Women representing seven sororities at Kent State eagerly await new members to come join them in Risman Plaza at their bid day ceremony yesterday. STEVEN MANTILLA | DAILY KENT STATER

Credit: Jason Hall

“I’m coming!” Ashley Fleischer screamed with tears in her eyes as a sorority recruitment counselor called her name to receive her bid card.

Minutes later, a joyous Fleischer emerged from the upstairs Student Center lounge proclaiming, “I got in!”

Fleischer was officially invited to be one of the Chi Omegas.

This was the scene yesterday at the Student Center and Risman Plaza as 90 women received invitations to join one of Kent State’s seven sororities at the annual Bid Night.

“The women go through these two weeks of recruitment, and Bid Night is their night to shine and go home with their sisters,” said Carissa Richardson, vice president of recruitment and retention for the Panhellenic Council.

Bid Night is the culminating activity of recruitment, following two weekends of parties designed to give potential members a chance to meet the various sororities, Richardson said.

“The (new sorority members) get to wear their letters for the very first time,” said Beth Gittons, assistant director of fraternity and sorority affairs.

“I am kind of nervous, but it’s really exciting,” said Ginna Roth, junior special education major. “I’m anxious to know where I am more than anything.”

After receiving her bid card, Roth got the answer she wanted: an Alpha Pi invitation.

Meanwhile, sophomore pre-medicine major Deanna McGuire said she still felt overwhelmed after receiving her invitation from Chi Omega.

Even so, McGuire said she enjoyed the sorority recruitment experience.

“I am doing this because I want to feel a connection with the university,” McGuire said.

Gittons said the process has been positive this year, and recruitment has been on par with other years.

“There has been a lot of systematic changes made by the National Panhellenic Conference,” Gittons said. “Change is always difficult, but the sorority recruitment counselors have risen to the occasion.”

Following Bid Night, most sororities will head back to the houses to welcome their possible new members.

“We all go back to the house, have dinner and take our pictures, just as a welcome,” said Delta Zeta member Amanda Veith, a senior early childhood education major.

Phi Gamma Pi, on the other hand, will look forward to the informal recruitment process because its chapter did not invite any new members.

“We just didn’t match with anybody,” senior textiles major Jessica Thoricht said. “We don’t want anybody that feels like they don’t belong. We want our sisters to be happy in their chapters.”

Contact news correspondent Jackie Valley at [email protected].