Panhellenic Meet and Greets took place over Zoom on Oct. 9 to allow potential new members to learn more about the eight Panhellenic chapters at Lehigh.
The event featured nine rounds where potential new members spoke to each chapter for 20 minutes, and chapters showed a brief video and speech. They also organized breakout rooms where potential new members spoke with active chapter members.
The Panhellenic Executive Council adapted to the technology and advertising challenges posed by fully remote programming to allow the event to take place for approximately 250 potential new members.
Kate Mullen, ‘21, vice president of internal recruitment, said it was important to her to make sure this event took place so potential new members could have something to look forward to.
When she was a first-year student, Mullen said she benefited greatly from getting involved and interacting with older students through a variety of organizations on campus. She said it was important to her to try to simulate this experience for the current first-years who are not able to get involved in the same ways she did due to the pandemic and the limitations on in-person gatherings the school imposed.
“I think they were just excited to have the time to talk to people on-campus,” Mullen said.
Brooke Bingo, ‘24, said the event was helpful in this regard.
Bingo said the Meet and Greets were important for potential new members to learn about the eight chapters. She said this allowed her to learn more about Greek life in a way she may not have been able to do elsewhere this semester.
“From some of the girls not only did I learn about the sororities in general, but I also learned about life at Lehigh from an upperclassman’s perspective,” Bingo said.
As the number of on-campus events taking place this fall are extremely limited, potential new members have not interacted with chapter members in-person as they have in the past.
“(Potential new members) have not seen the chapter events or seen the girls walking around or anything like that, so this was a way to get to know the different chapters,” said Sophia Closter, ‘21, vice president of external recruitment.
Considering the circumstances and the challenges they faced, both Closter and Mullen believe the event went well.
Following the event, Panhel asked all participants to complete a survey to provide feedback on the event as well as suggestions on how it could be improved. As formal recruitment in the spring will be fully virtual, Panhel plans to apply this feedback to their planning for recruitment in the future.
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