How "Rush" Operates these days

Dear AOII Sisters,

My name is Sarah Murphy, and I am the recruitment adviser for the Sigma Omicron chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi. In the 8 years I have been working with the chapter, rush has gone through many changes. The days of parties, skits, and shrimp cocktail are long gone. The girls now participate in "no frills rush". The following are a few changes that I know many of you are not aware of:

*Rush consists of 3 days.
- Day 1: Information Party -The girls wear NPC provided t-shirts and jeans with simple sandals. Each sorority has a different color shirt and the rushees (PNMs aka potential new members) all wear the same colored t-shirt also provided by NPC. We no longer do skits at ANY party. Information party consists of mainly visiting with the PNMs and also watching a well put together slide show of the past year's events.
- Day 2: Philanthropy Party - The girls wear block letter t-shirts and jeans. The PNMs wear either dresses or a cute outfit. This night the girls decorate t-shirts for stuffed pandas to wear and then send the pandas to Camp Joy, a camp that houses children who have arthritis. They also watch a video this night about Arthritis Research.
- Day 3: Preference Party - The girls all wear black dresses that they buy on their own. However, each dress is approved by the recruitment chair to assure it is appropriate. The PNMs wear nice dresses. Pref party has changed the least and is most likely still how most of you remember.

*The chapter is now governed by the AAC board, which is a group of 15 advisers. Each adviser has two officers she advises and takes care of. I am over the MIF (membership information form) and recruitment officers. This helps to lesson the burden on one person. Megan Haines Morris is the chapter adviser and she oversees the AAC board and the chapter as a whole. She does a fabulous job and the girls absolutely love her! Thanks Megan for all you do for our chapter!!! AAC meets once a month and reports on our officer and Megan reports on the chapter as a whole.

*We have approximately 65-70 active members and will add approximately 35-40 new members. Yes, we are usually right at 100 or so members!

*Rush will be Saturday August 29 - Monday August 31st with bids going out at 5 on Tuesday September 1st. Anyone who would like to come up to the suite is welcome for all parties but must leave for bid sessions. Times will not be set until Friday night after the 4 pm cut-off to sign up. I will try to forward times to you guys when we get them, but as of now parties will start at 8am and go until 4:30 on Saturday and start at 10 am on Sunday. We are working on these times as they are a bit early to start! Ok, so they are ridiculously early, but they did not ask me! Please do not email me after Friday as I will be tied up at the suite from Friday evening through Tuesday evening. I do have lots of help from the AAC board and Megan. Lindsay Burnett and I have worked together on rush for four years now and have it down to an art form! She is a faithful partner in rush and I cannot say how much I appreciate her help. I think we slept a total of 8 hours in 4 days last year! What's the old saying "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!" Lindsay, Megan and I will be very strong after next week! On the serious side, it is an honor to work with the girls and I love every minute of it! They are a great bunch of girls!

I hope I have given you a small idea of the changes that have occurred over the past years. If you have any questions feel free to email me and I will try to respond as quickly as possible. Thanks for all your help!

Alpha Love,
Sarah Wiggins Murphy