Beyond the bid, recruitment works to bring sense of community

Before screams echoed across campus, before masses of women spilled into the street, banged on buses and hugged, and before the tears and the pictures painted with giant Greek letters, there was a process.

Before the process, there was Jana Kovich and there was Becca Powers.
Formal recruitment for IU’s 20 Panhellenic chapters ended with Bid Night on Monday, and the chosen few potential new members (PNMs) received bids to their future homes.

But the process is more than just the women seeking a sorority. Members of the houses, such as Powers, go through the rounds waiting for their new sisters, and Rho Gammas, such as Kovich, help counsel the PNMs and make recruitment run smoothly.

As they both played their parts in helping new members find a home last week, their journeys to Bid Night were just as emotional.

14 Party

On Thursday, Powers got up and got ready with the rest of her chapter at 8:30 a.m. They all put on their sorority shirts and jeans and gathered in the basement, ready for the rounds to begin at 10 a.m.

Powers went through recruitment last year as a sophomore, and Bid Night ended for her with a place at Alpha Xi Delta. This was her first time going through recruitment from the other side, and she was excited.

She remembered going through it last year. She had been nervous then, but she almost felt more nervous now.

She wanted to recruit women who would add to Alpha Xi’s sisterhood and who would love the house as much as
she did.

Fourteen Party had been her favorite round then, and she wanted to make it great for the PNMs this year, too.

Soon, it was time. The women in her house lined up along a curtain, and as the PNMs filed in, the first chords to “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses played.
They cheered to the song, forming a tunnel as they ushered the new women into another room.

There, they put on skits, as many chapters do during 14 Party, and Powers had a conversation with a PNM about the house’s values.

“It’s almost like speed dating,” Powers said. “You try to get to know the girls fast. The hardest part is that you only get to talk for four minutes.”

She would have many conversations during the 14 rounds during the two days. She’d talk about movies and where each girl was from, but mostly, she would just try to find girls she could see herself in.

“I think about my relationship with my brother, because I don’t have any sisters, and how much I would love a new sister,” she said. “I think about how they would get along with my sisters in the house.”

She just wanted to bring in a great pledge class for Alpha Xi, but when time was up, she had to move on. The PNMs might not end up in her house, even if the conversation was great.

She cheered the PNMs out the door, and they went back out, 13 rounds to go.

***

Out on North Jordan Avenue, members of Alpha Omicron Pi did a cheer to the tune of “Sweet Caroline.”

“How do I get on the bus?” one PNM asked.

The women in Chi Omega screamed and threw open the doors for another round.
PNMs walked around following directions on strips of paper with their schedules. Kovich had given the girls in her recruitment group their schedules that morning.
Now, she was helping women through their round at Theta Phi Alpha in the Union Street Center. The PNMs were sitting on the couches in boots and jackets, tired from their lunch break.

“Are you all tired ‘cause you just ate lunch?” she asked. “You gotta pep up! It’ll be a long day if you don’t.”

She called attendance and organized the women into two lines to enter the suite. A woman came up to her.

“Do you have mints?” she asked.

Kovich rifled through her backpack and pulled them out.

“Good, ‘cause my breath stanks,” the PNM said.

The Rho Gammas’ primary job during the day is to be prepared to help the PNMs in any way they can.

They try to lighten the mood, Kovich said.

Soon, the doors opened, and the sisters of Theta Phi started to chant.

“My oh my, Oh Theta Phi ... ” Kovich sang along. The Rho Gammas learn all of the cheers for every chapter.

“Get excited, you guys!” she said.

For now, her job was just to help, but the real work began after the
rounds ended.

8 Party

Women ran out of buses and down Third Street, their heels clacking against the pavement. The stained-glass Greek letters of Pi Beta Phi glowed against the white mansion.

“Eight Party is more formal than 14,” said Ashley Clark, vice president of communication for the Panhellenic Association. “You really get to see the chapters on a more personal level and see the sisterhood we live with every day.”

In her house, Powers was working to share that personal level, too. They showed a video, and the day was dedicated to the seniors.

“It makes me really nostalgic,” she said.

She would miss the seniors in the house, but as the rounds progressed, the women of Alpha Xi were also getting closer to bringing in a new pledge class.

These PNMs were returning for the third time, and Powers was starting to pick out people who could be her “daughter” in the house.

“I’m so excited. I can’t wait to bring someone else in,” she said. “Our moms are really our guides to everything in the sorority.”

As the seniors spoke about what the house meant to them, she could see herself taking her little “sister” shopping for pair outfits, giving her gifts and showing her what the house means to her.

She couldn’t wait.

3 Party

On Sunday, the lines outside Alpha Delta Pi before the final round of recruitment were shorter than before.

Fewer women left the bus, and they ran barefoot, carrying their heels, to their next scheduled house.

The cuts had become more intense, and as a Rho Gamma, Kovich had to deliver some of the bad news.

She talked to each of her girls individually, and she had been listening as they talked throughout the week, so she knew when to expect a certain reaction. Regardless, she tried to remain positive.

“Why are you upset?” she would ask. “What did you like about that house?”

These were the questions she would ask when the girls were deciding which houses they liked best to try to keep them focused, or questions she would ask when they didn’t hear the news they wanted. She didn’t try to steer them one way or the other, but she tried to help them figure out where they thought they would fit best.

Still, it was an emotional job. Kovich had to watch women she had spent the past month with and cared about give up dream houses or drop the process all together.
“I told them all this morning I’d be proud to call them my sister,” she said.

Still, it was a hard day. Kovich pulled out her phone and texted the other Rho Gammas from houses all across campus whom she’d been living with at the Union during recruitment.

She told them she knew they were probably struggling, too, but that day, when they came back to their chapters, they would remember why they did this. This was an opportunity to bring new people into the system, people who had given them so much.

It would be worth it.

Bid Night

Outside Alpha Xi on Bid Night, Powers would be surrounded by her sisters. She would have decorations and presents and signs to greet the new pledge class with open arms. But with every passing bus, she’d still be looking for the girls she connected with.

There was no guarantee they’d be getting off at her house and not some other. They could have found a better fit somewhere else or dropped the process altogether. Still, Powers hoped it would all work out.

“I will be scouting her out,” she said. “Fingers crossed she’s there.”
Kovich, however, would be standing back. Though she’d be allowed to return to her sorority, she might not even make it to her chapter.

Her main concern was getting every girl her bid and talking with those who had questions or who needed consoling. The job didn’t stop there. She would be open for any questions after the process, sorority or otherwise.

“I foresee this being for the next several months,” she said.

Though neither Kovich nor Powers were among the women finding homes on Bid Night, they were part of the community that brought the screams and balloons and photos to PNMs Monday night. Powers said the process, and its many layers, was what brought the new pledge classes in.

“I think when people talk about recruitment, they think it’s something we do for the PNMs,” Powers said. “But it’s something we do to make our sisterhood grow more.”