After only one business fraternity welcomed new members last fall, Penn State’s Business Fraternity Council is ready to welcome fresh faces to all five of its fraternities.

Despite the unprecedented circumstances for the committee, BFC recruiting team member Tyler Andreis says that the group is committed to making the recruitment process as safe and normal as possible for everyone.

“We are just really trying to create a safe, COVID-friendly virtual space, where they can still have a similar experience to that they would in person, if not better,” Andreis said.

Each fraternity and its members usually gather at the BFC mixer in the Business Building to recruit potential new members every semester. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, however, this semester’s mixer will take place on Zoom for the first time.

Under normal circumstances, each fraternity would host its own individual events during the week following the BFC mixer. Potential members would then later be invited to more in-person events later in the week. Despite moving the entire process online, Andreis expressed that the BFC hopes to keep the process as close to normal as possible.

“Speaking on behalf of all the business fraternities, we sent out a variety of links so each independent fraternity has its own Zoom link,” Andreis said. “From there, it’s the responsibility of each fraternity to figure out what they want to do. We also have designated privately scheduled events already, that are all going to be virtual, which is super cool. And then the week after that, we go into invitation-only events”

This is not uncharted territory for every fraternity, though. Delta Sigma Pi was the only organization to hold rush events and recruit new members in the fall. The other four business fraternities, and even social fraternities, learned from how they handled the rush process in the fall and plan to build off it for this semester.

“It was very challenging last semester, obviously, with any organization to maintain engagement, but I think they did a really great job with it,” Andreis said. “I know a lot of other fraternities have reached out to them for advice because they did have a successful turnout. We’re all looking forward to helping produce a similar result this semester.”

The BFC mixer will begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday, January 27, via Zoom. Additional details about the event and Penn State’s business fraternities can be found here.