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Hey Tracy,
Our current number of new members is 10. We're having a new member ceremony next Wednesday which will get for certain right now 1 person, Paul Schmitt. We've also got another kid named Mickey who has said he wants to join, but has yet to give us referrals for other people in order to receive a bid. So if he gets that done that will be two. Then there is Scott who got a bid from Michael before he left and has said that he wants to do and just needs to talk to his parents about the money. So for Wednesday there are a potential three people. The other two will not be ready by Wednesday but hopefully shortly after spring break we'll be able to get them in.
So that's a breakdown of our current prospective member pool. So where are we going in the future? I've asked everyone to come up with a list of names of any non-greek men they know here at Illinois. So far our list is at around 200 people - so I've told everyone to start talking with these people, either on facebook or in class, just to see how they're doing. That way it's not awkward if they invite them out for coffee with some friends or to dinner one week. What we've gone through and done is come up with a social schedule through the next two weeks so we have events we can be telling people about. What we need to do from here is be inviting people out, maintaining our names list to make sure the people who seem interested keep getting calls, and make sure they see the benefits of membership. Pool once a week is not going to cut it. I plan on speaking with a few of the other Chi Phi chapters this week and asking them about some of their recruiting strategies and events that they do, especially those without a house. Now of course, warm weather and a nice house would make events a lot easier to plan, but we'll work with what we have.
Overall, we're going strong and I think the change in leadership at the top will benefit the entire group and allow for everyone to be operating at the level that works best for their schedule. Ao and I will continue to motivate the group and ensure good numbers for this semester. If we really don't do much more work we can end with fifteen. However, since we're going to really step up our effort in the remaining month and a half or so we have left, I'd like to finish off at at least 20 - with plans for a really strong class in the fall.
A scholarship offer would allow us to really start talking to kids coming here in the fall now and make sure they think about Chi Phi when they get here. The way I would want the scholarship plan to work would be that we start to send letters out to parents of kids from our high schools that we know are going to Illinois. Tell them that we are looking for men who are leaders in their community and live our values of Truth, Honor, and Personal Integrity. Now if this gets us some fifty responses, which I imagine that a $500 scholarship will, it would be a success. Then we contact all of these kids and make sure that they get invited out to some events - hold a dinner as soon as the freshmen get down here (and of course invite all of the freshmen that we've met at quad day and that we've helped to move in as volunteers) and allow them to get to know Chi Phi. Those that are interested and receive bids, out of them one will get the scholarship and have their dues paid for with a little extra spending money -- and then tell his friends from high school to apply for the scholarship. Those that don't receive bids will probably just join another chapter looking for the traditional greek experience. This would only be something that we'd do in the fall and in the future as our numbers grow - we'd eventually become self sufficient with this and start to either raise money for it or put aside our local dues for it. Sigma Phi Epsilon started a summer scholarship program and increased their national membership 10% - I really feel that it would give us an advantage over other house and would allow us to get a large number of incoming freshman already thinking about joining that different chapter on campus, the one that makes a difference.
Well, I apologize for the lengthiness of this email - perhaps we need to just keep in touch more often, lol. That's where were at right now and where we're headed in the future. I'm very confident in what Chi Phi can do here at Illinois and please don't let low numbers now discourage any of the Alumni. We will be successful here, I will ensure that.
Best,
Carter Henricks
University of Illinois
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences 2010 | History, Latin
Chi Phi Fraternity | President, Recruitment Chairman