Alyssa is a Junior sorority sister who will be bringing you reflections on her recruitment experiences throughout the week. Enjoy!

“Hi! My name is Alyssa, and welcome to Recruitment! I’m SO glad to see you here! How’s recruitment so far? Here, let me take your coat for you…”  I remember gushing something similar (or, I hope it was something like that) to my very first PNM whom I was hoping to recruit into my sorority.  365 days ago I remember being so jittery from excitement and concern if I would be able to win over so many adorable and sweet freshman.  I remember the constant stream of thoughts through my head, “Can I make them feel so happy here that they will want to come back?  Will I have anything in common with her?  Don’t say anything stupid. I hope she likes it here.  Uh oh...do I have anything in my teeth? I hope she likes...oh, I’m up next..Hi! My name is Alyssa! What’s yours?” 

And so began my very first Open House as a Sophomore.  My first night on the floor was a complete whirlwind, and oddly enough it reminded me exactly of my time as a PNM.  I was so nervous going through rush, and surprisingly, I thought the same exact questions as a freshman that I did as a sophomore.  “

Will they like me?  Will I like them?  Is my dress ok?  I hope I don’t say something awkward...”  I still remember some of the girls I spoke with at different houses on my first two nights and the conversations we had.  We talked about everything from fact that I was in the most dreadful, awful science class with one Junior, to singing Disney songs on the subway to cowboy boots.  I went home that first night with a massive smile on my face and a really, really sore throat.  I, at this point, had no idea which house to choose, and that also made me nervous.  And so, the never-ending stream of questions came back: “They were really nice, did they like me?  Their theme was SO FUN, I didn’t know the houses would have themes.  How should I rank them? I like sororities. Uh oh, I definitely forgot to tell them I was part of this club, will that count against me?  Do you think they noticed that my heel was unbuckled?  That girl in..uh oh..what was the name of that house..Kappa Omega?  No, no it was Phi Lambda..ugh no that’s definitely wrong..umm, I should learn my Greek alphabet...how do they pronounce “Chi”? Hmmm.  Where do I go now?  Houston right?  That’s to my...left? No, wait, I’m on 39th street, so it’s to the right...right?  Where’s my Rho Gam?!  WHERE’S MY VOICE?!”  To say the very least, after Open House, I definitely learned the correct names of the sororities, and how to say them; no, no one noticed that my shoe was unbuckled; and my voice managed to survive through to the next round (barely).  Before stepping through the doorway of my first house, Open House seemed like the most daunting, scary event that I would encounter.  I was half torn between being excited about this, and running far, far away.  However, once I stepped through the door, a genuinely nice girl greeted me, and everything was awesome from there.  It turned out to be a very valuable experience, and within the first five minutes of recruitment, I learned skills that I still use to this day.  Unfortunately, though, this round is over, and I’ll have to send you off for now, but I had so much fun talking to you, and best of luck with the rest of recruitment!