REACHING OUT FOR SUCCESS
How Spring ’21’s formal recruitment period was a successful endeavor
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, our formal recruitment period this Spring 2021 was made difficult as the guidelines for recruiting were more restrictive than anything else. However, our chapter, especially those involved in the recruitment committee took it upon themselves to come up with creative, engaging means of getting to know the potential new brothers (PNBs).
Our Vice President of Recruitment, brother Grinden Collins, transferred here to Virginia Tech from Christopher Newport University in the Fall of 2020. Coming from their Virginia Pi chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon, with a brotherhood of over 100 men, Collins came into our smaller chapter of roughly 60 guys with big ambitions for growing our numbers.
All of open recruitment was required to be virtual through Zoom, which presented the challenge of getting to know PNBs in a way that was both engaging and enjoyable. With many students at VT already experiencing signs of “Zoom burnout”, Collins and his recruitment committee took the initiative to find ways to get new men interested in joining Virginia Kappa.
“Recruitment this semester has been a great way for me to meet a lot of people as a transfer” Collins said. “Covid as real put a lot of roadblocks on meeting new people and that is something I want to do for recruitment, is make these connections and give these PNMs a chance to meet new people too,” Collins said. “I of course wish we could’ve done formal recruitment in person but we had to do our best around the situation.”
After open recruitment, we entered closed recruitment, where 15 men were invited back to get to know the chapter better. The Interfraternity Council at Virginia Tech (IFC) allowed for chapters to host in-person interviews (albeit with COVID-19 mindful caveats) only during the closed recruitment period, which allowed for brothers to get to know those who were interested in joining a bit better than they would have had over Zoom. In the end, with 15 bids handed out, we had 12 new men join Virginia Kappa. A mix of freshmen and sophomores, these new brothers will still be undergraduate by the time our chapter moves back into our Oak Lane Living Community chapter house.
“I have enjoyed every minute of recruitment, and I’m excited for informal and getting some more great guys in our chapter,” Collins said.