ZTA

Describe a group you are a member of and how it is organized. Is there management? How is information distributed within the group?


I am a member of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority here at James Madison. Our sorority is mainly organized by pledge classes. We have recruitment every fall semester and take about fifty to sixty new girls that are either freshmen or sophomores. A pledge class is the group of girls that all rushed the same fall semester. They are the girls you do everything prior to initiation with. You learn everything about the sorority, all the secrets and all the history. You make a very strong bond with the girls since you're all in it together and experiencing all the same things at the same time. Joining a sorority is a huge step for some girls and having their pledge class for support is crucial.

Having an executive board is also crucial in a sorority. There are ten executive positions: President, Vice President I who runs the Program Council, Vice President II who takes care of the new members, Vice President III who handles the recruitment process, Treasurer, Panhellenic, Historian, House Manager, Secretary, and Ritual. The President runs the executive board and then the executive board informs the rest of the chapter about upcoming deadlines, events, etc related to their position. Every week the executive board has a meeting discussing anything important that has happened in the past week or what is coming up in the future, whether it be the near future or a semester away. The executive board then holds a chapter meeting every Sunday for the rest of the members to learn about what's going on in the chapter. Also, every Monday and Thursday the Secretary sends out chapter emails reminding the rest of the members what was discussed at the chapter meeting on Sunday and of upcoming events and so on. If any of the executive members need to send out emails to the chapter related to their position, they may do so as well. The President also has an account to TextBlast. TextBlast allows the President to send text messages to all the girls in the chapter about quick reminders, like attending philanthropy events. Information is constantly being thrown around any which way it can to be received by the whole chapter. Through meetings, paper work, e-mails, and text messages. So far, every way that information has been distributed has been very successful for our chapter.