Rho Gammas Guide First-Years Through Sorority Recruitment Sorority recruitment counselors, or Rho Gammas, assist first-year women in W&L’s formal recruitment process to join Panhellenic sororities.

By Kelsey Goodwin
January 31, 2025

“It was impactful to see how we each put our strengths to use in our situation-based training, which later translated to actually dealing with real-life situations.”

~ Betty Boatwright ’26

The arrival of January brings with it New Year’s resolutions, new classes and, for Washington and Lee’s sorority recruitment counselors, the opportunity to welcome first-year women into the formal recruitment process for the six Panhellenic/Panhellenic-Associate sororities represented on W&L’s campus.

Sorority recruitment counselors, known as Rho Gammas, are representatives on W&L’s Panhellenic Association who have no contact with their own chapters during formal recruitment and are available to answer questions and guide participants through the recruitment process. Ella Wallace ’26 served as this year’s vice president of recruitment counselors, a key role in Panhellenic tasked with hiring and training the Rho Gammas, organizing and overseeing the Rho Gamma program’s execution and serving as a Rho Gamma for sophomores going through recruitment. Wallace, an Atlanta native majoring in engineering integrated with biology and a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma, said her recruitment experience inspired her to pursue the role.

“I felt supported during my entire recruitment process by my Rho Gammas, and it transformed a typically stressful experience into a manageable and even fun one,” Wallace said.

W&L has six Panhellenic/Panhellenic-Associate member organizations that conduct their formal recruitment in early January: Alpha Delta Pi, Chi Omega, Delta Society, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma and Pi Beta Phi. The Tau Zeta Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated and the Tau Omega Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated are members of the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), which governs nine historically Black Greek letter fraternities and sororities, collectively known as the “Divine Nine”; these organizations hold membership intake processes at different times throughout the academic year.  Greek life remains a strong component of W&L’s campus life experience, with approximately 72% percent of female students on campus participating in sorority life on campus and 66% of males joining a fraternity. Leah Beard, director of leadership development and student engagement, oversees recruiting and training Rho Gammas during the Spring and Fall Terms, and said this year’s cohort was extremely passionate about appropriately guiding and supporting students who planned to participate in the 2025 Panhellenic Formal Recruitment.

“Rho Gammas are incredibly instrumental in successfully executing a Panhellenic Formal Recruitment,” Beard said. “Not only are Rho Gammas supporting participating students through the process, which can be an extremely stressful process for some, but they are also completing many one-off, but crucial, tasks. They are delivering schedules, bringing students to Sorority Row, assisting Panhellenic’s Executive Committee with lining up the students in alphabetical order, caring for certain students who may have individual needs and are assisting students at the end of each day of recruitment with their ranking process; all while also answering questions from their participating students throughout the day, and collaborating closely with the members of Panhellenic Exec.”

Betty Boatwright ’26, a business administration major from Washington, D.C., said she was inspired to become a Rho Gam to serve as another friendly resource for first-year students.

“I’ve been a camp counselor, and I’m an older sister,” Boatwright said, “so I wanted to put my counseling experience to good use.”

Boatwright said the training Rho Gams received before entering the recruitment process was invaluable. Rho Gammas receive extensive training to carry out the responsibilities of their roles, including review of the Panhellenic recruitment rules and other National Panhellenic Conference policies and unanimous agreements, active listening and empathy skills, review of the NPHC council and organizations, team building and more.

“It was impactful to see how we each put our strengths to use in our situation-based training, which later translated to actually dealing with real-life situations,” Boatwright said.

Dani Hackman ’26, a Chi Omega from San Diego majoring in cognitive and behavioral science and double minoring in data science and poverty and human capability studies, said her favorite Rho Gamma moment was handing out bids on the final day of recruitment. Students who match with a Panhellenic/Panhellenic-Associate organization at the end of the process receive a bid from that same organization inviting them to become a member.

“Watching the girls tear open the envelopes and screaming with excitement was so rewarding,” Hackman said.

“Every year, I express sincere gratitude to the students who serve as Rho Gammas,” Beard said. “Though a rewarding experience, it also requires a great deal of time and energy. It can be a challenging role, as many leadership roles can be. For me, I find personal reward in seeing Rho Gammas continue to offer support to students even well after the formal recruitment process has concluded. I especially appreciate hearing the positive impacts that Rho Gammas can have on the participating students, and how their care and guidance made all the difference.”