Fraternity and Sorority Life Blog

#LeadersInLetters Series 1

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Alpha Chi Omega Global Service Initiative Participants 2018

Over the Summer, two members from Alpha Chi Omega, Sydney Kohm and Kyra Treible, were chosen to participate in an extraordinary experience called the Global Service Initiative. This amazing opportunity provides direct service into a Jamaican community all while using the values and principles of Alpha Chi Omega, making it a truly unique experience.

Kyra details her experience saying, “the Alpha Chi Omega Global Service Initiative is a program that allows 36 collegiate members, chosen from Alpha Chi Omega chapters across the nation, to travel to Jamaica in order to serve the local communities. This year we worked hard to build an addition to a local elementary school in Negril, giving the students a clean space to eat lunch and the school the ability to welcome more students through its doors. We also built fencing around a new sports field for a middle school in Treasure Beach, which allowed the students to have a safe place to play during school breaks or practice with their sports teams!”

Aside from learning valuable skills and meeting sisters across the nation, Kyra explains that she also felt immense amount of personal growth from this opportunity saying, “I learned how to truly serve those who live differently than I do. Just throughout the one week I spent learning their culture, I struggled through the lack of power tools, the difficulty of finding clean drinking water, and the limited access to electricity. However, the people of Jamaica live some of the fullest, and happiest lives I have been able to witness. Even though they don’t have things that would seem a given or a no-brainer for us living in the U.S., they are grateful for the things they do have and the people they get to share it with.”

We are so proud of these two real strong women and their devotion to their chapters, our community, and serving others. They truly exemplify being #LeadersInLetters!

2018 Recruitment Recap

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Panhellenic Recruitment

With the start of a new school year, comes the start of an abundance of opportunities to get involved here at Missouri State University. Over the weekend of August 23rd through the 26th, 633 women found their outlet to get involved within Panhellenic sorority life. The formal recruitment process happens every August and entails getting to meet the women of our eight Panhellenic sororities through a four day mutual selection process.

Day one is split up into two days, and during this time all potential new members were welcomed into the chapter homes. They got to tour the houses, learn about each chapter’s individual philanthropy and meet the women of our community. As the week continues, potential new members go to fewer chapters, getting closer to finding their new home! During day two, potential new members got to catch a glimpse of sorority life through recruitment videos and longer conversations, giving them the opportunity to better know our sorority women and the values that align with the chapters. On the third and final day, these potential new members get to experience a special ceremony at their final two chapter houses, before going back to preference their choices.

The Monday following recruitment is bid day! Bid day is the day when potential new members receive bids to join a chapter and officially become a new member of a sorority. All the women going through Panhellenic recruitment join together on the North Mall outside of Plaster Student Union. Missouri State staff, professors, administrators and fraternities all come together to show support for these women and cheer them on as they run to their new homes!

We are so excited for all 633 women who found their homes that weekend! Our local sorority, Xi Omicron Iota will be holding their fall recruitment September 4th through the 8th. We look forward to see even more women find a place within our growing community.

Interfraternity Council Recruitment

While our sororities are growing, so are our fraternities on campus. With 19 recognized chapters on our campus, there were a multitude of recruitment events for potential new members to attend. Some of those events included things like open houses, playing various sports, and service projects. Our IFC fraternities have welcomed over 530 new members in the two weeks that their recruitment happened.

Congratulations to the 1,164 students that found a great outlet of involvement through our fraternity and sorority life! Stay up to date on all things fraternity and sorority life at Missouri State University by following @mostatefsl on Twitter and Instagram or Missouri State University Fraternity and Sorority Life on Facebook!

Let’s Talk Values Based Recruitment

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When we read about the reasons that Alfa Lloyd or Mary Jane Collins founded Delta Zeta, we find it was because they wanted to create a social sorority on a male dominated campus. In Alpha Sigma Alpha’s charter it says, “The purpose of the association shall be to cultivate friendship among its members, and in every way to create pure and elevating sentiments…” In 1885, Alpha Chi Omega was founded with a dedication to advancing the “intellectual, social, and moral culture” of its members. If you take time to read the history of the chapters on campus, you will read about a group of women who wanted to be a part of something bigger than themselves, who wanted to create genuine friendships, and who wanted a sisterhood that empowered them. I truly believe that it’s important to take the time to think about the values that we say our chapters hold and why they were important to our founders. Believe it or not, they still apply today.

It’s easy to talk about how much sororities have changed. My mom always says. “Recruitment is so much different now than it was back in the day,” and she was only in school 25 years ago! But do you know what’s not different? Her chapters values. Her chapter still says the same ritual every formal meeting. We say that things are different from one year to the next. Sure, our community is growing, but are things really that different? Our research has shown that the number one reason that potential new members go through recruitment is because they were wanting to find friends. Wasn’t Alpha Delta Pi founded on the basis of developing friendship? Their open motto is “We Live for Each Other.” Sororities were created as a safe haven, a support system, and a source for joy. I speak for most women at Missouri State when I say that our sororities are still providing those pillars. So, why shouldn’t our recruitment reflect that? Isn’t that what a values-based recruitment is all about?

When we take the time to highlight the fact that Mary Caffrey Low created Sigma Kappa because she was determined to create a place for women in college back in 1874 or that Xi Omicron Iota was founded on loyalty, sisterhood, and friendship – that’s values-based. Do you think any of our founders would care what we are wearing during recruitment? Do you think they would care at all about the decorations or how loud we chanted? When we spend time talking about values-based recruitment, we often start listing off these values that need to be important to you because you’re an “XYZ.” We say that you need to know yours and they have to match that sororities for it to be a “good fit.” But I think that Louise Marie Davis from Sigma Sigma Sigma would rather have women who speak powerfully or who are hopeful of the future, even though they have an undecided major, than just have women who can recite “wisdom, power, faith, hope, and love.” I think that’s what a values-based recruitment is all about; not searching for those specific values that just so happen to match the chapters, but recruiting women for those valuable qualities that they display during recruitment events.

That’s why there is such a heavy emphasis on conversations in a values-based recruitment. As a chapter member it’s not necessarily that you are making sure that she meets all membership criteria you were trained to look for, but that you are learning about the potential new members life – her principles, goals, and morals. Do you find them admirable? As a potential new member it’s not that you prefer chapter XYZ’s house better or their color scheme, it’s that you loved Gamma Phi Beta because they inspire the highest type of womanhood and they made you feel like you were in the presence of sisterhood. That’s what values-based recruitment means! It’s using conversations during recruitment events to learn more about each other and find that connection that you know will last a lifetime. Recruitment is just the beginning of the friendships that you create in Fraternity and Sorority Life.

We’ve seen that “friendship” trend for the majority of this blog now. There is a little bit of friendship and sisterhood in every chapters creed – that solidifies the Panhellenic bond between chapters. So as we go into recruitment this fall, I would like everyone to keep in mind that we’re all friends, even sisters. I know I share the same value that Elizabeth Heywood Wyman and Jessie Wallace Hughan had when they founded Alpha Omicron Pi on the belief of forging lifelong friendships. So, my request to everyone going through recruitment this year is this:

To take the time to create friendships – with those in your future sisterhood and those in any chapter. To use a values-based recruitment to build each other up. To embrace the opportunity to empower the woman sitting next to you, as our founders did before us.

Madison Henry, 2018 Panhellenic VP Recruitment

 

Connor Aller Receives NIC Undergraduate Award of Distinction

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The North-American Interfraternity Conference has selected Connor Aller as a recipient of the Undergraduate Award of Distinction, recognizing him as one of the top 11 undergraduate fraternity members nationally. Award recipients are described as individuals that embody the values of their fraternity, exhibit high personal standards, academic achievement, a commitment to positive change, and that demonstrate campus and fraternity involvement.

Connor has held numerous leadership roles as an undergraduate student. He served his fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi, as Secretary and Chapter President, and held the roles of Director of Research and Development and Chief of Staff for the Student Government Association. Additionally, Connor has been a SOAR Leader and worked in the Office of Student Engagement as the Fraternity and Sorority Life Student Specialist. He uses his free time to make an impact on the local community, working with the Southwest Center for Independent Living to build ramps that increase accessibility. His involvement at Missouri State and in the community resulted in Connor receiving the Citizen Scholar Award, which is an award given to six students annually by the Missouri State Board of Governors and is the highest honor a student can achieve.

Connor has made a significant impact on both Missouri State University and Pi Kappa Phi. When asked to speak on Connor’s leadership, President Clif Smart said, “Connor’s academic and professional accomplishments rival those of someone much older. His initiative, tenacity, and work ethic speak for themselves.” Mark Timmes, Chief Executive Officer of Pi Kappa Phi, shared that, “Connor truly exemplifies the best of fraternity: a member who embraces his role as a leader, puts service before self, and strives to improve the world around him.”

When asked about his fraternity experience, Connor said,

“The undergraduate Fraternity and Sorority Life experience is what I consider a 4 year or less sprint. Given this limited amount of time, your efforts must be pragmatically focused. During my undergraduate career I gained three guiding principles; be relentless in the pursuit of helping others, know your brand, and allow yourself to be replaced.

All of the principals were discovered while taking a leadership risks and allowing for moments of vulnerability. They served as a constant reminder that the impact you have on your chapter will allow you to improve the experience of someone whom you may never meet. Although the undergraduate is a 4 year sprint your impact after graduation can become a marathon.”

Connor graduated this Spring and is moving to New York City where he will serve as a Business Associate for Atalo Capital.

Panhellenic Counselors

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What is a Panhellenic Counselor?

According to NPC Women,  Panhellenic Counselors, otherwise known as Pi Chi’s, model the way for Potential New Members (PNM’s). They serve as a confidant and sounding board as PNMs search for organizations that meet their needs and match their values.

Audrey LeVota, 2018 Director of Panhellenic Counselors says the following,

    Being a part of the Panhellenic Community has completely shifted my views of the FSL Community as a whole and how I view each chapter we have here on Missouri State’s campus. Being the Director of Panhellenic Counselors, it is my job to ensure that the women we recruit from the chapters on campus are able to step out of the chapter shoes and enter a long summer of disaffiliation in order to be the best mentors for women going through the Sorority recruitment process this coming up fall. 

For a lot of women, this can be a stressful and exciting time, diving into a new part of their college career with hundreds of women they may not know. I know for me personally this was a stressful time and having a supportive and unbiased Pi Chi is what got me through the week. My goal is for every woman going through recruitment to feel that same love I felt from my Pi Chi. This is going to be an exciting year for everyone participating in recruitment because I have such confidence in the Panhellenic Counselors we have chosen. Spending time bonding, training, and learning more about our community makes these women well rounded and ready to roll. I can hardly contain myself with the excitement I feel and I am counting the days down till that first day of recruitment!

If you haven’t, don’t forget to sign up for 2018 Formal Recruitment! We look forward to meeting you!