This is Alpha Chi | Recruitment 2014

In honor of recruitment starting, we're throwing it back to recruitment last year! We asked our Vice President of Recruitment, Hannah Swanson, and one of our new members from last year, Emily Ann Clemons to each tell us a little about their experiences through recruitment!

Emily Ann Clemons | PC 2014

Hannah Swanson | 2014 Recruitment Chair

At the end of my senior year of high school, all that we seemed to be talking about was recruitment and which sororities we thought we wanted to be a part of. We looked at the pros and cons of each one, creeped on all of the Instagram's and Facebook pages to see who looked the best and who looked like they were having the most fun, most spirit, and the cutest girls. It's funny, move-in day was less "I'm about to be a student", and more, "I'm about to be in a sorority." I remember sitting in my new, clean, and freshly decorated dorm room thinking about how this would be the first of many major decisions I would make at college: which sorority did I want to join.

I have loved recruitment since the first day of Ice Water Teas freshman year. This is unverified, but I'm pretty sure I was the first PNM to register for recruitment in 2012. So, when I was given the opportunity to serve as Alpha Chi's vice president of recruitment last year, I jumped on it and never looked back. However, about three months into my term, I realized just what I had gotten myself into. "What will we wear? What songs should we sing? Where do I order the water cups?!" I thought to myself many restless nights. No one said leading 120 girls for nine days of recruitment would be easy, but no one also told me that I would have it made since those girls were Alpha Chis.

On that first day of Ice Water Teas I remember going into Alpha Chi very overwhelmed by how much had already happened that day and then leaving with a thought in the back of my head that this was my home. This is where I was meant to be. For the first time all day I felt like I could take a deep breath and relax because I actually had a genuine conversation with all the girls I talked to. I didn't get a bunch of head nods and glazed eyes like they didn't care about anything I had to say. I got interaction. I got realness. 

From people constantly volunteering their time to our former president guiding me through the entire process, we were able to recruit, in my humble opinion, the best pledge class on Auburn's campus. And I take none of the credit. Without the help of the older girls or the support from my closest friends, I would have never survived that week. I learned more about being humble, showing kindness, and the power of listening in those nine days then I have learned in my 21 years of life. Because of that week, our entire sorority now has an inside joke (#prayfordixie), and I am lucky enough to know each and every one of the girls in Alpha Chi. 

Alpha Chi stood out to me for so many reasons, the biggest one being that I could tell that every single girl in the room was loved and cared for by another sister. It was this unexplainable energy that they all gave off around the room. There wasn't a fake show being put on for the PNM's. There was no "behind the scenes this is who we really are" stuff going on. They were real with me and I was able to be real with them. I could tell them what I was looking for in a sorority and what I valued as a person and they respected that, as well as saying "we do too." I wasn't expected to prance around in Alpha Chi like a princess being judged and watched like a hawk. I didn't have to be on my toes and say the perfect thing in every conversation to make sure I was pleasing everyone. They just wanted to get to know me, something I didn't get the feel from in any other sorority. I felt like I could relax, which was extremely important to me in finding my home for the next four years. I was enough. I was enough being who I was and talking about what I'm passionate about and they liked me for that. That is why Alpha Chi stood out so much to me. 

Being recruitment chair is a unique experience. I was truly able to showcase how smart, beautiful, and 'real' Alpha Chi is. Our PC '14 is incredibly intelligent, totally gorgeous, and made up of some of the most talented girls on Auburn's campus. As a former recruitment chair, my advice to PNMs is to be yourself and to just have fun during recruitment week. It is a long, exhausting process, but being able to find a place of love, support, and honesty for the next four years will be certainly worth it.

Alpha Chi was exactly what I wanted: a strong group of girls that encourage each other daily to do their best, but will be there when you fall short sometimes because they understand that we're all human and no one is perfect. A group of girls that understands what it means to be classy but also have fun. A group of girls that welcomes different and unique. A group of girls who will make me passionate about things I never thought possible. A group of girls that will fight for what they think is right but always show others respect. This is why I chose Alpha Chi. This is Alpha Chi Omega.