Tabatha Bowlin

Viewpoints Editor

The year 2020 has changed what many people took for granted. One of these factors is engaging physically or less than six feet apart from others, especially with your sorority sisters. Many of our very own sororities at Northwestern State University truly feel the disappointment of coronavirus restrictions. Let’s focus a little closer on my sorority, Tri Sigma. 

 Although Tri Sigma Alpha Zeta Chapter’s house has been closed since last semester, the groundbreaking achievement they have accomplished is they have kept the whole sorority involved virtually while learning new things at the same time throughout the coronavirus phases. The most interesting part, and some would say impossible, is that they have made their recruitment virtual this year.  

My belief is that each activity of each sorority must be taken a day at a time to avoid planning too far ahead for the endless possibilities of moving backwards in the Louisiana phases with the hopefulness of only moving forward.  

The new normal of Zoom Video Communications, Cisco Webex and Microsoft Teams virtual meetings are  not typical to everyone, sorority or not.  

So how does a sorority find functionality in such a new era from nothing? The answer is hard to specify, but they are making the best out of a sticky situation. Brette Reaux, President of the Alpha Zeta Chapter, says, “Virtual Recruitment allows everyone to have one on one conversations in their own space and makes them feel more comfortable and it is much more quiet as opposed to being in the chapter’s house trying to scream over a ton of other girls!”.  

That is a positive angle I can get behind. If we think about normal recruiting processes, it takes a heavy fee on everyone involved.  

The amount of physical and mental pressure it puts on any potential new member is exhausting. While also being scary to some with social anxieties or any other mental barriers that come with getting out of their comfort zones in person with 50 or more women trying to physically and verbally interact in a very short period.  

The possibility of the new normal of virtual recruitment, at least through 2020, is not surprising. What is surprising is the new ways that everyone will be able to participate and be involved. Tri Sigma has been preparing for months.  

This makes me hopeful that only good things will come out of everything. All Greek organizations that have been preparing for this, I believe only successful things will come from this year’s recruitment processes. You cannot be prepared for everything, but you can try your very best to be. 

Submitted graphic courtesy of Julia Malone