Rushees brave cold for 19-party

The cold weather didn't deter rushees this weekend, as about 1,600 women turned out to visit 19 chapters in two days.\nSenior Jaime Cutler, president of Kappa Kappa Gamma, said the weekend was a success.\n"It went great," Cutler said. "I give so much credit to all those girls for standing outside in the cold."\nSenior Alyson Jamell, vice president of recruitment for Panhellenic Association said spirits were high despite the weather.\nThe sororities had their annual 19-party Saturday and Sunday. Participants went to 10 houses the first day and nine houses the second day, with each visit lasting about 30 minutes. During the visits, members of houses gave tours to potential members, answered questions and told the women about their chapter, said Alpha Phi President Jen Urbanski, a senior.\nEmily Hendricks, a freshman participant, said she enjoyed the weekend.\n "The girls have all been really great," Hendricks said. "They've all made me feel really comfortable."\nThe houses were prepared for the event with banners promoting reasons to go greek. Campus buses were also ready to take rushees to and from different houses.\n"Recruitment counselors were out there doing chants and cheers to help the girls with the wait," Jamell said. "The buses were all working well this year ... It was a pleasure to go through."\nUrbanski said 19-party allows girls to get to know more about the greek system and acquaint sororities with potential members.\n"Most girls are freshmen, and many of them don't know what rush recruitment entails," Urbanski said. "This gives them the chance to see what sororities are like. It is a opportunity for them to get to know what greek life is all about. It is more for promoting rush."\nThe 19-party's theme was "19 reasons to go greek." Each chapter talked about one of those reasons at their party. Jamell said the reasons included leadership, intramurals and philanthropy.\nRecruitment takes place in three stages, starting with 19-party. The next step will be the 12-party, Jan. 3-4, where houses call back a certain number of girls. Twelve-party is a mutual selection process, where potential members list their 12 top choices for houses and also the chapters put together a list of women they would like to have back to the house. Jamell said a final list is then made by combining the lists.\nDuring 12-party, girls visit 12 houses in two days, spending about 45 minutes at each house, said Urbanski. Next is six-party where potential members visit six houses in one day and spend a hour in each house. Finally, there is three-party where the women have their choices narrowed down to three houses, spending about a hour and 15 minutes in each house. Potential members rank their top choices after each step in the process, Urbanski said.\nThe participants are placed in groups for the recruitment process and are assigned a recruitment counselor who will help them through the process, Urbanski said, making a list and ranking the houses and answering other questions.\n"Everything went really smoothly," Urbanski said. "After a long night, we're tired, but we're left with good feelings."\nWomen's Rush Recruitment\n• Starts with the 19-party event.\n• Next step: 12-party, Jan. 3-4. Certain girls are called back and spend 45 minutes at each of the 12 houses in two days.\n• Third step: Six-party. Potential members spend one hour at each house in one day.\n• Last step: Three-party. Women narrow it down to three choices and spend about an hour with each house.