For the countless PNMs (potential new members) Bid Day is more than opening an envelope with your sorority’s title scrawled in fancy cursive above your full name. It marks the end of recruitment, and running home with your recruitment councillors, now revealed fellow sisters.
For many girls, those two or three Greek words on a tiny piece of paper calm their bubbling anxiety and excitement. For the nearly 200 member PNM group, standing freezing and then quickly overheating from the nerves in the late morning — you can imagine our joy when the recruitment councillors gave the okay, a few phones laid against the steps of Sidney Smith.
Is it really uncertainty?
For the girls who had done a “suicide bid” (submitted only ½ of the sororites after preference) there was a certain undertone of comfort that morning. For others, we had a very strong feeling we knew where we were headed. Maybe it was the one active that you couldn’t part with after an in house round, finding out you shared niche interests with more than one sister, or another PNM pre-ordaining that I “looked like a Pi Phi” during Round 2.
Or maybe, it was the fact that the envelopes were very thin, and we could briefly make out the letters before ripping them open. (I promise all of us were smiling and screaming anyway).
I knew it was the right choice the second everyone agreed to walk to Pi Beta Phi instead of running the whole way, the tiredness of rush hitting us as well as comfort.
Recruitment is a great option if you aim to get out of your shell.
There’s something about countless conversations with intelligent, well-spoken young women that help you to develop key communication skills. I used to be a very hyperaware person, but there’s something about running down Beverly to your forever home, that makes you ignore all the curious pedestrians.
Seven sororities, seven themes.
Of course, the most fun part of Bid Day are the themes. All unique, creative, and reflective of the incredible amounts of hard work the actives put into preparing to welcome their new sisters to the chapter.
Alpha Gamma Delta: Midnight Sun with Alpha Gamma Delta
Bubbly and warm, just like an eternal summer, the fun never ends at Alpha Gam. The hearts on the spray painted bright pink and blue shirts seem to be beating, but the love AGD has for their new sisters is even more. Their makeup shimmered in oranges and pinks, but was actually a sisterhood event itself, the girls spending hours beforehand getting all decked out in glam that would make Zara Larson proud. The girls also enjoyed canned beverages from POPOFF, a low sugar soft drink packed with fibre, vitamins & minerals.
Alpha Omicron Pi: Text Me When You Get Home
“Text Me When You Get Home,” is the most perfect fitting theme for AOII, a sisterhood so closely knit, phones are really only needed for checking in with your sisters. From movie nights packed with popcorn on a massive couch decorated in pink pillows, to getting dressed up for a night out with your closest friends, girls from Alpha Omicron Pi are the type to say that farewell familiar phrase while you head out the door, and actually follow through and not just go to bed.
Alpha Phi: J’adore Alpha Phi
The most chic theme for the très élégant girls of Alpha Phi. While the newest members can’t hop on an 8 hour plane ride, the girls have decided to bring Paris to Toronto instead. They’re sightseeing ready with their berets, sunglasses and matching shirts with the Eiffel Tower in the very center. They don’t forget to stay autumn ready with the polka dots, the colder weather in the morning really only fuelling their energy to chat with their newly arrived sisters.
Delta Delta Delta: Delta Diner
Tri-Delt is taking us back to the 50s with the Diner theme, matching their DHOP pancake philanthropy event to support St. Judes x SickKids. On this day though, the new members were greeted by massive milkshakes, each personalized with their name. The gold Delta Delta Delta greek letters shone and shimmered, and paired with the bright, retro colours of their poster, the sisters know where home is. Truly, there is no better for the beautifully sunny day Sunday turned out to be (it said it would rain, Tri-Delt had other plans).
Gamma Phi Beta: Glitz & Gamma
For those who weren’t there, the Disco Ball signs with the new member’s names did in fact spin and light up the pink dance floor as the new sisters ran home. The active outfit’s were spot on, no shortage of sequins or glitter in sight. If the cast of Mamma Mia were there, they would want to hop in on the fun for sure. Complete with an elegant tower of bow-adorned glasses and the most scrumptious cupcakes to ever exist, the new members were sure to have a hard time saying bye and heading out the front doors.
Kappa Kappa Gamma: Love Grows Where Kappa Kappa Gamma Goes
I’m sure many new members running home, towards the letters KKG, decorated with the prettiest white and pink flowers today could relate to the lyric, “her hair is kinda wild and free.” Nevertheless, flowers filled the Kappa house: on the poster, the bid cards and the bouquets the new members participated in making upon arrival. There were just an equal amount of bright smiles all around that made this day one to remember, no matter an active or new sister.
Pi Beta Phi: Hotel Pi Phi
For some reason the most clear memory I have of Bid Day with my chapter was us huddled on the sidewalk near the UofT bookstore, shuffling around with a chorus of “I don’t want to be right in the front!” that suddenly faded away the second the light changed and everybody started to run across the street. Our theme was Hotel Pi Phi, and we were given a suitcase bid card upon arrival, held in the hands of our guardian angel: a mentor for the first few months before initiation. It was another feeling entirely to walk out onto the front steps afterwards, a room key keychain in hand with our name, not as an unsure PNM, but as an actual new member.
An end and a beginning
While you might not keep in touch with other PNMs you bonded with throughout the short (it felt long) process, the love for a community where you can go, no matter how your day went, really only grows from there. The wonderful thing about Greek life that everyone reminded me of, was that you really do stay in touch no matter what house you ended up in. While UofT seems menacing and scary at first, recruitment helps one to realize it can feel a lot smaller after a week and a half of rush.
For Bid Day photos, please see our Instagram @therow.campus