Take the yawn factor out of new member education with some entertaining activities.
The New Member Educator plays a crucial role in teaching new members about the sorority's history, values, symbols and other important information. On top of other academic and extracurricular commitments, it can be difficult to get new members to be enthused about these lessons. However, planning entertaining activities to go along with your weekly lesson plans can help make this crucial process more enjoyable for everyone.
Name That Sister
To help new members get to know their sorority better, create a slide show with pictures of members including important past figures like the founders, members who went on to become famous, as well as each current member of the house. Do not list the names beneath the faces; instead, have the new members guess the identity of each photo. Another option is to read out several key facts about each of these past and present members and to have new members guess the person's identity without the help of visuals.
Trivia Night
Host a trivia night after a few lessons to allow new members to show what they know. Members can work individually, in two large groups or in smaller teams depending on what you feel will work best. Serve some snacks like popcorn or chips to tide everyone over. Ask a variety of trivia questions about the sorority's philanthropy, important figures, symbols and colors, as well as general facts that you feel new members ought to know. Mix it up by throwing in some trivia about the older members. To keep things organized, keep shouting and chaos to a minimum by giving each member or team an answer sheet to write their responses.
Karaoke Night
Get together with the sorority Song Chair to devise an entertaining karaoke night where members can practice important songs. If you don't already own a karaoke machine, ask around to the other members or to friends to find out if you can borrow one for the evening. Because many of the songs are original and can't be found in a karaoke selection book, you could potentially just use a microphone if you can't find a machine. However, it can be more enticing to take a break from the sorority ballads to sing a few karaoke pop tunes here and there.
Baking Bash
Host a baking night at the sorority house for new members to come down and make some treats. Challenge the new members to decorate the items they bake to represent the important elements of the sorority you've discussed. For instance, they could use icing to frost a batch of cookies with the appropriate sorority colors, or could use cookie cutters to bake treats in the shape of the sorority's mascot or symbol. If you have the will power not to gobble up all the treats you've baked, save them for a bake sale fundraiser to support your sorority's philanthropy.
Tags: about sorority, entertaining activities, have members, have members guess, members guess