As the fall semester starts, sororities and fraternities are getting ready to welcome new members to their chapters.  The on-campus Greek community gets hundreds of new recruitments every year and is hoping to continue this year. Fraternities and sororities all work with a cause and support their respected cause by providing acts of service.

Students interested in being a part of Greek Life, have to participate in rush week. Rush week is when everyone interested in joining goes through and meets the different fraternities and sororities. This year, rush week goes from Sept. 7 to Sept. 19. It starts with orientation on Sept. 7, followed by three days of information rounds, and then continues with two days of philanthropy rounds. 

After a week break, Sept. 18 is the sisterhood/fraternity round with a reference round the next day. Sept. 20 is Bid Day, where organizations get in contact with their selected members. 

“I like it a lot,” said Anna Norton, Chapter President of Gamma Phi Beta Sorority. “It’s busy and stressful at times but it gives me real-life leadership skills and a gained sense of confidence. Every sorority has unique values which is what ties our members together and with large chapter sizes you get all kinds of people, which is cool because everyone is unique but bound by the same values.”

Each sorority has different ideals and that goes for fraternities too. Gamma Phi Beta Sorority’s values are love, labor, learning, and loyalty. Tevin James, Chapter President of Phi Beta Sigma, states that their focus is mostly on brotherhood, service, and scholarship. James adds that their goal is to “Create a culture to service the community.” He also expresses that while they are a historically black fraternity, everyone is welcome to join and that they treat all of their brothers equally. 

“Rush week is like a trial run to see if you like it and where you fit in,” said Kaylana Lozelle, a sister of Tri Sigma. “You go through the houses and have Zoom meetings and information rounds.”

There is a distinct order to which you become a part of Greek Life. First is being a potential new member, or PNM, which is achieved by going to rush week and picking an organization. The organization then puts out a bid for the PNMs and if accepted, they become pledges. 

“We want the potential new members to know about our chapters like our history and the business side of things,” James said. “So we train, teach, and test them once they become pledges.” 

Involvement is all up to the members as they can choose to be more involved or not depending on their role within the group. It’s important to pick a group you feel strongly about, for more information on Greek Life visit, https://www.gvsu.edu/greeklife/, to see each group’s mission and values. Greek Life is a great way to make connections for future internship and job opportunities, as well as bond with the people that become your brothers and sisters for a lifelong friendship.

Lozelle revealed that she joined Tri Sigma to get involved in the community and meet new people since COVID prevented her from doing that her freshman year. It doesn’t hurt to give rush week a try. If students find that it isn’t for them, there’s no commitment to worry about. They simply choose not to accept the Bid given to them and move on.

“Greek Life isn’t for everyone,” Lozelle said. “It was for me and it could be for you.”