If school is starting back and your social media consists of #gogreek profile pictures, 5,000 laughing pictures and random explanations of why girls just love their sorority, then it must be recruitment season. Immediately, it seems to be the norm for sorority members to start dreading the upcoming long days and hours of talking and practicing. However, I want to take a step back and evaluate why we see it in such a negative light.
What if we started looking at recruitment differently? What if we started focusing more on recruitment and building friendships, and less on the system. Because, after being guilty of this myself, what I have come to notice is that it isn’t really recruitment that most girls dread. Rather, it is the process.
Let’s get back to the basics.
Recruitment, at its core, is about helping girls find a group of friends that they can do college with, and hopefully do life with. It’s about finding sisters that will be your best friends in a matter of days, who will show you unconditional love and let you be you -- no strings attached. When you think about the ultimate “college experience,” whatever that may be for you, most girls can find that through a sorority. With that definition in mind, I absolutely adore the days of recruitment. I love this idea of meeting these girls where they are and giving them an immediate home for the next four years.
Let’s help these girls find their perfect fit.
Did you read what I said? Not our perfect fit for them. We are helping them find what they are looking for. The process of recruitment sometimes takes this away from us. We start to think that we know best -- as if we actually know what they need (guilty). We, as active members, have to start thinking about these girls individually and not selfishly. What I mean by this is that we have to understand that a girl we want selfishly might not fit into our sorority as an individual.
It’s not up to us.
I’m a firm believer in God’s sovereignty. Even in the nitty gritty details of recruitment, God’s hand is behind it. He knows where everyone needs to be. He knows where each specific girl will thrive the best or learn the most. He already has it mapped out in the most beautiful way, so why do we get so nervous? Why do we feel like we need to be control freaks to get the girls we want?
Let go, girls.
Let these potential new members experience real, genuine conversations with real, genuine girls who care about each and every one of them. People join people. I don't know about you, but I joined my sorority (ZTA!) for the girls in it and the connections I made. Let’s start focusing on knowing their hearts, and less on knowing the superficial stuff. Let's get back to the basics and have fun spending time with our best friends and meeting girls who deserved to be loved!
