New Member Orientation began on Saturday after a winter storm delayed bid day activities for sororities and fraternities by a week.

Robin McPherson, senior coordinator for fraternities and sororities, said that new member orientation will continue as previously planned, despite the delay. When it was decided to postpone bid day, she said the main priority was keeping everyone safe.

“At the end of the day, Pj [Martinez] and I made decisions based on what we felt like was the safest and best way to move forward for everyone involved,” she said. “There is not a lot we can do about the weather.”

Daisy Strine, president of Sigma Theta Chi said the delay was not all bad.

“We were initially really bummed out because we were excited to start the process last week,” she said. “I think it’s going to turn out even better than it would have last week because we built up so much excitement for this week.”

For the Women of Ko Jo Kai, this will be the group’s first time pledging in the new Kojie Park, which was completed last semester.

Makeda Marquardt, president of Ko Jo Kai, said she was excited to use the new space.

“Getting to transition all of our traditions to our new park has been really special,” she said. “It’s just been really cool to be on this side of things, leading those traditions.”

This year, 260 women and 134 men accepted bids from sororities and fraternities, according to an email from McPherson. These new members will spend the next two weeks participating in New Member Orientation, where they will learn their clubs’ traditions before officially becoming members.