As WSU students start to flood back into Pullman for the first day of classes on Aug. 22,  Greek Life students have already had two weeks of Pullman under their belt. 

Panhellenic Primary Recruitment for sororities and fraternities began on Monday which is the week-long process that takes place to recruit new members into the chapters. However, to prepare for recruitment current members of chapters undergo Work Week, said Megan Harvey, junior criminal justice and pysychology double major.

Harvey is a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and is in the 2021 member class, she said. Since Harvey joined Theta in fall 2021, this is her first year recruiting potential new members (PNMs) and experiencing work week.

“Work week is the week leading up to primary recruitment that happens for sororities and basically we just prepare within the chapter working on picking up, dropping off, conversation topics, bonding with our sisters and just preparing in general for the recruitment week,” Harvey said.

There are four rounds of recruitment – panhellenic, philanthropy, house tours and preference. Each sorority recruits PNM’s differently during each round and have a variety things that are focused on based on the chapter house they are a part of, Harvey said. 

“We practice specifically each day – we practice conversation topics that we would want to cover, we practice questions that we want to ask the PNM and then we do full run-throughs,” Harvey said. 

Harvey said they will sometimes pair up with other chapters and go to each other’s houses to practice a real-life situation, with one chapter acting as the recruiter and the other acting as the PNM.

Not only do the chapters practice how they want their conversations to go with PNMs, but they make sure they are practicing within the Panhellenic rules that all chapters are required to follow, she said. This includes topics that are not to be discussed with PNMS, time limits that must be followed and expectations that make the recruitment process fair.

Maddie Oliver, junior interior design major joined Kappa Alpha Theta in fall 2020, so she is a veteran of the Work Week process. Even though she is an upperclassman, Oliver says it is still just as important for them to be there as the underclassmen.

“The sophomores wouldn’t really know what to do if we weren’t there and we are still a big part of the chapter,” Oliver said. “We are still involved when it comes to Greek fams, big/little and whatnot.”

Although the upperclassmen may not be on the front lines of recruitment as much, they are a big part of demonstrating and explaining how to successfully recruit once the process 

“The work week experience is definitely a lot of mixed emotions. I think overall it’s really exciting because getting new members into your sorority is an exciting thing and we do sisterhoods and other fun activities to break up the day and break up the practices,” Harvey said. “It is a good time to bond with your sisters while still staying focused on practicing.”