Membership Vice President | 2015 Executive Board

Gamma Phi Beta - The University of Alabama

In November 2014, I was elected as 2015 Membership Vice President (MVP) position of the Epsilon Lambda chapter of Gamma Phi Beta at The University of Alabama. I was appointed this leadership role by the UA, Epsilon Lambda chapter alumni board. My position was a part of the active chapter's executive board and focused solely on membership status. As a member of the 2015 executive board, some of our obligations included: participation in twice a week exec meetings, bi-weekly executive board hearings, leading weekly chapter meetings, and monitoring all social events.

2015 Membership Vice President

Recruitment Chair

The MVP position included duties such as: administrating the membership department, in which includes: two elected assistants and eight appointed chairs, attending University Panhellenic Council weekly meetings, monthly Panhellenic hosted discussion round tables, organizing the two Panhellenic hosted recruiting events (Preview Day and Invitational Spring Tea), planning and executing educational recruitment workshops throughout the spring 2015 semester and a full-week long recruitment preparation in the summer before formal recruitment, “party” planning for all membership related events as well as maintaining detailed expense reports or any documentation related to membership. As MVP, I implemented several of my original ideas throughout my term for our chapter such as: sending promotional cards to Potential New Members (PNMs) — a New Years Eve card, Congratulations Grad card, a 25-page recruitment handbook and more.

Greek Life at The University of Alabama

Fall Formal Sorority Recruitment at The University of Alabama is by far the biggest and most important week of every incoming freshmen girls’ college career! Going through sorority recruitment at UA is a tradition on campus and home of the biggest sorority recruitment in the United States. During the year I was in charge of recruitment for Gamma Phi Beta, we reached the highest in record of women participating in formal sorority recruitment, 2,442 participants, since then the number continues to grow every year.  

Each sorority has a minimum grade requirement in order to be considered, in which is 3.0 cumulative high school or college GPA. All UA sororities emphasize dedication to academic excellence and scholarship. Each house has its’ own Scholarship Program, which includes: weekly study hall hours, sisterhood study nights, academic achievement banquets every semester, scholarship shout-outs, and awards. 

Learn more about sorority formal recruitment at The University of Alabama -- UA Panhellenic

Panhellenic Preview Day & Invitational Spring Tea 

GAMMA PHI BETA'S PANHELLENIC PREVIEW DAY TABLE

Panhellenic Preview Day is the first recruitment event of the year and allows high school senior women to participate in a non-formal recruiting event to meet face-to-face with all 18 national Panhellenic sororities on UA's campus. This "come and go" event allows high school women to learn more about greek life and a chance to meet members in each sorority. 

My vision for Gamma Phi's Preview Day table was similar to a Kate Spade 'Cocktail' Hour. Selected members met with nearly 2,800 high school senior women. Members wore a variety of pink and black tops with gold accented jewelry to represent Gamma Phi's national colors. The informational tables included: a large framed photo of the new Gamma Phi Beta house on-campus in which was completed months before recruitment week, two large floral arrangements of spring flowers, artwork created by chapter members, various Alabama greek signature game day t-shirts, and my own informational tri-fold poster giving the attendees a glimpse of life as a GPhi! 

GAMMA PHI BETA'S BOHEMIAN SPRING TEA

The theme for Gamma Phi's Invitational Spring Tea was Bohemian and was created by my appointed day chair, Liz. Her idea was to show the laid-back side of Gamma Phi with the hostesses wearing fun and flowy dresses. The rooms were filled with fresh wild flowers and nature-like decor. Our guests were offered fruit infused water, chicken salad croissants, and fresh fruit.    

Potential New Members Mailing List - 2015 New Years Card

I constructed a Gamma Phi Beta photoshoot to feature the photos on a New Years card for Potential New Members (high school senior women interested in greek life at UA). 

Graphics

These promotional graphics were used for our members to share on their social media accounts. 

Spring Workshops

During the spring semester, members of Gamma Phi prepare for formal recruitment months in advance.  In previous years, the house has had two spring workshops with all 280 women present. During my term, I decided to increase the amount of workshops to eight by breaking down the 280 member chapter into groups of 50-80, in order to enhance knowledge retention. The freshmen pledge class was split in-half for four workshop sessions, the sophomores and juniors were gathered separately for one workshop session and the final two workshops were taught to the entire chapter.  

Work Week - "Recruitment Bootcamp" 

In the summer, an entire week before formal recruitment (“work week”), the chapter was instructed to attend a full-week recruitment workshop. As MVP, my duty was to organize and lead work week for the 280 members in preparations to recruiting the new 2015 pledge class of Gamma Phi Beta. The week long "recruitment bootcamp" includes: practicing our welcome and goodbye door songs, “picking up” PNMs at the door and dropping them off after the "party" is over, practicing conversation topics and recruiting questions, etc. 

Formal Recruitment ~ Aug. 7-14, 2015

Ice Water tea (open house) 

The theme for our two open house days was similar to our Preview Day,  fuchsia and blush pink dresses with gold and black as an accent color. Our new house was filled with beautiful arrangements in mason jars, classy black and white table runners with glitter gold and pink confetti, tissue paper tassels lined down our staircase, and mason jar glasses with fruit infused water paired with a gold or pink pin-stripe straw.

Philanthropy Day 

Gamma Phi Beta's Philanthropy is Building Strong Girls and we partner with Girls on the Run. The theme for our Philanthropy Day round was created by a collaboration of ideas between myself and my Philanthropy Day chair, Erika. The Building Strong Girls national colors was our inspiration to create a 'Garden Picnic' using a mixture of pastel and Building Strong Girls colors, which are hot pink, yellow, orange and brown. The rooms perfectly matched the theme with garden decorations such as: sliced logs, wooden crates, chalkboard signs and lanterns with decorative pastel ribbon. The long wooden dining room tables were tastefully filled with beautiful garden arrangements in wooden crates or chalkboard boxes, burlap table runners with pastel tissue paper confetti, loose flowers in mini pastel mason jars and watering cans, and mason jar glasses with pink lemonade and pastel straws. 

Skit Day 

The theme for our Skit Day was incorporated with lavender, aqua, white, and gold accented colors. I was inspired by a mermaid birthday party I came across on Pinterest. On Skit Day, selected members of our chapter work together in preforming our skit, which was Legally Blonde. Our members wore either lavender, aqua or white dresses with gold or beige heels and gold accent jewelry. The staircase had gold, aqua, lavender, and white tissue paper tassels and our cocktail tables had crisp white cloths with a large gold bow tied at the base of the table. Our guests were given a martini glass filled with a sweet non-alcoholic Shirley Temple. Unfortunately, during recruitment I was sick with bronchitis on both days of Skit Day. My plans sheet is available to look at below! 

Preference Night

Formal recruitment concludes with Preference Night, which is the longest round of “parties” lasting 50 minutes each. The final day of recruitment is a more formal and serious round to have meaningful conversations leading to lasting friendships. The members of Gamma Phi wore black dresses, black heels and gold or black jewelry. My Preference Night day chair, Madison, was inspired to create a beautiful canopy entrance with white cloth and gold bows. The staircase was wrapped in gold sheer cloth and strung with Christmas lights. The dining room chairs were lined up facing the front of the room with two large floral arrangements filled with roses and carnations (the Gamma Phi flower). During the Preference round, selected members shared a presentation with our guests and a sisterhood inspired video was shown.

Formal Recruitment Plans Sheets

Below are my plans sheet for each day. I used these finalized sheets as an overall visual of each day to easily visualize my ideas as well as a tool to order needed items for each event.