By BJ LEWIS

Staff Writer

Sunday was the finale of winter recruitment for Sigma Kappa sorority as it initiated 12 new members into the organization.

The week leading up to the initiation is known as Inspiration Week, which occurred April 4-8.

"It's basically a week for the [new members] to spend time with the active members and educate them on our symbols," Beth Davis, the foundation chairman and a senior social studies education major, said.

Each day has a theme that allows the new members to know more about the organization.

"They don't learn all our secrets until initiation," Jocelyn Jones, the ritual chairman and a junior business management major, said. "We give them a little insight into what our sorority is about."

Some of the week's events included a movie night when the entire chapter watches a movie together in Wyly Tower, Center of Learning. "Normally it's a movie called 'Mystic Pizza'," Jones said. "The writer was a Sigma Kappa and put a lot of symbols from Sigma Kappa in it."

Tuesday and Wednesday were philanthropic days and the sorority makes cards for local nursing homes and stages fundraisers for Alzheimer's and other diseases, Davis said.

The overall theme and goal of the week was building relationships between the members, active and new.

"When I was a new member, all the active members wanted to spend time with us, and that made me want to get involved," Jones said. "It helped me realize how important it was."

Thursday was de-pinning for the new members, Davis said. The new members gave back their pledge pins to be ready to receive their active pins at initiation to finalize winter recruitment.

Winter recruitment was a first for the organization accustomed to the formal rush and dealing with dozens of new member possibilities, Jones said. Fifty women went through the recruitment so the maximum number any organization could take was 12.

The recruitment, was done through the Panhellenic council. During recruitment the new members visited each of the sorority houses.

Jones said winter recruitment was "a lot smaller than usual, but [the members] are a lot closer. It's easier for us to get to know [the new members] because there are not as many, so it's a little more intimate."

This smaller recruitment approach worked well for Jessica Moore, a sophomore marketing major. With a chance to visit all the houses, Moore found that she "felt more at home at Sigma Kappa." Moore said. "Everyone was really nice to me, accepted me for who I am and didn't try to change me," Moore said.

Jones was overall pleased with the week's events and looks forward to the sorority's future with the new members.

Jones said, "It's a huge friendship. It's a great way of meeting people, and then you have all our sisterhood stuff and our rituals.

"No one else does it. It's like our secret and we don't have to tell anybody."