Adapting at lightning speed, Queens keeps its tight community from afar By: Jen Johnson MS ’14 and Lori K. Tate
bigail Cendejas ’21 won’t forget July 31 anytime soon. Tat’s the day she received the e-mail from President Dan Lugo announcing Queens would conduct classes
virtually, with no residential experience for the fall. Minutes later, her rugby coach, Katie Wurst, held a team meeting to discuss what the semester would look like. Before the announcement, Cendejas’ was enjoying the
quintessential Queens’ experience—playing a sport; changing majors a time or two; studying abroad; joining one, two or five clubs; landing an internship; building lifelong relationships, including a team of best friends, a mentor in Coach Wurst and
a professor who cared enough to spend hours helping her find the right major. Going completely virtual was initially a big blow to what she had imagined her last year of college would be like. However, with her ability to find the silver lining in most any situation, Cendejas discovered what began as a devastating start to her senior year turned into a semester that made her more grateful for the Queens community than ever before.
As the former membership director of Phi Mu, Cendejas jumped into online recruiting this past fall. “Typically, in the formal recruitment process, you are in the room with 20 girls and you rotate through a loud room having five-minute conversations,” she explained, adding that potential new members found Phi Mu through Amber Jolly, associate director of student engagement, or reached out directly to the chapter’s Instagram account. RingCentral meetings were then arranged so that everyone could get to know each other. Jolly worked with senior nursing student and Alpha Delta Pi Sorority sister
DIANA PECORARO ’20, OF ALPHA DELTA PI, ENJOYED A SOCIALLY DISTANT TRIP TO THE MOUNTAINS THIS PAST FALL WITH HER SISTERS.
Madi Hutchinson ’21 to offer recruitment virtually. “We talked to chapters on other campuses and worked hard to develop a workable plan,” Jolly recalled. “We had to create a plan that was both flexible and safe. …We don’t know if we are going to have to be virtual again next year, so we’ve been taking notes,” added Hutchinson. Te plan worked well for recruitment. “Tere would be three sisters on the call chatting about sorority life. It was nice—quieter and more intimate,” recalled Cendejas. “You didn’t meet as many people, but you had really authentic conversations.” Lindsey Barnak ’21 was initiated into Phi Mu this past November and says that
recruitment was a positive experience for her. Spending the semester in her hometown of Raeford, North Carolina, Barnak enjoyed the conversations she had with fellow pledges and members because it made her feel connected to Queens. “We just talked about anything,” she said. “Tey explained to me what Greek life is like and about the leadership opportunities that are present within Greek life…. It was really nice.”
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