A new pledge class joined Alpha Kappa Psi (AKP), the professional business fraternity, and Alpha Phi Omega (APO), the co-ed national service fraternity, after recruitment events this spring. AKP gained 18 new pledges from their spring rush events, while APO gained 30 new undergraduate members.
According to the AKP President, senior Aaryn McCutchan, this semesters pledge class was smaller than last fall's but was still larger than what they had been expected.
"We had so many qualified rushees that we decided to take a slightly larger group than had originally been planned," McCutchan wrote in an e-mail to The News-Letter.
In contrast, APO saw a smaller than expected pledge class. According to APO President Jessica Taggart, a senior, typically spring recruitment sees the larger class at around 35 to 40 new pledges. This past fall, however, 36 pledges joined.
"It seems that the pledge classes are averaging out overall this year," Taggart wrote in an e-mail to The News-Letter.
AKP's rush events included 20 minute information sessions on the fraternity, a meet and greet event with current members and an interview to allow pledges to present their professional side.
The process is identical to previous years; however, slight organizational changes were made to clarify and streamline the purpose of each event.
"We reorganized a little to make sure each event had a specific purpose and made sure that our information session really gave a good idea of what we did and who we are so those who chose to rush were aware of what was expected," McCutchan wrote.
APO hosted rush events over the course of two weeks. Events included an ice cream social, a game night, s'mores and a Night of Service, where participants made teddy bears to donate to children in the hospital. APO also hosted a water pong event, cleverly called "APOng." According to APO President, senior Jessica Taggart, many of the events were repeated from APO's fall rush events.
"We decided to bring back s'mores, which we did a year ago, since it has always been one of our most popular events," Taggart wrote.
Because AKP is a professional business fraternity, the selection process is focused on both a professional aspect and a social aspect.
"We look for people who are business-minded who would also fit in well with the rest of the brothers," McCutchan wrote. "We really try to balance between both aspects of our fraternity."
APO, on the other hand, does not have a particular set of selection criteria.
"There is not a selection process in Alpha Phi Omega," Taggart wrote. "We accept any undergraduate interested in joining our organization. Everyone is welcome! As a result, we do not have any particular selection criteria to become a pledge."
Despite their successes, both fraternities faced a number of challenges to make them happen.
"The challenge every spring is to make sure we don't overlap with social rush, as we do usually have one or two rushees who are pledging both a social sorority or fraternity and Alpha Kappa Psi at the same time," McCutchan wrote.
"Every year we try to extend our marketing reach, however, that is something that can always be improved upon and needs to be constantly changing with the changing face of the university."
While Taggart reports that the rush events ran smoothly, she had hoped for a larger pledge class.
"Our major challenge tends to be recruiting pledge classes as large as we would like them to be," Taggart wrote.
"While thirty is a good number of pledges, we could always use more members. Next semester, we hope to increase our publicity and host even more rush events that everyone can enjoy."
