Glitter, balloons and whistles littered the ground as the swarm arrived.
First were the sorority sisters.
Dressed in colorful T-shirts and tank tops, face paint and flower crowns, they gathered beneath rainbows of balloon arches, clapping, singing and ready to welcome new girls into their sorority.
Next were the Pi Chis — members who disaffiliated from their chapters in the spring to guide potential new members through recruitment.
As the time for the annual run edged closer, those recruitment counselors began to chant. And if it were even possible, the potential new members (PNMs) got even more excited about the reveal that was minutes away.
Sitting by the steps of McKissick Museum, they watched as the Horseshoe filled with hordes of fraternity men, friends, families and anyone passing by the legions of sorority girls, waiting to welcome them into their arms.
Earlier this month, 1,655 women began the recruitment process, narrowing potential sisterhoods down through a mutual selection process.
The Pi Chis announced the time remaining by shouting in unison: “Three minutes!”
Chanting and singing got louder as time inched forward. PNMs watched in anticipation as the crowd continued to build behind the barriers.
“Two minutes!”
The singing and clapping escalated and the flocks of PNMs waited on one end of the Horseshoe, their futures waiting on the other.
“One minute!”
The time had come. Screaming intensified once again as the Pi Chis handed out shirts bearing the letters that represented the girls’ future homes.
As the T-shirts were unrolled and the sororities’ colors showed, the army of new sisters darted down the Horseshoe.
Tears fell as PNMs shed their potential and became new members.
Just as it began, Bid Day concluded with all three: new members, sorority sisters and Pi Chis. Each celebrated the newest additions to their sororities.
All three were the amidst the craziness, but each had her own version of how Bid Day unfolded.
Pi Chi Recruitment Leaders
Mentoring new members and guiding them through the recruitment process was all in a day’s work for the Pi Chis.
These women disaffiliated with their own sororities to serve as mentors for new members. They stayed away serve as ambassadors between their own sisters and the PNMs.
“In the end it is so worth it because the excitement that I feel right now is incredible,” Pi Chi leader and public relations student Carla Keith said. “I’m so excited to be reunited with my sorority and to be with the girls.”
Pi Chis helped guide new members in narrowing down their top sororities and bonding with fellow recruitment leaders.
“It’s so much emotion bottled up right now,” Keith said, “and that’s why I think all of us are so anxious to get started.”
“One minute!”
Just as they were throughout recruitment, the Pi Chis were on standby to help guide new members and were just as excited for them to receive their shirts.
“It’s emotional,” Keith said. “These girls going through it may have one opinion about it or maybe think that if you don’t get one sorority it’s the end of the world. We need to be there for them so they can realize there’s more to it than the close-minded thoughts you had going in to it and we want to be there to show you what you can be.”
Seconds after the new members opened their shirts, Keith bolted back to the Zeta Tau Alpha arch, ready to welcome the newest pledge class alongside her sisters.
Sorority sisters
Many of them were on the other side of the crowd last year.
The current members of the sororities, clad in different colored shirts and sporting noisemakers and inflatable animals, formed a tunnel of people down the Horseshoe.
They greeted the stampede with songs and clapping, as their new sisters sprinted through the tunnel and into the mass of cheers and glitter.
Girls from different sororities remembered how it felt when they got their T-shirts and were just as excited for the new batch of girls minutes away from getting their own.
“It was awesome. I don’t even remember running I was that excited,” second-year Alpha Delta Pi exercise science student Brooke Maxwell said. “I just ran as fast as I can with the girls in the same colored shirts and came to ADPi.”
“One minute!”
After decorating signs, painting their faces and donning their knee-high socks, older members’ excitement was almost tangible.
As scores of purple tank tops emblazoned with “AXO” raced toward her, Efimetz’s smile only grew as she welcomed first-year elementary education student Sarah Galloway into her arms and sisterhood.
“Last year, I was on the other end of it, and it was so cool to see how excited the girls are to join Alpha Chi,” second-year elementary education student and Alpha Chi Omega member Nikki Efimetz said. “I’m so glad that [Sarah’s] my sister now.”
New members
They were the center of attention Sunday. New members waited anxiously at McKissick Museum, as the crowd converged to watch them run.
PNMs started rushing earlier this month, visiting sororities and narrowing them down to which one they wanted to join.
The PNMs sat facing the crowd as the time until the big reveal got closer and each member was equally excited to get their shirt saying which sorority they were chosen for.
“I just want to get my T-shirt,” said Ellen Gardiner, second-year exercise science student and Phi Mu new member. “I can’t wait to get it.”
First-year elementary education student and Alpha Chi Omega member Sarah Galloway said she visited the Alpha Chi house first and “knew this is where I wanted to be.”
“One minute!”
They saw their letters, and the newest sisters took off through the throng of people.
And Galloway ran straight to AXO.
“It was crazy,” Galloway said. “I loved running. The whole time I was freaking out scared that I was going to trip.”
After she threw on her tank top, Galloway turned to Efimetz, grinned and the two let out a simultaneous yell as they clutched one another and jumped up and down.
On any average day, people would have stopped and stared at Galloway and Efimetz, covered in glitter and hanging on to one another for dear life.
But it was Bid Day, and there’s nothing average about Bid Day.
Editor-in-Chief Hannah Jeffrey contributed reporting.