Okay hello everyone while everyone’s popping in i like to wait just a minute or so to give everybody time to pop into the webinar and then we’ll get started with introductions and while we’re waiting for the last couple people to pop in just a reminder definitely throughout this whole um
Webinar we’re having tonight definitely pop your questions in the q a that’s the easiest feature but if you also pop it in the chat we’ll see that as well so i’m seeing that it is 601 so i’m gonna go ahead and get us started um welcome to our multicultural week our
Greek life panel edition my name is latisha rivera and i’m a first year admissions coordinator here and so we’re going to go ahead and get started with introducing our panelists and so i’m going to pass it over to lindsey good evening everyone my name is lindsay trion i am the assistant director
Working with our fraternity and sorority life area and the office of student leadership and engagement i am joined here by some of our amazing student leaders so i’m just going to announce what organization they are representing and then they will let you know who they are so we’re going
To start with the national panhellenic council awesome hi my name is kari i’m here representing the nphc i am currently serving as the vice president of phi beta sigma fraternity incorporated here on campus as well as the secretary for the national analytic and then our panhellenic council
Hi everyone thanks for coming i’m emily i am the panhellenic president i’m also a member of fineu and then our united greek council hello everyone i am marisa mercado i am the president of the united greek council and i also serve as the internal vice president of alpha sign lambda national incorporated
All right and so we are going to get started um i’m going to share our presentation really quickly okay so we are here like we said talking about fraternity and sorority life um we are home to the social greek men and women’s organizations that are typically referred to as fraternities and sororities so
We are not home to our academic honoraries or business fraternities those are student organizations on our campus but those are not the ones that we are discussing here today just to give you an idea of what our community looks like by the numbers um academics are very important to the fraternity and
Sorority community on campus we do have a fall gpa of a 3.28 and then our new member gpa was a 3.26 and that is compared to the all undergraduate gpa of a 3.28 so we do perform academically well here on campus and the reason why we want to highlight that is because
We recognize that as great as fraternity and sorority life is i’m joined by student leaders i was in a sorority myself tisch as well and we love it you cannot get a college degree in fraternity or sorority we want you to graduate um and so because of that i know we will be
Talking a little bit more about academics but it is very important to our community here um we do have four governing councils that are a part of our community um which so the three of my co-presenters as well as the interfraternity council and then we are home to 32 recognized um
Regional or international organizations so we have 14 organizations in a fraternity council five national panhellenic council 11 panhellenic council and two united great council um and so what we’re going to do is i’m going to just share a little bit more information and then each of our student leaders will introduce their
Area and provide a little bit more information we do want to highlight that there are two organizations that are currently not recognized on our campus we do have accountability as a big part of who we are because we want to make sure that our fraternities and sororities are doing what they’re supposed to
Um and so these are two groups that are not recognized right now um one of them while it does say that they could return starting fall 2020 there are no current plans for them to return to campus um so just to be aware if you were to come here and
Hear about these organizations operating they are not recognized or overseen by the university or the national organizations at all all right and so our inter-fraternity council unfortunately our student leader here was six so i will be speaking on their behalf um but again they are home to 14
Fraternities and sororities this is also the one we’ll see the most growth within the next semester with two organizations beta theta pi and theta kai joining us in the fall our average chapter size for these groups you’ll see between about 15 members all the way up to 60
So no matter what kind of experience you are looking for whether it be a small community size or a big fraternity experience you can find that in the inner fraternity council financial commitments because they do charge dues um you can expect this semester to cost between four to seven hundred dollars
Um your new member semester so that first semester that you join will typically be a little bit more expensive because there are some one-time fees that you will see so like your initiation fee getting your badge um getting access to the new member education program itself will be an additional expense so that
Semester will be a little bit more and then you should expect the price to drop the recruitment process or the way that you can join these organizations um it takes place primarily at the beginning of each semester so at the fall and at the spring semester um each chapter
Has their own process but to help everyone meet as many of the chapters as they can the council itself so that governing body will host at least one or two large events at the beginning large as in it might be virtual given pandemic we don’t know
Um but there will be some sort of event where you can meet everybody um so that you can kind of figure out where you want to go and then approach those chapters to get to know them a little bit better and then just a general time commitment you should expect weekly chapter
Meetings semester leach philanthropy or service events that first semester of membership will also include a new member education program so you’ll have to go to class um to learn about the fraternity a little bit more learn about their values and their ritual so that you can be initiated into the organization
And now i’m going to turn it over to kari awesome hi everybody uh so like i said i’m here representing the national panhellenic council known as nphc we’re also known as the divine nine and that is because we are create collectively gathered together with nine different organizations of historically black
Fraternities and sororities uh b’s nine being alpha phi alpha fraternity incorporated alpha cap alpha sorority incorporated calpha apple alpha psi fraternity uh incorporated omega sci-fi fraternity incorporated delta sigma theta sorority incorporated phi beta sigma fraternity incorporated zeta phi beta sorority incorporated sigma gamma rho sorority incorporated and iota phi theta fraternity
Incorporated while there are nine uh organizations that make up this council currently here on uncw’s campus we only offer right now alpha phi alpha fraternity uh alpha kappa alpha delta sigma theta phi beta sigma and zeta phi beta um so those are the chapters that are here collectively right now on campus
Uh so what you need to know in terms of the council with financial commitments uh each organization has a different range and that range can be however they set a fit you really just kind of have to know with the organization and learn from them but do expect a price range between like
A thousand five hundred to two thousand five hundred for the intake uh price this is a one-time fee um everything afterwards is going to be your membership dues and your national dues and things of that nature so it really just depends on the organization um but do expect something in between that range
But in terms of our recruitment process our recruitment process is a little different from what you might expect from other fraternities and sororities in that it’s more so of a intake process and with that being said uh ours is very much based in our rich history and everything else that we come and
Bring with these organizations these organizations have been around for a hundred years plus and with that we have a lot of things that we carry with that and so discretion is very much key when it comes to joining these organizations we don’t want all of that history to just be out there
In the open and so with that uh in order to be invited in order to join one of these organizations you really have to show your interest through the various programs that we have uh all of these chapters that i just previously stated are all throwing programs as you’ll see
Throughout the school year and so showing up and showing interest through supporting those programs and showing up is the best way to show that you’re interested after that most of these organizations will have an informational setting um where you’ll be able to come and learn more about
Specifically what you need to do in order to join that specific chapter um so really if you want to join just show up and show your interest through supporting the chapter that you want to join and look for those informational settings um but also with joining these chapters
Just know that it is also a lifetime commitment um that is one of the big big points of bnphc is that joining this you are joining as a member for life no matter what you do where you are um it is one of the most magical parts about it in terms of joining
In my my honest opinion i am a member and a brother of phi beta sigma fraternity incorporated and so is my father and my other members of my family and those are people from generations and generations who have graduated on i’m still brothers with them and so this is a lifetime commitment
Uh you’re joining so that kind of uh gives you a better idea of where the price comes in and why uh it’s such a huge commitment it’s because you are joining for life um but yeah i think that it kind of hits most of the points for nphc
Hello everyone again thank you for coming um so i’m emily again i’m the president of the panhellenic council here on campus we have 11 npc chapters um on our campus and it’s probably going to stay at this number for a while so if you have a sorority that you’re interested in
Definitely look into our recruitment process in the fall and these are the different chapters that we offer here so for financial commitments it’s similar to how ifc kind of goes your first semester will range from 600 to 800 dollars for badges initiation and other things um and
This is just like any other event when you go in your first year it’s a little bit more expensive um so the dues will probably lower um and you’ll pay for t-shirts and other things kind of added on to that um but when you go through recruitment we have an entire
Section um during recruitment where we talk about finances so the sororities can be really transparent with um our pnm’s about what they’re what they should be expecting when it comes to finances and then obviously there are national panhellenic dues and things like that um a recruitment process there are
Two options for joining a sorority we have fall primary recruitment um it’s typically over labor day weekend and all 11 chapters are open for membership this past year was a it looked a little bit different because of covid we actually had to do it over about three weeks when we usually
Would fit it into about five days um so that was definitely a really fun and interesting process um and this year we’ll hopefully be able to do it hybrid um so we’re looking into doing that um and hybrid will look kind of like the first couple of rounds will be
Online and then once the rounds get a little bit more intimate is when our women will be able to actually come on campus and meet our women in person um so if you want any more information about that we’re gonna have a lot coming out over the summer so just stay
Linked to our instagram and our socials for that um on top of primary recruitment so if formal recruitment is not really your thing go for co being so we do see oh being after regular recruitment in the fall and we also do it in the spring um not all chapters participate in
Um this informal process so just keep that in mind if some if that’s something that you’re thinking about um but continuous open bidding is sort of like more of an intake process um rather than a recruitment process the women are kind of reaching out more on a one-on-one kind of level maybe
Through social media or other things um and it’s kind of it’s just a lot more informal so if that’s something that you’re looking forward to um you can definitely contact us and we can give you any more information um i do see a chat and it says do you need letters of recommendation
Um it depends on the national chapter um i know this because my chapter i’m a member of fine you and we recently have done away with letters of recommendation and legacies for our recruitment process um some chapters are still doing it so definitely look into your national chapter if you’re interested
I’m in a particular one and kind of trying to figure that out um but if you have any questions you can obviously contact us at any point and we can help you um for general commitments um we’ve host various sisterhood events and service events so we try to get involved in our community
Through philanthropy and all of our 11 sororities have a different philanthropy that we support um but we also have sisterhood events that get our women connected and together and those are some of the best moments um and then scholarship is also really important so every chapter has their own gpa
Requirement but we also have an overall requirement and lindsey kind of went over that in the beginning um but there are specific things that chapters do sometimes so you’ll have to get a certain number of study hours in a month um and a certain number hour of hours for philanthropy or donating
Um just so you guys are actively getting out and getting involved in the community and within panhellenic um so you will be expected to attend weekly chapter meetings and definitely some mandatory programs but they’re also worth it um and that’s panhellenic if you have any more questions
Feel free to feel free to contact me or any of our social media alrighty so as you guys know i am maritza i am the president of the united great council so a little bit about the united great council we are the council that oversees two chapters both alpha sign lambda national incorporated
Which is a co-ed latino fraternity and then sigma alpha omega who’s a christian sorority so a little bit about ugc is that ugc has combined both culturally and religious based organized greek orgs and they follow their own individual processes and unique um to their org specifically
So a little bit what you need to know so the financial commitment it all depends on each chapter because each chapter has their own unique process so just to give around how much it would be so a new member would obviously be more money according since it’s a membership intake process
It’s gonna take just like the one-time fees and then there’s like different statuses once you become a member you have active inactive pain and then just completely inactive but those also for like national fees and chapter um things for the semester and the amounts can change depending on the e-board
Down to the national settings of dues so that’s a little bit about their financial commitment as for the recruitment process because this they each have their own unique style of how they recruit it just depends on the beginning of the semester and each chapter according to their own process
So the council will typically host maybe a week just to bring in new members students allow students to meet both unique chapters and then towards the end of that each chapter will go on their own and determine how they want to continue on with the process of their organization and as for general
Commitments the members are expected to attend weekly chapter meeting serve events and other programs and then just like i said earlier we have like unique religious based organizations they do require like attending bible study but those are just basic as for right now we only have two chapters under ugc but we
Hopefully will grow in the future yes we are looking forward to growing that that council in particular um so just some extra stuff so as i mentioned this falls under the office of student leadership and engagement so i would be remiss if i didn’t talk about the leadership development part of what we
Offer so we do provide monthly leadership meetings for our chapter presidents i’m actually led by the student leaders on this call with us so it is an opportunity for them to get to know each other talk about community-wide issues all of our student organizat all of our councils host
Council leadership meetings um we also have created a lot of online modules moving to the world of covid we realize we can’t keep gathering so we have created online modules such as a new member foundations program we meet with chapter presidents one-on-one monthly and then we do have roundtables focused on
Health and safety and that’s not just about your typical like alcohol use but we do talk about mental health and other issues that we see our college students facing because our student leaders are in a position to have those one-on-one conversations and so we want to prepare them on how to have them
And then also with our scholarship and accountability we do offer a standards of excellence program um so if you are interested in a chapter and you want to see how they do with that you can actually go to our website and see the scores the newest scores will be loaded next
Month they were just released a week ago so everyone’s very excited because everything has changed we also do semesterly grade report checks and we do publish how each chapter does academically each semester on our website as well and then we do have an academic honorary order of a mega
Open to juniors and seniors um that you have to have a certain gpa requirement in order to join so the dark side of fraternities for real life is that sometimes we have individuals who make bad decisions and think that hazing is a requirement in being in a fraternity or sorority
We do not condone it it is forbidden no new member no member new member or a seasoned initiated member should be hazed or be helping haze other people we also recognize that silent participation is just as bad as actively doing it and so we do talk about that within our
Our councils a lot things that you can look out for some of the warning signs are changes in behavior attitude wanting to all of a sudden leave the organization and not tell you why unexplained indus injuries or illness changing and sleeping habits or increase in secrecy or an unwillingness to share details
I’m gonna put a little bit of an asterisk there um because as mentioned especially with some of our organizations their joining process is secretive and so i especially for our parents there you’ll probably know that they are joining an organization but they’re not going to be able to tell you
Like this is what we talked about today mom or um you know this is what our ritual means but that just means that you should at least have an idea of what’s going on if you aren’t sure or if you have any questions you can always contact me and we can
Look into it what i do say especially to parents is at least know the name of the organization you would be surprised the number of phone calls i get that’s like i think they’re joining the organization that wears red well there’s a lot of organizations that wear red it could be any council
So if you at least know like what the letters look like that helps so much in helping figure out what’s going on and how we can help we do have a reporting process so that make a report button is actually directly on the front page of our website
And it’ll take you to where you can make a report about hazing or as well as if you just have concerns about your son or your child on our campus and then you can also just give us a call too if you want to talk it out
The office of the dean of students is the office that actually handles organizational conduct and investigation so that is their number but you can also always call me at the office of student leadership and engagement and that is our number as well again both of these resources are readily available on our website
Front page you click make a report and it will take you to all of this information so you don’t have to hunt for it but that is our presentation awesome well thank you so much now we’re going to move in to our q a portion and i love the um
Personal audience who already asked a question so definitely keep those coming we have a couple i’m already planned out but we would love to hear your questions as well so um my first question is going to be for lindsay because she touched on this earlier what is the difference between a
Service an academic honor society or fraternity um versus what these social ones are can you be in both yes so you can be in both we actually have a lot of members who are in our marketing um fraternity um pse i believe that’s marketing i hope um uh but so that that cross
Joining is definitely allowed um our academic or academic organizations are typically major based right so you might have a finance fraternity you might have a greek studies fraternity especially because i love the greek letters and greek studies right um and so it’s going to be more let’s talk about
What what we are studying publishing papers going to conferences focused around whatever that major is um our social organizations are really founded on what we call our four pillars right so it’s brotherhood sisterhood leadership and service um leadership sorry service and philanthropy and then academics right and so
These are the ones that you’ll see doing it all the only rule about co-joining is that within these councils you can’t be a part of two so you can’t be a member of nphc and panhellenic or ugc and ifc um that is not allowed that’s because of an agreement between their national organizations
All across the country but you can definitely be a part of an honorary or business fraternity and then also one of our organizations um and then if it’s okay i also wanted to introduce we had a person join us at the last minute um so i’m going to toss it over to julian
He can introduce himself hey everybody i appreciate that lindsay my name is julian i’m actually the vice president of recruitment and i’m representing the interfraternity council today i apologize for being here a little late and not being able to go and introduce the ifc i was having a little bit of an issue
Hopping onto the zoom but we’re here now and i’m ready to go ahead and answer any questions you guys may have i appreciate that lindsay we do have really quick we do have a question in the uh in the q a and i guess this is geared more towards
Uh the students do you feel that being uh being part of a fraternity or sorority has contributed to academic success within one’s respective major i’m just gonna go ahead and say yes for me absolutely my chapter specifically we set up specific um like subcommittees um our academic chair will go through and assign
Upperclassmen to underclassmen who have similar majors just so they have kind of a mentor to look up to like hey i don’t know what classes to take or have you taken this professor before or asking for help with homework or anything um so i know that there are a bunch of different chapters
In panhellenic that do the same um so we definitely try to motivate our women um to do well academically and then reach out to other chapter members if they need help with anything um but for me personally i wouldn’t have gotten into half a half of the academic endeavors that i have without
The sisters that i have supporting me whether they are in my major or not um it has completely changed my whole outlook on school um and just the encouragement for my sisters has really kept me up so i would definitely say 100 has impacted my academics positively
I would also definitely agree with what emily was saying with you know being part of your organization i know in my specific chapter what we do is we have um so different subsets different subgroups kind of like what emily was talking about um where we’re divided by our majors and
We’ll actually go ahead and dedicate certain times of the week where we have you know either library hours where we’ll go to each other’s houses and if we have similar classes we’ll go ahead and study together i know for me you know it’s a huge motivator knowing that my buddy in my fraternity
My brother is also in that same class with the same intent of going into the same career path that i am as well so we collaborate on ideas whether it be for projects or you know even doing homework together i know for me personally it is a lot more enjoyable and to go
Ahead and get that homework done when you’re doing it as well with someone that you know you care about as well so definitely agree on that aspect i know for me personally and my organization i know we do take academics seriously um so i definitely feel like it has positively impacted me
And not only are you working on your academics but you’re also building a connection with your brothers and your sisters so i think that’s important to note exactly perfect okay um so our next question is it kind of goes into one of them it’s like what made you interested in your specific organization
Uh i can take this one if uh i may um what made me interested in my specific organization so just to recap i am uh currently a member of five assignment fraternity incorporated um what made me interested in that was just while i got here on my freshman year
Uh there were four members uh here so a smaller chapter but i saw them absolutely everywhere um so involved in everything they were doing stuff with black student union they were starting their own clubs they were on the track team they were you know getting a’s in their
Biology courses and i was also in biology and so seeing them be like these almost college superheroes just going out everywhere i was like wow like i would really like to do that and so talking to them and then getting interested uh through that and learning that they’re all juggling
This like just as a team like their whole sense of brotherhood and from like camaraderie and just being like hey um they were always seen together they were always hanging out they were always having a support system uh with each other that truly made me um think like wow this is something i
Really wanted to be a part of and not only that but also they were really involved with giving back to the community and that’s a really big part of not just our chapter our local chapter but nthc as a whole um and i think greek life as a whole
It’s just giving back to the community coming together and um really just showing you know that you care for the people around you and so every time that i was talking to one of my brothers they were like oh i’m volunteering here at the food drive i’m volunteering here
And you know such and such at the church or whatever and it’s like wow you guys really are working and so that really made me i want to be a part of something a lot bigger than just uh you know oh go out and have fun like that’s cool
And yes there is a social aspect to it but also being able to like get down and do work and really make a difference in the world around you uh is definitely what made me join my organization i would like to also share so as i mentioned earlier i’m a part of alpha
Lambda national incorporated so alpha lambda is like a co-ed latino fraternity here on um uncw campus and i remember like when i was going through orientation they briefly mentioned it they were like oh we have the we’re the only ones with the co-ed latino and then i was like okay that’s
Interesting so i did my own little research and then they hosted a loteria game night so lottery is kind of like bingo so the moment i walked into that room it was that moment where i felt the same setting of being back home everyone’s like arguing they want to win
They had food they had music like music i grew up with it was just that sense of family like they really had that they expressed how much like they’re a family and in that home away from home setting and me being a first generation this was all new to me this is like
A lot of that i had to go through by myself and figure things out but they were very big on like making sure you feel welcome and also giving back to like the community they partnered a lot with centro hispano here at uncw they wanted to give back to the hispanic
Latino community and all the community and make their self presence known and i just fell in love with them and just how they handled things everything their community service their leadership their academics and i remember like when i was about to leave they gave me a hug and in my like
I’m so used to giving hugs to everyone before i leave saying hi to everyone so like that moment like she was one of the founders since we were ace i was here since 2016. she gave me a hug and she said i hope to see you more and i just felt like
Okay this is where i want to be so since then and then just continuing on like building our presence having like more service more academics more leisure and our cultural awareness and like family like those are just the values i just grew up with and i want to continue pushing
And they had it all so that’s a little bit about me we have a we have another question how involved are the alumni with your current members uh i’ll take this question uh very involved um super involved and i wanted to harken back on that uh before
When i was talking about nphc and how it’s a lifetime commitment um specifically with our members like i said they this doesn’t end once you graduate you are part of it for life and they our alumni specifically really take that to heart um we just had a food drive
Yesterday actually and i was on a call with one of our alumni uh aj dunn and he was uh just like oh uh did you guys get your the bins yet and we’re like no he’s like okay don’t don’t do it just yet like i got some
Donations gonna bring over i’m like okay cool and we get to the church maybe like a couple hours later to pick up the food donations and they’re like you’re not gonna be able to carry this and i was like what do you mean and it was like oh
Somebody just came by and dropped off all of this food and i’m barely being able to pick up this band and take it in my car and i’m calling aj i’m like did you drop off all this stuff and he was like yeah yeah you know me and uh brother
Uh perkins we all dropped this up together and just got it and wanted to help you out so we ended up having like like 350 different food items that we dropped off to the food drive uh yesterday and just the fact that he knew it he saw
The flyer and was like okay let me support was amazing i mean he technically doesn’t even live in the area anymore but he decided you know let’s just go and help out and so they are very much involved i talked to uh our alumni specifically just every day
They are always seeing how we’re doing um so yes they i will speak for us and say at least they are very involved yeah love that you brought up the fact of you know him helping out and donate i actually had a very similar experience with one of our
Alumni uh just to name a few and damon uh campbell you know um we actually so the ifc had what’s called the hawks harvest where we were donating a whole bunch of canned food um you know to help the needy here in wilmington and i was you know collecting
Money from my chapter and people that i knew to go ahead and go to food line to purchase um that food and stuff and then i thought my head like you know what let me go and text my alumni to see if they’d like to donate
Anything i texted you know the three the first three that came to mind saying let them know what we were doing um and then you know instantly within 10 minutes i had like 400 in my venmo account to go and purchase food so that was great i ended
Up filling the whole truck up to go and donate it was really good feeling really awesome uh the workers there were helping me pick out stuff with the carts so that was awesome that’s just one instance that was the most recent but i know i can speak for my
Personal chapter i mean we are in contact with our alumni all the time i know we do have uh an instance where we do have a chapter house here in wilmington so they’re very you know how willing to help us during our current situation to go ahead and
Allow us to acquire that back but in other aspects i mean we have parents we can all the alumni end up always showing up uh they sometimes attend our chapter meetings and um for our elections that we have twice every year uh i can pick like 10
To 15 alumni that show up every single time uh other things that we do are you know back for the for our brothers that do live back home in raleigh that’s where i live and that’s where a lot of members of my fraternity live uh twice every year we have a big dinner
So it’s you know 30 to 40 alumni they rent out an entire um place to eat and then you know all the brothers that are in town are able to go out and eat some food so it’s great so i know our alumni relations personally are great uh they’re super
Involved they love to know we’re up to we have a big face group facebook chat where we’re always you know in touch uh and they’re always you know willing to learn out of hand whenever we’re in need you know with as far as philanthropy and stuff like that so it’s great having that
Connection and it’s great to know that you know you are part of a lifetime organization it’s not just these four years that you’re part of it you really are a part of it for life so i know that when i graduate i really do hope to go
Ahead and give back to my personal organization and we really like to go ahead and emphasize that to our new members letting them know that hey this isn’t just a four-year commitment it is a lifelong commitment so i really love that aspect of it awesome okay so our next question is
A lot of people want to know does uncw have like those big greek houses that they see on tv i’m gonna hop on and answer that one um okay so housing here is different than that right the big greek houses we do have some greek housing on campus
Um so some of our panhellenic organizations so the groups that work with emily have what are called suites in our university suites housing complex um some of our ifc groups or interfraternity council groups i apologize have unofficial houses off campus and when i say unofficial it’s normally a couple guys sign the
Lease and then it just so happens that like the fraternity has like passed down the lease agreement for a couple years and so you just know that it’s that chapter house but it’s not you know it’s not going to have their letters on it or it shouldn’t
Um and it’s not going to be like recognized by the university as their official house or by their national organization as their official house now i am going to share um there is actually a meeting happening this friday with our associate vice chancellor and the director of housing so
Um now that we are moving to a change in the live-in requirement on campus there is going to be a discussion about expanding the on-campus suites area to have more organizations than just the ones that are currently there and so actually marissa and emily will be a part of that conversation as well
As the presidents for the interfraternity council and the national panhellenic council this friday to talk about it so we are expecting that to change over the next probably not next academic year but by the time you most of you would be sophomores that might be changing a lot so keep an eye out
Awesome thanks so our next question is um what would i do if an organization say like my mom or dad is uh in an organization they’ve been like pushing me to join and i don’t see it on campus is there a way to fix that like get them on campus
And that would be probably for you lindsay yeah i’ll take that one too um so depending on the council that in is closed um so if you are looking for an organization that’s not on campus it really depends on the council so as we mentioned the united great council you have an
Organization that you think would fit let us know we would love to add it as maritza said like we want more organizations to be a part of it um the national panhellenic council we do have some organizations that are trying to restart on campus i’m not going to say the specific names
Because i don’t want to give up hopes in case it doesn’t work out but there is some movement with some adding those organizations for the panhellenic council their process is very strict in how it works you’re talking like a one to two year process just to select a new organization
And knowing that process it’s not going to happen anytime soon and then for inter fraternity council if you go to our website we also outline all the processes to join but the interfraternity council actually has an agreement with six fraternities to come within the next five years
So you can see who’s coming what semester anybody outside of that most likely will not be coming to campus because of an agreement that they have nationally to kind of like not cut the line um but definitely look out as i mentioned in the presentation we have
Two that are starting next semester so theta chi is an interest group that’s actually getting recognition next week um and then beta theta pi will be coming on so definitely take a look at those two if you don’t see an organization currently on the list um they are they are coming
Can i add to that yeah so um i i just wanted to say that when it comes to going through recruitment as more specifically if you’re going through panhellenic recruitment and you’re looking for a specific sorority and we may not have it um just like lindsay said the process of
Getting another sorority on campus is just so long um and it’s probably not going to happen but that just gives you way more of an opportunity to go into procurement with an open mind um and you might just find a chapter that really really does fit you and fit
Your standards and whatever you know you’re looking for in a sorority you will find it um no matter what chapter you look at um i went through recruitment not knowing anything about any of the sororities and it was an amazing experience so just think about it in that way
Like if you go into it wanting just one fraternity or just one sorority think about how much that could affect your overall experience and you know one chapter might be completely different at another school um so if you know maybe it’s your parents that
Are like oh we want you to be in this fraternity or the sorority because i was in it they might there might be a chapter on our campus that is just as similar as their chapter at their campus um and it could be a completely different sorority
So just keeping an open mind when going through recruitment and just knowing that you most likely will find your home no matter what sorority or fraternity that you join awesome thank you so much for that insight um this next one is kind of going off what emily just said
So she’s like talking about your perfect fit and you’ll find one what if you’re a first year student and you’re like just not sure about this so you decide to do it later than your first year will you still be allowed to join an organization after your fall your freshman year
I will hop oh go ahead please i just i don’t know um so for panhellenic we have two groups that go through recruitment they do the same process but one is just called the primary group and one is called secondary group our secondary group is our upperclassmen so sophomores juniors seniors
Anyone can join and honestly a good majority or not majority but a good percentage of our women that go through our upperclassmen that are looking um into going into a sorority because maybe they know people in it i think that goes for any of our greek organizations you know
A lot of people who go through a little bit when they’re in a as a sorry as an upperclassman if they’re going through they usually know someone in an organization that kind of spoke to them but i will say that a hundred percent upperclassmen go through recruitment
Um i’m sorry getting a phone call um upperclassmen go through recruitment and they have just as good as an experience as freshmen do and you know if you’re worried about it talk to sisters talk to brothers express that concern to them and i a hundred percent guarantee that
They will be able to reassure you and into thinking that it’s just as good so on behalf of the interfraternity council i know that all the chapters here on campus do allow and accept new members uh whatever grade or semester um i know personally a lot of people
Especially when i’ve rushed because i rushed my fall semester my freshman year but i know a lot of people wanted to kind of wait that first fall semester out and then they do have the option to go and rush in this spring and they wanted to wait
It out just to go ahead and um kind of see what it was like get insight and personal uh feedback from people they know and i know it sometimes helps them out pick which chapter and organization they want and whether or not they do want to make that commitment
Um which is kind of the beauty of not only limiting it to you know incoming freshmen their fall semester it’s nice that they can choose to do it whenever great part about that uh so just to kind of piggyback off of that specifically for nphc
Uh i do know right off the top of my head that all nine um organizations for nphc actually don’t take first semester freshman um the reason for that is because we do require uh certain gpa numbers in order for you to cross over and with that being said you don’t have
A gpa coming into your first semester uh so very clearly the majority of people are actually not freshmen who do join uh in phc which is totally fine uh you can join as late as your last semester here and we’ll totally take you um but i just wanted to make sure that
That was clear for nphc we don’t take first semester freshmen just because we want you to be acclimated and uh get that gpa settled in i would also like to jump on with what kari was saying because i know i didn’t join until my spring semester is because they didn’t take first-term freshmen
And i know like they’re part of my orgs they have to submit an application to nationals to even allow them to take first impressions based on the similar concept with like if you have to meet a certain gpa requirement or even like if you were even a full-term student or how many credits
You’ve already had like it just depends on the chapter as well so i just wanted to join on that see and on a personal note myself i joined my spring semester my senior year and it was just as fun just as much mentorship um as well so you can definitely join at
Any time definitely back it up lived experience it’s it’s awesome um another question a lot of people want to know is community service really something or is that just for show yeah no community service is definitely a huge part of it um most of it on
I say hey you’re you’re really uh gonna gonna be uh what’s the best way to say this i know a lot of uh older members of them bhc would be like the work really begins after you join um and that’s truly because you that we do um
A lot of our organizations all of our organizations have a huge pillar on community service education giving back service on all of that um so i know specifically for phi beta sigma we uh typically have to do programs uh on a national level in terms of giving back to the community
Um and that goes for all of us you know every every year we have to do certain community service programs uh just to kind of meet that requirement and that’s just because it’s very important to us it’s a lot of history of our organizations that’s one of the reasons why a lot of
These organizations were created was to give back to the community and so um that’s definitely a big part of the entire experience is to give back so yes it’s it’s a social aspect to it you’re definitely going to have fun uh but yeah that fun is also going to be
Had a lot of the time while working so yeah definitely definitely community service is a big part of it i’m just gonna piggyback off of that um and say and i could probably speak on behalf of a lot of our um chapters but we pride ourselves in community service we genuinely do um
Getting out and serving our community um and living our values is something that i think a lot of our members really um look forward to um i know for my specific chapter we raise we raised almost 40 000 this year at our um at our philanthropy event and that’s
One of the biggest on campus and we are super proud of it it goes to duke children’s miracle network hospitals um and it’s just such a rewarding experience and i feel like it’s the same across all of our councils that it’s just it’s about engaging in the community and then
Like feeling good about engaging in the community um i know that all of our all of our chapters have their own specific um organizations that they like donate to i know kappa delta does girl scouts um alpha chi omega does domestic violence awareness um and you know the list goes on so when
You go through recruitment that’s definitely something that they will talk about is our philanthropy and and how much it really means to all of us um and during 2020 i will say the fsl community donated a hundred and fifty thousand dollars uh to philanthropies over and over six
Thousand of service during the pandemic so if you think we can’t get it done and it’s all for show it’s not true and i would like to also share like like emily was saying each like chapter they have their own philanthropy that they will like dedicate their service hours to
And then put in the work and we honestly like not only is it like service we’re getting back to our community but like it also that sense of like building connections building relations and just being a part of something bigger than yourself is what we really take pride in and i
Wanna like to share on one experience like as my personal org like alpha sig lambda our since we’re co-ed our philanthropy is the boys and girls club and we get to volunteer to the one here in wilmington to the point where four of our members actually start
Working there and we’re working there to like build the relations with that community and honestly it’s just an amazing feeling putting in dedicating these hours and knowing that you’re doing more i had one uh and this is really basic very basic but um what is the
Uh one piece of advice that you would give uh students that are considering joining any greek uh fraternity or sorority on campus i think go into it with an open mind um definitely just know that it might be completely different than you think so the intake process
You might or the recruitment process you might think it will go one way and it might go a completely different way i thought i was gonna be in a completely different sorority than i was um and then i got my midday card back with a different sorority and
I was excited um and that’s how it should be you know you have these expectations for how something is going to go and sometimes it doesn’t go that way but it can turn out just as good and like i was saying before when you come in and you
Kind of have a sorority or a fraternity in mind it kind of narrows your your scope a little bit so widen that scope and and go into it with an open mind and just wanting service and community and you’ll find that one thing i’d like to add piece of
Advice you know if you’re interested in rushing i would just say to be yourself honestly a lot of people try to go into um you know with a closed mind and it kind of kind of goes together with having an open mind just being themselves because let’s say
They pretend to be somebody else and then that gets them into this specific organization well while they’re in that organization they’re not going to nearly enjoy it as much or connect with their brothers and sisters as much as if they were just themselves and you know they ended up joining this
Fraternity or sorority that really fit their needs so my biggest piece of advice would be to not try to be anybody else just go in there and be yourself um obviously be more more on the social and to go and meet a lot of new people but that biggest tip would definitely be
That i’m gonna hop back on again and just say that um oh my goodness i totally lost what i was going to say you just said something and it like came into my head oh my goodness um oh you were talking about having an open mind yes
On top of that ask questions ask as many questions as you possibly can because sometimes during the recruitment or intake process these members are talking to a lot of people so they don’t know exactly what they’ve told you or what they haven’t told you so asking questions will really build that
Transparency and give you a better understanding of what that organization is because the worst case scenario is that you join an organization and you step in those doors and you go wow what did i get myself into and then you end up dropping and you don’t have that amazing experience
So ask those questions and absolutely be yourself and keep an open mind okay anything else before we wrap it up i wanted to share um awesome me and kari looked at each other and we pointed i was like i know there’s two voices i still want to hear
Um i i feel like one important thing i like to think is find the place where you fit in and it’s like you know you have your own values and i think it’s one of the important things that we have as each individual chapter is we have our own
Core values and in finding that fit finding that moment that you feel that comfort within that org i feel like that’s one of the important things to think about and also one of the things i remember my chapter present telling me is that learn to stem from the ordinary
So just take that chance take that leap because you never know you’re going to enjoy it until you do that me and merits are on the like same wavelength because she like just finished it off same thing i was pretty much about to say i i know like with in phd specifically
Since our process is a little different it like it truly is a process and i mean that in the most literal sense um it is typically longer than your average um recruitment process and with that there comes a lot of education there’s a lot of history there’s a lot of things
That are going to go into that and there’s a lot of work that a lot of um people who have been through it will tell you it’s a lot of work to be done but it is so so rewarding so the one piece of advice that i know that
People gave me uh going into it was to just go 100 not just go not just going into it with an open mind but an open heart too and all of it um uh one thing my coach used to tell me like all the time was like
Don’t ever do anything less than 100 he was like you’re gonna shoot just shoot and that’s really it like you if you’re going to do this go into it 100 um and know that with that you’re gonna reap all the benefits uh what you put into it is
Gonna be what you get out of it and that’s especially like the case with fsl and you know fraternity and sorority like you’re going to you put 100 in and you give give this experience everything that you’ve got it will come back to you tenfold and you will
Really see why we are here right now and how much you love uh our organizations why we wrap it so much why you see probably uh you know all these different pages of like fraternities were realized oh i love it so much i’ve got all these letters and
Yeah you guys can’t even see it i’ve got like blue stuff hanging up everywhere um i just picked the most boring corner of my room for the sim call that was dumb but with that you know but we love it so much because we put
All of that into it and it comes back so see there you go you see the letters and we show it because we love it it’s part of us um so go into it 100 and i promise you’ll see exactly why we are up here loving it so much
Awesome well thank you so much we are literally right at time you guys were the best panel just ever and um for everybody within um who’s here attending this was recorded so you definitely you can we’ll play this back if you had friends who couldn’t hop on they’re definitely going to
Be able to get this information also for the rest of the week all of our other events you can still sign up for the events right until it starts so definitely still check out all the wonderful events we have for the rest of the week
And once again thank you so much to our panelists and hopefully y’all you will see them on campus when you’re interested in going through these recruitment events so i hope everyone has a wonderful rest of their evening and goodbye y’all thank you for having us and thank you for joining thank you guys
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