Any collegiette™ student who is a member of a Greek organization understands the hard work, high stress, and time commitment that is associated with recruitment. At UCSB, nobody understands the grueling yet rewarding process more than Panhellenic Board, not to mention its President—N’Shelle Herring. Although the members of sororities are the face of recruitment, the backbone is the Panhellenic Board, the highly-committed and elected student group that runs the Greek system. In other words, rush would not be possible without Panhellenic, and Panhellenic would not be possible without N’Shelle. This week, Her Campus UCSB got in touch with Ms. Herring to hear all of the ins-and-outs of her position and the process behind a very successful recruitment season.
Celeb: N’Shelle Herring, ’11
Celeb Worthy? Panhellenic President, 2011-2012
Her Campus: How did you get involved with Panhellenic, and for how long have you been involved?
N’Shelle: Becoming involved with Panhellenic was a lovely fluke. I have always been an active member of my sorority from philanthropies, to community service events, don’t forget socials, you name it–I was there. As a result of my dedication and high participation in my house, I thought I was destined to receive my initial preference of President of my house during elections. Respectfully so, I ended up not being elected. I decided that applying to Panhellenic was the next best thing and decided to add myself to the application pool. Although it was not my initial decision, I have not looked back because not only do I overlook my own sorority, but also I am able to help the Greek community on a universal level. As of today, I have been on the board for about six months.
HC: What exactly does your job entail?
N: The overall responsibility of the entire operation of the Panhellenic Council, its programs, and officers. In addition, I attend and conduct all meetings of the Panhellenic Executive Board and Panhellenic Council. My common duties involve reviewing, approving, and signing as necessary all contracts involving the Panhellenic Council. I also coordinate the completion of the of all the Panhellenic Council officer training, goals, and program development as outlined in the job description. Lastly I played large role in the interview process of Recruitment counselors and other preparations for Formal Fall Recruitment
HC: What were your responsibilities during Recruitment?
N: During recruitment, my responsibilities were to neutrally attend to concerns of all houses and potential new members. Additionally, it was a duty to see that houses were abiding by the rules that were reviewed in our previous meetings and to record if anything happened otherwise. I, as well as the entire board, also watched over Recruitment Counselors and made sure that they had the appropriate tools to fully attend to the girls they were mentoring through the process. A final daily task was to make sure that information vital for the upcoming recruitment day was collected by each deadline.
HC: Why do you think Recruitment and/or the Greek system is so important to the UCSB student body?
N: I believe that Recruitment is important to the UCSB student body because it allows for students to hit the ground running and get acclimated with the school sooner than most because of the mentors girls have from the beginning. The Greek system is important to the student body because it allows for lifelong friendships to form, leadership opportunities, networking experiences and social activities. It is very hard to find all of these aspects in the typical organization, in my opinion. A key feature of the Greek system that I enjoy the most is that a large band of women can be held together by a common bond and ideals and push each other through thick and thin. It is not as easy to find such a strong group of females that not only pride themselves on their academics, but being a positive leader to their community and have a great time doing it!
HC: What was the most rewarding part of recruitment?
N: To see everyone’s hard work pay off. Through all of long hours spent preparing for the week and delirious nights spent xeroxing informational packets, the thing that mattered the most was the smiles I saw each day. The major reward was to make it to bid day and see all the excited new women rip open their bid cards and join the group of girls that will go to leave a eternal mark in their life.
HC: What is Panhel’s influence on the Greek system?
N: Panhellenic is the foundation that keeps the Greek system together. Even though the board is composed of one member from each house, we work together to make the Greek community a positive and active influence on campus. Panhellenic is very involved in our Greek system because we strongly believe in upholding to our founder’s four pillars, that binds us all together: scholarship, standards, service and sisterhood. As stated in Panhellenic’s national creed: “We, as undergraduate members of women’s fraternities, stand for good scholarship, for guarding of good health, for maintenance of fine standards, and for serving, to the best of our ability, our college community” and we strive to live up to this quote as Greek leaders. Panhellenic works as hard as we do because we want the best for each woman and as the old saying goes, “for each women to be all they can be.”