A team of Zeta Tau Alpha consultants concluded their second round of public relations work on campus on Thursday.
According to ZTA’s director of extension Marlene Conrad, the team spent a week at Penn familiarizing themselves with campus culture and exploring public relation strategies for the spring.
The team spent two days manning Locust Walk and talking with students. “The consultants handed out 2,500 stress balls over the past week to spread the word about our new chapter … and to help relieve some exam stress hopefully,” Conrad wrote in an e-mail.
College senior and outgoing Panhellenic Council President Darby Nelson told The Daily Pennsylvanian in October that strategy and marketing will be “key” for ZTA’s colonization process.
ZTA will work closely with Panhel, the Office of Student Affairs/Fraternity Sorority Life and various student groups in order to determine which marketing strategies “will fit best at Penn,” Nelson wrote in an e-mail. One strategy includes a “referral system,” which involves students suggesting “female friends, teammates and class peers as potential members.” The referral system, she added, “has proven very successful at other schools.”
In the way of marketing strategies, Panhel Advisor Stacy Kraus said the most important thing will be “knowing the campus and knowing what works at Penn.”
Beyond strategy, Marlene Conrad noted that ZTA as an organization has the means to spark the interest of Penn women. “We do have a very strong academic history and scholarship program,” she wrote in an e-mail.
ZTA’s “strong commitment to philanthropy and service,” she wrote, will draw students as well.
The ZTA Foundation’s scholarship program offers five different types of grants for members, and has formed partnerships with big names such as the National Football League, Yoplait and Betsey Johnson through its involvement with the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.
Wharton freshman Sarah Escape, who plans to rush next year, expressed a lot of enthusiasm about the new group’s commitment to philanthropy.
“I have been involved with Komen’s race for the cure since middle school and the fact that this sorority is one of the sponsors of it through its breast cancer philanthropy really appeals to me,” Escape wrote in an e-mail.
The fact that ZTA will be a new sorority on campus is also appealing, she added. “I want to help build something from the ground up,” she wrote.
ZTA’s colonization at Penn will also give upperclassmen that missed out on Greek life a second chance. College senior Allie Ruel is one such student.
Ruel was unable to rush with other women in her freshmen year because of her involvement with Penn’s crew team.
Ruel also said her roommates — who are involved with Greek life — spoke highly of ZTA and its work with breast cancer awareness.
There are also more material aspects of ZTA that are getting student’s attention.
“Have you seen their gear?!” Escape wrote candidly. “SOO cute.”
