately want her to be a Delta Gamma. Of course, there would be nothing more special than to have her share that bond with me, but what I want the most for her is to find that group of women with whom she can be totally authentic …where the chemistry is so ‘on’ that deep relationships are forged immediately and last forever. If that means that she is a DG, then we will be doubly blessed. More on all this later…I look forward to hearing from you…