What Recruitment Taught Me 

Madi Hannan, Recruitment Chair

​Phew! My first Rush as recruitment chair is finally over. What a whirlwind. Never did I think that something that I first viewed as being just a large ball of stressful complications would have taught me so much and that I would’ve had so much fun doing it. Well, honestly, never in my life did I see myself 1) in a sorority and 2) in a leadership position, none the less executive board for a sorority but that’s a whole ‘nother can of worms.
 
Now, don’t get me wrong, recruitment was stressful. Extremely stressful. Every single person in the sorority, whose apart of the college, every person on the outside and the inside looking at the sorority for the entire recruitment process is looking at me. If someone has a question, they’re going to ask me. If someone has a complaint, they’re going to tell me. And that, of course, is extremely stressful and put me in a very uncomfortable place for the time I was in the spotlight, but I know that being uncomfortable is what can drive positive change. This position pushed me so far out of my comfort zone and I am grateful for that. I had to come up with an entire recruitment workshop, plan out by the minute what was going to happen every night of rush, reserve countless rooms, orchestrate interviews, keep track of potential new members, recruit young women to become apart of our sorority, plan out our Bid Day, run our social media, and, on top of that, keep track of our active members and make sure everyone as meeting the requirements. What a mouthful. But I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world.
 
Being recruitment chair, even though it’s only February, has taught me to, obviously, become extremely organized. The objective things you think of when getting a leadership position in a collegiate sorority have obviously been checked off—organizational skills, interpersonal skills, creative problem solving skills…the run down. I’ve grown tremendously in ways that you would think come with the position. I was expecting that. What I wasn’t expecting was growing closer to my sisters while being Recruitment Chair as much as I did.

Ready for our new members on Bid Day!

Info Night 2

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I think one of the most stressful times was the day of Rush Workshop—this is the day that all of our actives join together to learn more about recruitment and get excited for the week to come. I wasn’t really stressed about meeting all the marks and staying on task; what I was super nervous about was the active’s receptiveness of me and all of the things that I ask of them for the week. I felt extremely pressured that they were going to be disengaged and just hated me for asking them to do all of these things for the next six days. I was, thankfully, dead wrong about my fears. All of the members of our sorority came in and actually looked happy to be up and early on a Sunday morning learning about sorority things and snacking on Trader Joe’s cookies. They were extremely engaged, wanted to add their helpful input, help each other out, and wanted to play games. Their positive attitude completely brought the room so high and made me more excited about recruitment. All of my nerves dissimilated as soon as I started the day. They were happy, they were my sisters, and they were excited to get new members, too.
 
I felt that I also grew so close to all of my sisters every day of rush. I learned more that, yes, these women are truly my sisters for life because almost every one of them, at the drop of a hat, would do anything for me to help me out. One of my sisters, Jeanette, even brought me a freakin’ cupcake on Info Night to tell me I was doing a good job (I kind of almost cried). If I needed paper plates? Sure, they’d get it without question. Did I need them to come early? Got it. Needed them to go pick up something? Yep. They did it. At the drop of a hat, my sisters were there for me. When I looked stressed out, I’d have a group of my sisters come and ask me if I needed help, or would ask me what I needed them to do. They were there to help serve me and make my job easier because we all know that, honestly, it wasn’t just me—and I don’t think I understood that until rush actually started. This was our event, our week, not mine. This was a collective effort to make things run smoothly. I was just there to set the plans, but our active members were there to make it happen. And, man, did it happen. It rocked. I don’t even think I can thank our members enough for all that they did for me and for the sorority during recruitment, either. It rejuvenated me and made me realize why I joined Sigma Alpha in the first place—I was there to find sisters and to grow at LSU. My sisters lifted me up at one of the most stressful time of my life and helped me soar. They constantly were congratulating me for an awesome week, but I know that, if it wasn’t for their hard work, the week wouldn’t have been awesome. They’re the reason it was awesome. I think that’s what I learned most about recruitment--our sorority as a moving machine is unstoppable when working and working together, and I got to witness it first hand by being recruitment chair, and I can’t thank my Sigma Alpha sisters enough for letting me be apart of such a beautiful, agriculture-powered, strong-woman-filled machine. ​​

Executive Board 2016

Alli & I