Peace, Love, & Gig 'Em: Recruitment Week 2012

Welcome to the Delta Shelta

ΔΔΔ

I moved into the Tri Delta house almost three weeks ago and I can’t believe this is the first time I am able to blog. Life has been crazy to say the very least. As soon as I arrived home from Fish Camp, I have barely had a moment to catch my breath. This year I experienced my first Work Week and Rush Week as a Tri Delt. It had its ups and downs, but I loved spending time with all of those beautiful ladies. Work Week started out for PC ’11 the day after we moved into the house. Every single second was filled with loud cheers, posters, slogans, and lots of girls. It was a neat opportunity for our entire chapter to come together and discover all of the girls coming through recruitment this year. I was able to get to know older girls and girls in my own pledge class so much better. The days were long (really long), but somehow we all survived. The following week was recruitment—what we had all been waiting for. The first two days started out EARLY and all 900+ girls came into our house throughout the day. It was filled with varied conversations and inevitable laughter. After the second day, Lucy Margaret Singleton was born in Sugar Land, TX. This was the fourth and last addition to the Singleton family. She was 7 lbs 11 ounces and 20 inches of pure perfection. As soon as recruitment ended on Tuesday, I went to check my phone. I saw pictures of this beautiful baby and broke into tears. I was ecstatic that she was born, but I wanted to be in the hospital with Maggie more than anything in the world. So, I did just that. I headed home that evening and visited the entire Singleton clan in the hospital room. That family means everything to me and there was no where I would have rather been. The following morning, I drove back to College Station just in time for roll call on Philanthropy Day. All of the Tri Deltas wore blue, yellow, and white dresses. Everyone looked precious as we started the longest day of the week. There were nine parties where we decorated “No-Mo-Chemo” hats for St. Jude, watched a short video, and chatted with the girls. I am so proud that we have philanthropy like St. Jude that we’re so passionate about nationwide. The day was a total success and Tri Delta’s mission for St. Jude filled sorority row. Then there was Skit Night—and this was by far my most favorite day of rush. We welcomed all of the PNM’s to Delta Rock Cafe—complete with motorcycles, a stage, and plenty of talented ladies. They performed their dances, sang all of their songs— and everyone simply loved it. I was filled with so much Delta pride and wished more than anything that I was as talented as the girls on stage. They brought their “A” game to Skit Night—and Taylor Al-Saigh did a phenomenal job leading our chapter. The last day of official recruitment was Preference Night. This can be an emotional night for many girls and an exciting night for many others. The girls were invited back to three houses and by the end of the night they choose the one where they felt the most at home. I was lucky enough to be able to speak at Tri Delta’s preference night and I hope I brought comfort to many girls. I introduced myself and reassured them that I was in their exact seats only one short year ago. I told them about the exciting new chapter of their lives that is starting—and that I couldn’t be happier for them. I knew God had a plan for each girl and everything would fall perfectly into place. I shared advice with them and encouraged them to choose the house where they felt the happiest—just like I did one year ago. Once preference night was complete—the entire house went CRAZY. Recruitment 2012 was OVER and we couldn’t have been more pumped. Our Rush Team, led by Sarah Hosea, was incredible. We can’t say thank you enough to each of them for being so patient, understanding, and dedicated to their officer roles. They worked all summer long and non-stop for the past two weeks—and their hard work paid off. The next day was the day we had all been looking forward to…. BID DAY. Lauren Paine and I have been planning this day since January, so to say we were excited was definitely an understatement. Our theme was “Every Lady Wants to Live in the White House.” Since we are the only white house on sorority row and the election is right around the corner… We thought it was perfect! Everyone was decked out in their red, white, and blue tanks. They announced our Bid List around 3:30pm and yells filled the house. We got an incredible pledge class this year and every single girl is a total rock star. During Bid Day, music was blaring from our house. We had a bounce house, catered BBQ, and a photo booth—plenty of desserts, decorations, and dance moves as well. We started out by greeting all of our new members as they got off the bus and taking a million pictures. We then went inside and watched the Welcome PC ’12 Video and opening slideshow. Bid Day was an absolute blast. Our girls spent the night at the house—and our hope was that they felt at home. Work week combined with recruitment week was exhausting, long, tiring, but incredibly rewarding!!! ΔΔΔ PC ’12 has just entered one of the BEST chapters on the row and we are beyond blessed to call each of them our new Delta sisters.

WORK WEEK:

Here is the Story of Janie Tekell: At Fish Camp, I had the sweetest and most sarcastic girl in my DG. I absolutely fell in love with her and when she told me she was rushing… I freaked out a bit. I always knew that I wanted her to be a Delta. Her joy was contagious and her smile could instantly brighten up any room. During Work Week, I made Janie Tekell my Star Baby. Throughout the week, I would scream: “FISH CAMP… Where I fell for Janie Tekell.” There were huge posters with her face everywhere and the whole chapter knew all about Janie. However, I never wanted her to feel pressured to be in a certain sorority on campus. I told her to enter recruitment with an open mind and go wherever she felt the happiest. I was confident that she would be an incredible addition to any chapter on the row. On Saturday, I discovered that she was OUR BID LIST. I almost passed out I was so excited. Janie Tekell will be the perfect Delta and I can’t wait to see how the rest of her journey at Texas A&M unfolds.

Day 1 & 2: GO GREEK