If you couldn't tell by your FYP, Bama Rush season 3 just had its season finale! This was my second year being on the other side of recruitment as an active. This year as a junior I didn't have to talk to as many PNMs as I did last year, instead as an upperclassman in my bump group I just had to bump into the sophomores in my group during each party. It was so much fun getting to see my little and all her friends get to go through rush on the other side and I cannot wait for all of them to get their littles!
Philanthropy Round is the first round the PNMs get to actually come into the houses and talk to active members. Obviously this round is all about each sorority's philanthropy and for Theta our national philanthropy is CASA and we also have a local philanthropy which is the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation. CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates and they are volunteers that work with kids that are in poor living situations and neglected homes. As Thetas we raise money for CASA volunteers to get trained. And our local philanthropy, B+, raises money for families whose kids have been diagnosed with cancer.
For Philanthropy Round this year we were given t-shirts with this cute graphic that said Theta and underneath said “I am for the child”, since our philanthropy is CASA. Then for bottoms we were told to wear light wash jeans with no rips in them so I got a pair of Agolde jeans from Neiman Marcus. They were high waisted, wide legged jeans with cute like cargo pockets on them and they were super comfortable to wear those three days. And then for shoes one day I wore my Golden Goose sneakers that have a black star and red laces to go with the red on our shirts and then the other two days I wore my black and white Vejas sneakers. For jewelry I kept it simple with chunky gold hoops and gold beaded bracelets from Beaded Blondes.
Sisterhood Round is the second round of recruitment and personally my favorite round because I just love sharing with the PNMs what makes Theta so special and all of the fun things I have done with my sisters! I also love getting to see all of the cute and fun dresses the PNMs wear during this round. This year I actually saw a PNM wearing our Ingrid dress during a party and literally everyone kept coming up to me to ask if I saw the girl wearing Moodz & Vibez!
For Sisterhood Round this year we all wore light blue dresses with tan heels or wedges. Most people will just pick out one dress and wear it all three days, but we all know I’m extra so I had a different dress for each day. Each of my dresses were totally different vibes despite all being the same color which I loved, and reminded me of when I was a PNM going through recruitment because my dress for each day were such different styles and vibes but still were all very me! The first day I wore our Alice dress with these platform nude Dolce Vita wedges (fun Theta fact: one of our founding member's name is Alice!) . The second day I wore our Carol dress with the same shoes, and the last day I wore our Peyton dress with some little heels from Target.
Preference or Pref is the last round of recruitment before Bid Day! This round is always a little more serious and emotional than prior rounds because it is when the PNMs are making their final decisions and being on the active side it is the seniors last party of recruitment ever so everyone is always pretty emotional.
We always wear black dresses for Preference Round, so this year I wore our Hannah dress with some little black kitten heels from Nordstroms and some cute little gold flower earrings from J.Crew. (Another Theta fun fact: one of our founders name is Hannah and last year I wore our Bettie dress named after the queen of Theta herslef, Bettie Locke!)
Finally for the best day of the year! This year the juniors and seniors wore white dresses and the sophomores wore light yellow dresses. So I wore our Kate dress with some white platform Steve Madden sandals and since it is so hot outside wore my hair in a cute slicked back curled ponytail. And then my little, Reese, wore our Reese dress for bid day (yes I did name the dress after her)!
Recruitment is always a stressful time of year. no matter if you are a PNM or an active but it is all worth it in the end! I am so excited to finally have MC 23 at home and am already looking forward to my last recruitment next fall! TLAM!
