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Recruitment. This word carries the ability to either send active members into a frenzy equivalent to Christmas morning, or frighten those who are uneasy commanding a conversation. For those with a small, young chapter, such as the Sigma Kappa chapter at Eastern Michigan University, it means planning. And tons of it!
Sigma Kappa Delta Alpha had 22 members become beloved alumnae at the conclusion of the academic year. Our chapter was left with 30 members, four of which were disassociated during the recruitment season. Of the 26 members remaining, 12 lacked the recruitment experience from the side of active members. The preparation for structured recruitment began promptly at the beginning of fall semester with a structure retreat to help prepare for the anticipated amount of potential new members that we would have the privilege of meeting during each round of recruitment.
Every Delta Alpha sister had to take on a more important role and many new responsibilities in order to make recruitment successful. Vice President of Membership Alexandra Lenard recognized, “the biggest difference between this year’s recruitment and years’ past was that all new members had to jump right into the heart of recruitment without having any time to rely on older members in order to get comfortable with how rounds work”. Our rotation groups were also much smaller, which surprisingly became an advantage as all Sigma Kappa sisters were able to meet more potential new members during recruitment.
Bid day, although it seemed nerve wracking at first, was better than Christmas morning. Delta Alpha grew with 14 new members that ran home to our wonderful chapter! Continuous open recruitment also proved successful with 9 wonderful women accepting a bid for a total of 23 new members.