PNM Orientation Introduces Women to Greek Life

The Panhellenic Council hosted its PNM Orientation on Tues. Feb. 2 and Wed. Feb. 3. in Wilson Hall Auditorium. This was an event open to all women who signed up for Spring Formal Recruitment.

PNM stands for “potential new member” and each PNM was required to attend one of the two orientation sessions. At each session, the women were asked to view a PowerPoint presentation given by Ashley McMahon, Panhellenic Council Vice President of Recruitment.

After introducing the women to what their schedules will contain in the next week, they were divided into specific color groups and paired up with two or three recruitment counselors. The counselors would be the women to guide them through the recruitment process. Their groups would go over any important recruitment details, such as schedules, conflicts, and questions regarding the weekend. Afterward, the women were sent on their way with all they needed to know about recruitment and contact information if they wanted to know more from their counselors.

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Panhellenic Community Celebrates A Successful Recruitment

Excitement and nerves ran high on Friday Feb. 5, 2016 as undergraduate women at Monmouth University began their first day of formal sorority recruitment.

Panic set in for students of Greek life and those interested in joining after receiving an email from the University cancelling classes for Friday afternoon. Thankfully, the roads cleared up and formal recruitment remained as scheduled.

“Recruitment is like Christmas for sororities so I was so nervous when it was rumored to be cancelled. Almost every student interested in joining still came out despite the weather so I am so glad everything worked out in the end,” said Danielle Romanowski a junior communications major.

Formal recruitment is the process in which students meet every sorority on campus and ultimately join the one that best suits them. Formal recruitment occurs for all Panhellenic organizations on campus, which include Alpha Xi Delta, Alpha Omicron Pi, Alpha Sigma Tau, Delta Phi Epsilon, Zeta Tau Alpha, and Phi Sigma Sigma.

This year saw over 250 women participate in recruitment, a significant increase when compared to past years. “There are so many more girls going through recruitment than there were when I went through which is absolutely amazing. Joining Greek life at Monmouth truly changed my life and I am so excited to see more girls getting involved,” said Kerrin Hageny, an alumni of Monmouth University.

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ON AND OFF CAMPUS ANNOUNCEMENTS 2/10

The Outdoors Club

The Outdoors Club is hosting numerous events this semester. The first will be on Game Night held on Friday, February 19 in the Student Center at 9pm. There will be multiple games and plenty of snacks. You can also stop by if you just want to meet the members and become more acquainted with the club.

If you cannot make game night but still want to join the Outdoors Club, do not worry. Our Future events include

Future Events to keep an eye out for:

March 25-27: Cabin Camping at Belleplain State Forest

April 3: Old fashioned picnic at Shark River Park from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

April 23-24: White Water Rafting and Aerial Zip Lining Adventure Course at Hudson Canyon, NY

April 26 : Beach Bash, the location will be determined closer to the date

*Come to an Outdoors Club Meeting every other Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. in Bey Hall 126.

You can also join our Facebook group, Monmouth University Outdoors Club, to find out about upcoming events.

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PRSSA: New Strategies for New Goals

Throughout the 2015-2016 school year the Public Relations Student Society of America [PRSSA] has seen growth within its chapter due to a change in club atmosphere and member requirements. The club allows public relations students to improve their resume by providing free PR to the clients of Shadow PR Firm, a nationally recognized student run PR firm.

Since PRSSA was brought to campus, student involvement was low. Many of the members in the club were participating solely to fulfill their practicum, which is a mandatory one-credit course for all communication students. The goal of practicum is to give students experience outside of a lecture based class and creates working materials to put into a portfolio. The course was created due to a lack of internship experience in the communication department as many students were fulfilling their experiential education requirements through various options such as studying abroad.

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Inter-Fraternity Council Hosts Open House

Monmouth University’s Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC) hosted its annual Fraternity Open House last Wed., Jan. 27at 10 p.m. in Pozycki Hall Auditorium. The council invited all potential new male members to attend and learn about the fraternal organizations the university has to offer.

The Inter-Fraternity Council is comprised of all fraternity presidents and an executive board to oversee all seven fraternities at Monmouth. According to the Monmouth University Greek Life website, the council’s goals are to: “promote harmonious relations among the fraternities of Monmouth University; promote inter-fraternalism participation in intramurals and all fraternity/sorority events; standardize, control, and regulate the recruitment activities; support and recommend expansion of new fraternities; and cooperate with the University and Campus organizations in matters of common interests.”

To begin the night, the council’s executive board introduced each organization and allowed each group to give a brief presentation to the potential new members, before breaking off into separate rooms. The organizations included all seven fraternities and Monmouth’s professional business fraternity: Alpha Kappa Psi, Delta Tau Delta, Phi Kappa Psi, Sigma Pi, Sigma Tau Gamma, Tau Delta Phi, Tau Kappa Epsilon, and Theta Xi. Each organization presented information about its chapter’s history, founding members, current members, philanthropy, community service events, and brotherhood. The event is to help potential new members understand what each organization values, and to encourage them to find their best “fit.”

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ON AND OFF CAMPUS ANNOUNCEMENTS 2/3

Residence Hall Association

The Residence Hall Association (RHA) meets every Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. in the second floor lounge at New Hall. All are welcome to join! We will begin planning our annual Winter Ball and could use your creative ideas. For more information, contact Danielle St. Vincent at s0887667@monmouth.edu

Panhellenic Council

The Panehllenic Council is holding formal recruitment this upcoming weekend, Feb. 5-Feb. 7. In order to participate in sorority recruitment, you must have 12 completed credits from Monmouth University, as well as a cumulative 2.5 grade point average or higher. PHC wishes all potential new members luck on their journey to Greek life!

MOCC

The Monmouth Oral Communication Center invites you to take advantage of free peer tutoring for presentations and public speaking! Our walk-in schedule is posted outside of JP 203, or you can contact Kevin Moedt at s0879290@monmouth.edu for an appointment. Interested? Join us in JP 135 on Wednesday’s at 2:45 p.m. to see what we are all about!

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Meet the Greeks Reals in a Crowd

On Tuesday, Jan. 19, Monmouth held its semi-annual Meet the Greeks in the Multipurpose Activities Center.

Second semester freshman and the rest of the student body who are interested in becoming a member of a Greek organization on campus are all encouraged to attend this opportunity. Essentially, Meet the Greeks is when all of the Social, Professional, and Multi-Cultural Greek organizations gather together to encourage non-affiliated students to become members of Greek life.

At the event, each fraternity and sorority is able to bring 10 members of their respected organization to speak with students who are interested in who they are, what their organization brings on a national level as well as to the Monmouth community, and any other questions that a potential new member may have. Organizations can be as creative as they want when it comes to their table that they are allowed to have, many bringing wooden decorated letters in Greek, apparel that states the name of the organization, pictures, and different awards that the chapters received from the past years they have been on campus.

“I feel that Meet the Greeks benefits those going out for a Greek organization because it gives them the chance to be able to meet every organization at the same time and learn more about how Greek life has an impact on the school as a whole through their accomplishments and population,” said Matt Sheehan, brother and President of Tau Kappa Epsilon.

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MU Surf Club Greets Jonas With a Warm Welcome

Sunday January 12, 2016. New Jersey was supplied with some of the best waves it has seen in almost a year. ‘The best waves’ do not necessarily mean the surfers were dealt a favorable hand.Until this past weekend, winter’s icy embrace had not been felt. NJ had enjoyed balmy weather and warm water temperatures from fall until the early stages of the winter season. However, Jonas sought to destroy these advantageous conditions. Not Nick, Joe or even Kevin; no this was Winter Storm Jonas and he had it out for the entire east coast. 

From impassable roadways to 40 mile per hour winds, surfers agonized over spot checks, wind analysis and most importantly barrel deprivation (a sickness that if not cured could result in time off from school and/or work).

With much uncertainty, the first step was to get to the beach. Monmouth surfers saw no better place to call “home-base” than Zack Karvelas’ apartment.

“My car happened to be trapped by snow, so for the session on Sunday we stayed with our friends Zack and Huascar (who live two feet from the beach),” said junior surf club president Tyler Sankey. 

Zack Karvelas and Huascar Holguin, both juniors at Monmouth, live in a conveniently placed apartment by one of the best surf spots in the area.

“This Sunday I opened my home to my friends and fellow surf team. Since I know most of the guys it’s always fun having them come over but even better when it’s before they go surfing. They get so amped and have so much fun waiting for the best time to go out,” said Karvelas.

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SAB ‘Bumps’ It Up With First Event of the Semester

Bumper cars stormed onto campus during the winter storm Jonas as the Student Activities Board (SAB) started off the semester with their first event for on Friday, Jan. 22 at 5:30pm in Anacon Hall.

The event was split up into a few sections. In Anacon B were four bumper cars coned off into a bumper car rink. In Anacon A, there were a variety of different things. Activities included Mario Kart, key tags, a racecar simulator game and a photo booth.

Gina Geleti, a sophomore English education student and the Festivals Chair for SAB, planned the entire event.

 “I thought of this event about a year ago at a novelty event. I wanted to do something a little different, that Monmouth may not have seen before. I also definitely wanted it to be gender neutral. At first, I planned for this to be a NASCAR event, but changed it to an event that I knew Monmouth students would have fun coming to and being a part of,” Geleti said.

One of the most popular attractions was the key tag makers. Students picked out the type of key tag they wanted, varying from license plates to scenic pictures, etc. and chose which text they wanted their key tag to read.

Another popular attraction was the photo booth. What made the photo booth different compared to other photo booths from let’s say a boardwalk, was that it had different effects that people could choose from. Some of these effects included a black and white filter, wigs, hats, and a roller coaster filter.

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An Introduction to Greek Life at MU

Six Sororities, Seven Fraternities, One Professional Business Fraternity, Three Multi-Cultural Organizations

Monmouth University’s Greek community continues to rise in numbers as spring semester recruitment begins with “Meet the Greeks” held on Tuesday, Jan. 19, the first day of classes. The event gave students interested in Greek life a to meet all of the organizations that Monmouth has to offer.

“Meet the Greeks is a great place for students interested in joining an organization to come together and learn about the 17 organizations we currently have on campus. While we share the values of leadership, scholarship, service, and fellowship, each organization has something unique to offer the student body. It is important for prospective members to learn about these differences and see where their values align,” said Michele Kaplan, Assistant Director of Student Activities for Fraternity and Sorority Life.

Each Greek organization brings something unique to the community in hopes that potential new members are enticed to be a part of the diversity. The Greek Senate forms the central governing council for all fraternal organizations. It is made up of all chapter presidents and presidents of the Inter-fraternity Council (IFC), Multicultural and Professional Greek Council (MPGC), and the Panhellenic Council (PHC). Each council oversees the men and women of the 17 respective organizations.

“It’s great to see so many young women and men come out and meet Monmouth’s Greek Community. Chapters love their new members because they bring fresh ideas and energy,” said Gina Crowell, Panhellenic Vice President of Recruitment.

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