Sororities rush new members at 19 Party

“Special” buses idled along North Jordan Avenue and Third Street, while fraternity brothers stood in front of their houses entertaining those who walked past.

Women lined up outside the fraternities’ neighbors, shivering in the bitter cold. Other women took their places behind each of the sorority house’s door, ready to greet the girls who could become the newest pledge classes.

19 Party — the process of potential new members visiting all sorority chapters in two days — is only the first round of a month-long process.

But the weekend spread further than in the homes of sororities, with fraternities getting involved as well.

“These women have one weekend of stress, and we have more than that (spread out),” said freshman Sam Incardona, a member of Kappa Sigma.

To show his support for the sororities, Incardona spent his weekend on the front lawn of the fraternity passing out hot chocolate to Rho Gammas and the girls rushing.

On Sunday, many freshmen spent their break from the recruitment process catching up on sleep, grabbing a bite to eat or studying for the week ahead.

Freshman Paulina Minite said she emerged from her afternoon break refreshed. Minite said she overcame all her initial nerves about the weekend and was enjoying the process more.

“In the beginning, when you’re at that first house, that time seems really long waiting outside,” she said. “Overall, when you’re in the house, it goes by, it feels like you’ve spent 10 minutes inside.”

She said she’s been waiting for this weekend, assuming it would be a time commitment and a disruption of her normal plans.

“I do the same thing every weekend,” she said. “(19 Party) has been a great experience, and I’ve really enjoyed it.”

It’s been an out of the ordinary weekend for current members, too.

Though it varies by chapter, many sororities implemented policies regarding when members must be in the house to assist with 19 Party.

Junior Laura Walker, a member of Alpha Gamma Delta, said she’s used the down time after the rounds to catch up on homework.

“We have breaks, and at the end of the day by 8 p.m., we have time for homework,” Walker said. “It does consume a lot of the weekend, but there is still time to do other things.”

Walker said many of her sorority sisters planned around this weekend by doing projects early or have built time into their schedules for work later this week.

“We know what’s coming. We know what the time commitment is,” Walker said. “It’s stressful, but you can pre-plan well in advance. It’s not as big of a deal as you would think it is.”

With such a busy weekend for sororities, their counterparts — the fraternities — were left with little to do. Incardona said the weekend was “chill.”

“There haven’t been any parties or anything this weekend, no interaction with the sororities because they’re all on lock-down,” Incardona said. “It was just the guys hanging out.”

By early Sunday evening, Incardona and several of his pledge brothers said they estimated they had served “hundreds” of cups of hot chocolate.

“It’s a one-of-a-kind weekend,” he said. “This doesn’t happen all the time.”