This past year has been the most bizarre, challenging, and frustrating thing to ever happen to us from a global standpoint. 

It is more severe now than ever for people to have healthy relationships and to feel connected.  

One way to get connected on campus is to get involved in a Greek life organization. These organizations are great for making new friends and for networking through social events.

The National Panhellenic Conference is an umbrella organization for the 26 women’s sororities throughout the United States. The University of West Florida has 4 out of the 26 sororities under Panhellenic.

Recruitment will take place on the weekend of September 11th-13th. UWF’s sorority recruitment will be held virtually through Zoom.

There’s a lot of planning that goes into recruitment that way potential new members (PNM’s) have the best experience going through the process.

“There were many drafts of possible plans created and then backup for those, and of course, backup backups for those. What really helped us and the chapters out during all of this insane planning was focusing on having good communication across the board,” said Long.

“Between advisors, executive board members, chapter members, potential new members, and even higher ups at the university, everyone played their part in terms of communicating all that needed to be done. Planning virtual recruitment was a massive team effort.”

Long rest assured that the Panhellenic members are doing everything they can to make sure it’s a smooth process for the PNM’s. 

“It has been beyond overwhelming on our whole team, to say the least, but we all know it will be well worth it when it’s all over and that’s the light of at the end of the tunnel keeping us going. We have a job to do and want to keep the chapter and potential new members happy and safe above everything else,” Long revealed.  

UWF has done an outstanding job of closely following the CDC’s guidelines and keeping students as safe as they can.

According to statistics provided by the New York Times database , there are 70 coronavirus cases at the University of West Florida. Compared to the 754 confirmed cases at the University of Central Florida. 

More than 51,000 cases have been linked to colleges and universities over the course of the pandemic.

With fed up students looking for some normalcy, Greek housing has quickly become the epicenter for the coronavirus.

For example, at the University of Washington, more than 120 students living in fraternity houses tested positive for the coronavirus in July. 

This pandemic has been extremely hard on all of us and I understand the desire to interact with people other than your roommates.

While we are all trying to figure out the new way of life around us, it is very important to stay connected to one another and refrain from isolating ourselves. 

Although sorority recruitment is held virtually, it is still an amazing way to meet new people and gain a support system during these difficult times. 

I can guarantee that each chapter at the University of West Florida has diligently prepared for this new way of recruiting and is excited to meet all of the PNMs.

“PNMs will still get to meet, learn from, and engage with sisters in the Panhellenic community, it’ll just be over a computer instead of in a conference room. Which for those of us shy souls, might be a whole lot better,” said Long. 

The chapters at UWF include Kappa Delta, Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Chi Omega, and Alpha Gamma Delta. Every chapter and Panhellenic member involved has been working tirelessly all summer long, to work out any of the kinks that came along with transitioning to virtual recruitment. 

I’ll leave you with a piece of advice from your Panhellenic president Lizzie Long, “Don’t let something so small stop you from being a part of something so big. Our world will not be virtual forever, but the bonds you make when joining a sisterhood will be and that’s something you do not want to pass up.”