Sept. 10-13 marks a weekend of sorority and fraternity recruitment.
Freshman Jaelen Matthews, a forensic biology major, and Meryt Ediger, a freshman business major, are committed to the house of Delta Gamma, as their sister and mother were.
Matthews and Ediger together experienced modifications to the normal recruitment week for Greek life at Washburn. This year, it was online due to the COVID-19 restrictions.
“Normally, you are with a group in-person,”said Matthews. “It was still fun talking to the girls in DG. It was not a bid day, but we had a night where we got to actually all be together and finally, got to meet my pledge class.”
The process involved recruits talking for an hour with two to three girls from each house. Every sorority on campus was represented. Sept. 13 was the official bid day when initiates picked their official houses.
“With COVID-19, it’s harder because you have to go through a lot of processes. It has definitely been harder,” said Ediger. “But all of the sorority girls were really kind and understanding. It felt like I got to talk more to individual people and get to know them better; and I guess, know me better.”
A whole weekend of meeting with girls from different sorority groups helped Ediger] gain different perspectives of the houses and girls that live there. The overall experience between both women was positive.
“It’s been really fun honestly,” said Matthew. “Actual rush weekend was a little bit stressful and disappointing because I could not really get to know the people who were going through it [this process] too.”
Due to her recent recruitment, Ediger now feels more connected to her community of “sisters” since leaving her home town of Wichita, Kansas, to attend her first year of college at Washburn.
“The first month has been really hard because I have all online classes so I just sit in my room,” said Ediger. “Now that I am in a sorority, I have met so many girls. I always go over to the sorority house just because I am bored. There’s always something to do.”
Since then, these women have found a way to stay active, while also serving the broader sense of community and mental well-being.
“When we had our big group [together] they were just very open,” said Matthew. “They told stories. It seemed really laid back, but still the professional process. It felt more like they were family.”