Delta Delta Delta is a new sorority at Eastern that is still in the process of recruiting its first member class on this campus.

“I was not certain what to expect at first, and things are going better than I expected,” said Lexi Schneider, field consultant for Tri Delta. “I am thrilled.”

“We changed our installation and initiation from November to January to have more time to devote to recruiting outstanding members to be founders of Tri Delta here at Eastern,” Schneider said. “Other than that, everything is going as planned.”

A little more than 70 women have participated in Tri Delta recruitment.

Devin Bucke, a junior pre-med biological science major, is one of those women.

Bucke went through formal recruitment for the other sororities. Tri Delta had an informational at a fraternity house in Greek Court during the first round of formal recruitment. After the first round, potential Tri Deltas were asked to drop out of formal recruitment and participate in their process, which was set forth by the national sorority.

The recruitment began Sept. 22 and will run through Bid Day on Nov. 12.

Bucke finished formal recruitment, but did not receive a bid for any of the sororities she wanted. So she decided on one of her other choices, Tri Delta.

“What really appealed to me was the phrase ‘perpetual bond of friendship,'” Bucke said. “That’s kind of what I’m looking for.”

With Tri Delta, she said, “not only do you get friendship, but you’re creating traditions for people years and years down the road.”

When formal recruitment was over, snap-bidding for current sororities was held off so Tri Delta could hold its recruitment process.

Potential members of Tri Delta attended an informational on Sept. 22 and participated in a philanthropy event for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital on Sept. 29. The girls also participated in events like bowling and pumpkin carving.

“We hung out and talked and carved pumpkins,” Bucke said. “It was really cool getting a little bit more one-on-one, talking with the other girls in recruitment.”

Tri Delta also had an event for Family Weekend.

“We brought our family members, and they got to talk to Lexi and some of the other girls,” Bucke said.

Schneider is helping Eastern’s chapter recruit members and get active in the Greek community on campus.

Eastern began looking for a new sorority to add to the Greek community last April, said Bob Dudolski, director of Greek Life.

“We invited all the sororities that are not represented here to submit applications to come here,” Dudolski said.

The sororities were narrowed down to nine, and three of those came to Eastern to do on-campus interviews. Tri Delta was chosen to be Eastern’s ninth sorority over Gamma Phi Beta and Alpha Xi Delta, Dudolski said.

“The recruitment process has been going extremely well with so much support from the EIU community,” Schneider said. “Tri Delta could not ask for a better community to be joining!”