I am a T! I am a T-R! You know the rest.

Happy autumn! Today I have officially been traveling for one month and one day, and the time has flown. My first break has come and gone, but sufficient rest is a goal I have not yet achieved.

August and September are pivotal months for sorority women. At the close of every summer, we go back to our respective schools armed with teasing combs and T-shirts hot off the press. We’ve rehearsed our lines for weeks, but are utterly spontaneous and flexible in our delivery. Our jaws hurt from chatting, smiling and sing-screaming till your ears bleed. (The goal is, of course, to make the women waiting down the street look back at your house.) Remember those days? It’s recruitment time!

I get asked a lot whether recruitment is the same around the country, and the answer is yes. Now, there are exceptions depending on university culture, but formal recruitment is still the method most commonly utilized to gain new membership among NPC sororities. Though the process takes a lot of work (can I get a Delta?), recruitment is the ultimate bonding experience for a chapter. Plus, it’s the only time of year it makes sense to wear matching outfits and maniacally scream at people on your doorstep.

Despite what I’ve said above, the chapters I speak to about recruitment must learn to look beyond those fun but silly details. New membership is not about hairspray and door decorations. Nor is it about surviving the week and offering a few bids. The process of recruitment ultimately blossoms into a group of individuals--unique women that have chosen to celebrate all that is Tri Delta, or whichever organization they choose.

The best technique I ever learned about recruitment is that people join people, not organizations. When a potential new member participates in recruitment, she simply does not care about what your symbols represent. It doesn’t matter to her that your chapter won Greek Sing last year. You know what does matter to her? You.

Think back to your recruitment experience. Quick--who do you remember? If you’re like most, you can think of one person you spoke to that simply made you yearn to be her sister. Mine was Megan Shelton. I was torn between Tri Delta and another chapter, but when I saw Megan waiting for me at the chapter house door on preference night, my decision was made. Sure, I smiled at the slideshow and got goosebumps during the skit, but I felt at home because Megan was at my side.

Of course, the moment your bid is accepted by a new member, your next step is retaining her. Show her that the organization to which she’s dedicated her life will reciprocate that devotion and love. More on that in a future post.

I am moved to write about this crucial time of year partially because my own Tri Delta chapter, Phi Xi at Wichita State University, is recruiting in full force at this very moment. So please forgive me as I give them a shout out. Best of luck, Phi Xi sisters! Sing those songs, smile those smiles and try not to get too loud in the Great Room. Celebrate Bid Day like it’s the best day of your life—you deserve it!

I’ve seen the incredible numbers submitted in recruitment reports across the nation, and though they are fantastic, numbers on paper aren’t the true gift of recruitment. It’s great to make quota and get new T-shirts, but always remember that the people make the experience. And that experience starts with you.

One more thing: I have a plea to all Tri Deltas across the country. Can we PLEASE quit refering to our new members “Baby Deltas?” They’re not babies. The moment we look at new members as younger as or less experienced than the rest of the membership, we lose our credibility. Absorb them into your sisterhood as equals. Better results guaranteed!

When a Field Consultant falls in the forest, does she make a sound?

Yes, yes she does. And the 20 Tri Deltas sitting around the campfire all turn to stare.

Welcome to Wyoming!

I began this visit with an early flight from Pullman, Washington, to Seattle. After connecting in Denver, I boarded the wimpiest plane I’ve ever encountered to make the short, but not so sweet, flight to Laramie, Wyoming. It was but two rows wide and powered by propellers. (Thump, thump… that was my heart. And the engine.)

Now I’m no scaredy-cat flyer, but when that plane took to the skies over the Rocky Mountains and then promptly dropped 1,000 feet in the turbulent wind, I admit I said a prayer. Apparently it was heard, because we landed safely 30 minutes later. My luggage, however, was sitting somewhere in Denver.

If there’s one thing to know about this job, it’s all about rolling with the punches. Lost luggage? Find the nearest Target. Power goes out in the guest room from your hairdryer? Take that wet mop upstairs. The very first day on the job, each one of us FCs emailed each other about something nutty that happened, including tripping down a mountain, walking out of the bathroom with your skirt tucked up your undies, and getting pooped on by a bird.

I was finally able to sit back and laugh about it all this morning with someone who understands! Trent Patterson, a Regional Director for Sigma Phi Epsilon and fellow 2010 graduate of Wichita State, is traveling in the northwest this year and happened to be visiting Wyoming during the first day of my stay. He took me to breakfast, and we laughed about those, and all sorts of other crazy things that only happen on the road. Seeing a friendly, familiar face in the midst of this consultant whirlwind was refreshing and rejuvenating.

And that brings me to the rest of my day today. I trekked out to a lodge in the wilderness with the Wyoming Tri Deltas for their pre-recruitment retreat. I led a small conversation workshop and then we played games and did team-building activities. These girls are a fun bunch! We laughed a ton—see the pictures attached.

At the end of the day we gathered around the campfire for a fireside (with real fire!) It was at this point that I decided to climb a small hill to get another picture of the group of them. And then I slipped on the pine needles and fell.

After Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” stopped ringing in my ears, I sat back and laughed. When else will I be in the Wyoming mountains with these incredible women again? This experience is too haphazard, too inconceivable to sweat the small stuff. I can’t predict the craziness, so bring it on.

My Sliding Door Moment

Have you ever faced a decision that has the opportunity to change your life? A good friend of mine calls such occasions sliding door moments. And even though the terminology is traced to a 1998 movie starring Gwyneth Paltrow, the effect of your own sliding door moment will no doubt impact your outlook on life for years.

In the movie, Gwyneth catches a train by mere seconds. The sliding doors close and she’s whisked home to find her husband cheating on her. In an alternate parallel universe, however, the sliding doors close before Gwyneth can board. She goes on with life, never discovering the lie that’s right under her nose.

Poor, poor Gwyneth.

The truth is we all face those sliding door moments in our lives. Taking a new job, blurting out a statement you’re dying to say, or, conversely, keeping it in. Do you catch the train that will change your life? Or should you stay put and continue on the comfortable path?

The same good friend that opened my eyes to the power of the sliding door moment is a traveler, like me, that takes to the skies every four days to effect change on college campuses across the nation. To her, we get a sliding door moment every time we board a new plane. That flying metal tube practically hands us the ticket to a new adventure, and it’s up to us to decide whether our lives will change.

But is that really possible? And will my transformation, if I decide to transform, be a simple adjustment or a personal revolution? This is what's on my mind as I watch the doors open, sitting at gate C27 in the DFW airport.

Here’s what I do know: I’m getting on the train.

I want to know about your own sliding door moment. Did you walk confidently through the doors or watch them close? And have you faced consequences since?