On Saturday night, three weeks after other sororities at WKU completed their fall recruitment, the Rho chapter of Omega Phi Alpha finished its own recruitment week with the induction of 44 new members.

OPA’s membership director, Owensboro senior Carrie Beth Henry, said OPA chapters nationwide always have their recruitment during the third week of school.

“They (other sororities) have formal recruitment and we have informal recruitment so ours is always the third week of classes,” Henry said. “It’s just the way our national organization has it set up.”

Carrie Beth Henry said the pool of applicants for OPA was a lot bigger this year than in years past.

She thinks the OPA’s involvement in different events such as Homecoming, St. Baldrick’s, and Relay for Life made people more aware of them. 

Several rush events throughout the week lead up to Saturday night’s initiation ceremony.

Louisville senior Bailey Mack, vice president of OPA, said active members of the sorority went out to dinner with recruits on Wednesday.

“We separated into groups and went to dinner just to kind of get to know girls on a one-on-one basis,” Mack said.

The next day, Henry said, OPA held group interviews in which about 100 applicants were split into four groups and interviewed one-on-one by an active member of the sorority.

She said OPA voted on which of the recruits would become members on Friday.

Henry said bid day, the final day of OPA’s recruitment, started at about 10:30 a.m. on Saturday with the sorority’s active sisters gathering at the statue in front of Diddle Arena. From there, they dispersed and went to the homes and dorms of their new recruits.

“We go get the girls from their dorms and from their houses and take them to a central location the same way that the other sororities did during their bid day,” Mack said.

Once all the new members were gathered, OPA did more bonding activities, Henry said.

“We had a bonding time with our sisters and then we all went out to lunch afterward,” Henry said.

She said initiation, in which the recruits were officially made full OPA members, started at 7:30 p.m. and was held in the Faculty House.

Mack said the induction ceremony is a way for OPA to celebrate and welcome the new members of their sorority.