By Jonathan Smith, Managing Editor
Friday’s Bid Night marks the beginning of the pledging season for social clubs after three weeks of rushes for prospective pledges.
After giving out bids to prospective pledges Thursday night, most club officers look forward to Friday’s events, most of which are kept secret.
“We’re most excited about our potential new members and having the first chance to start building relationships with them and showing them that they are a part of something that we think is really special,” said Cody Blair, Gamma Sigma Phi president.
Ko Jo Kai president Garen Glasscock said she also looks forward to meeting the new pledge class.
“We’re looking forward to boding with them and the unity that will come from that and to having a good time and doing fun stuff,” Glasscock said. “We’re just excited to get the whole pledging process started.”
Although most club officers look forward to Bid Night, it doesn’t come without reservations.
“For all the officers, this is the most hectic week of the year,” Galaxy president Luke James said. “There are a lot of challenges trying to communicate to the rest of the club what we want done and organizing the finite details about what we want to happen.”
Organization of Bid Night is one of the major challenges for Ko Jo Kai, as well, Glasscock said.
“We’ve also focused a lot on organization-making sure we know what we’re doing every second of the whole night,” Glasscock said.
Frater Sodalis president Jeff Sickles said one of the greatest challenges is not getting too caught up in the events that take place.
“The biggest challenge of Bid Night is trying to create an intense atmosphere so they feel challenged but stay in control of who we are as Christians,” Sickles said.
Social clubs have been preparing for Bid Night most of the semester, not only through rushes, but getting events approved by Amanda Spell, coordinator of student organizations and activities. Proposals for pledging activities were due to Spell Sept. 1.
Spell said members of her office will be visiting various locations during the pledging process to make sure all activities are within the guidelines set for pledging.
Spell said Bid Night is so challenging for her because “there’s so much that happens in such a short time.”
After all the preparations have been made, most club officials are ready to begin the pledging process.
“We’ve been getting all the minor details set,” Sickles said. “Now that Bid Night is upon us, we’re ready for it.”
-Melanie J. Knox contributed to this report.
