Summer gives way to many annual traditions at Washburn and the Greek women will soon display one of the marquee events.

Rush, the process of sorority recruitment, has long been considered a tradition at Washburn that helps new students acquaint themselves with the campus and also make new friends.

“It’s been shown in studies that students that participate in extracurricular activities like sororities end up enjoying their time in college more and are more productive academically,” said Marsha Carrasco-Cooper, director of Student Activities and Greek life.

The lead up to rush week will feature different social events. The events such as orientation meetings as well as campus tours that highlight the different Greek homes will start Sunday August 22 and will be open to all interested Washburn students.

The week’s events will come to a crescendo in a barbeque that will be held August 26, 5 p.m. at the Alpha Delta house where students will be invited to join in the festivities.The different chapters will have non-partisan Greek officials available to answer questions of interested students who are curious about the traditions of Greek life.

“We just want to put together an event where all students can come that want to and enjoy some fun in the sun as we all get to know each other and help to answer any questions that anyone might have about what ‘being Greek’ is,” said Jaylyn Beaty, president of Panhellenic Council.

Panhellenic Council, an organization comprising representatives of the different sorority chapter houses, has taken this year as an opportunity to step up their efforts in recruiting.

In prior years, Greek recruitment didn’t require as much effort as many students were naturally drawn to the idea of living on campus and being part of an organization right out of the gate. With the addition of the Living Learning Center increasing on-campus housing and the wealth of other organizations across campus that are active, Panhellenic Council chose to take a more proactive role entering this year.

“We’ve been much more assertive in making sure we grow our organizations,” said Beaty. “We’ve been calling girls to help get them interested and also make sure they are aware of our different events we are hosting this year like our tours and we will also be helping with move in day at the dorms as well.”

These efforts combined with their goal of recruiting up to 120 new young women for their chapters means that a lot of hard work is still ahead for the women of the Greek community.

“We will be all over campus at the beginning of the semester ready to answer questions and lend a hand to those that aren’t sure what they want out of the Greek experience,” said Beaty.

All of these different efforts and events will culminate in the form of rush week which will have a theme of “Adding Flair to Your Life, Go Greek!” this year. Different events during the week will highlight pillars of the Greek community such as the active philanthropic efforts that go on throughout the year with the different chapters.

The Panhellenic Council believes that between their planning and their use of other venues like advertising that it will yield great things for the Greek community future.

“We are really looking forward to everything we have planned to help grow our chapters for a positive future,” said Beaty.