John Alex Nunnery
Editor
For many years, social clubs and fraternities have been an important part of college life at Mississippi University for Women.
It is one of the most popular ways for freshmen to get to know the people around them and give them a feeling of community as they transfer over from high school to college life. This past year has proven to be a difficult year for many of these clubs due to the nature of the pandemic. However, they are now determined to come back even bigger and better this year while still maintaining all social distancing protocols.
“The pandemic greatly affected our rush last year because it was all online and no one really wanted to do it, because they weren’t getting the full experience,” said Nickolas Harris, a junior majoring in Nursing in the Beta Kappa Tau fraternity. “I feel like pledging this year is important, especially coming out of the pandemic, because we’ve been locked in our homes for a little over a year now, and I feel it’s important to be able to go out and do social things.”
This year there was a lot of pressure on the clubs to attract new members because of the small showing of people last year. For some, it was a make-or-break point for the fate of their clubs, with many actives getting ready to graduate and several having moved on already. So, special care was put into aspects of every club’s rush week, and that has paid off tremendously.
“This year has been great with how recruitment went. We had to make sure each table was social distanced and had to send in a seating chart, and I am so excited for the girls to be able to experience a part of The W that has great historical value,” said Nicole Rensink, a senior majoring in Kinesiology in the Rogue and Blacklist social clubs. “In the wake of coming off the pandemic it was very crucial that we had rushies come out this year because last year we only got one person, and we love her, but it was very hard to connect with girls while being completely online.”
One of the bigger concerns this year was making sure that the traditions that the clubs have had for years will be continued forward. With everyone being online last year it hindered the ability to share everything the clubs usually do and are about.
“The girls that we picked up last year have no clue about some of our traditions and stuff like that, it’s almost like they are learning everything alongside the new girls,” said Audrey Littlejohn, a senior majoring in Elementary Education in the Troubadour and Blacklist clubs.
“There was a lot of our traditional things that we wanted to do during recruitment last year, but we couldn’t because of restrictions, which took away some of the personal aspects that meant a lot to me when I was going through recruitment, and even though there were guidelines, and we couldn’t just get up and talk to individuals alone, it went a lot better this year,” added Hallie Chastain, a senior Communication major in Troubadour and Blacklist clubs.
With rush week being officially completed for all clubs on campus, many are now optimistic about the future of their clubs and excited for the future. They can now focus on what makes social clubs so great, rather than worrying if there will be enough people to continue it in the years going forward. But some concerns do still linger.
“We are hoping that everything just stays calm with COVID and we can keep doing everything in person,” said Brielle Bush, a senior majoring in Biology in the Mam’selle social club. “Being in a social club gets you out of your comfort zone in the best way possible and helps you meet new people, create connections all over the country, and meet lifelong friends!”