New Mexico State University Greek Life recruitment went into full swing last month, with hundreds of potential new members wishing to join a Fraternity or Sorority. Fraternities such as Sigma Chi, PIKE, AGR, and many more. Each fraternity and sorority attained dozens of new members with the hope of eventually becoming brand new initiates into their retrospective organizations.

For many of these organizations, it’s their opportunity to get creative and attempt new, out-of-the-box ideas designed to draw in potential new members. These recruitment events result from weeks of planning and hard work for each individual fraternity and sorority. Every Greek organization recruitment chairperson worked to ensure their retrospective organizations attain the best members possible and foster an environment of inclusion and comfort. 

Although NMSU sorority and fraternity recruitment are around the same time, they are very different. Unlike fraternities, NMSU sororities are required to follow something called formal recruitment, set up by panhellenic–which is the NMSU governing body that decides all campus sorority guidelines. Each sorority has a set of rules and regulations with the intent of making recruitment fair and straightforward.

Armando Burciaga, the Inter-Fraternity Council President, said, “Recruitment week was definitely stressful. Having to plan events [getting] people out there, outreaching to new people on campus…[It’s] one of the hardest things we have to go through, especially coming right out of COVID,”  

“[All in all], this is probably some of the biggest classes I’ve seen since I came into Greek Life,.” Burciaga continued. He commended the hard work that each Greek organization did in attaining new members. 

Andrew Pantoja, NMSU Theta Chi President, said, “We had to get a bit creative this year and come up with some new out-of-the-box ideas.” Pantoja went on to explain that since Theta Chi’s chattering, which happened less than a year ago, members have had to work harder than ever to maintain their on-campus presence.  

“We had a barbecue, fruit smash, driving range night, swim night, and dodgeball. We wanted to make sure that we had something for all different types of personalities.” Pantoja said. 

After fraternity and sorority recruitment, there is typically an event in which new members get the opportunity to be escorted to their chosen fraternities which will be their homes for the next few years of their college careers. 

Some fraternities, such as Sigma Chi and Lambda Chi Alpha, could not contain their excitement and physically rushed their new members as they chanted their fraternal chants. “It was a really interesting experience. I felt welcomed by everybody…It made me feel good…and [it’s] something that I’ll never forget.” Seth Havens said, who is a candidate for initiation to the Sigma Chi Fraternity. 

Following recruitment, on Sept. 28th, 2022, IFC and Panhellenic hosted a new member presentation where each fraternity and sorority could showcase their new member classes in front of each fraternity and sorority. This gave them the opportunity to welcome these new members into the Greek Life community.  

The Corbett Center Ballrooms were flooded with NMSU students and other attendees and due to capacity limits, some Greek members even having to stand due to the large and unexpected number of members present.  

Members were introduced by their fraternity presidents and even the new fraternity (colony) Alpha Sigma Phi received the opportunity to introduce their new founding members. The event went off without a hitch and ended with each organization taking pictures and receiving a personalized Bundt cake.

This year was especially impactful because each Greek Life member was required to bring a canned food donation in order to attend the event. The donations made by each Greek Life member was delivered to the Aggie Cupboard to benefit families and NMSU students in need. 

Taylor Lambie Panhellenic President Elect said, “The canned food drive was a way to do a service and it was a great way to give back to the community, especially because the donations are going to the Aggie Cupboard so were giving back [specifically] to the NMSU community.” 

What’s next for these new members? Initiation. Where they will begin the process to be fully inducted into their organization and begin serving in an active role and can start assisting their fraternity and sororities in events such as philanthropies, community service events, spring recruitment and much, much more! 

Gallery • 9 Photos

Carlos Herrera

Group photo of the Fall Class of Pi Kappa Alpha. Sept. 28, 2022.