Spring Rush Has Arrived

The 2023 spring rush season has begun with one of the largest groups of rushees  in recent years. Due to  students studying abroad during fall semester for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic, the number of students rushing in spring has increased. 

Spring rush differs from the fall semester rush season, as it is condensed but still holds a similar apparatus to the previous events. Lily Hester, a rush director from Gamma Rho, said it will be less busy but just as fun.

“Rush is such an amazing time to make new friends, whether they rush your club or not,” Hester said. “This is also something you usually only get to do once, so soaking it up while you can is so special.”

Because of the smaller capacity of spring rushees, relationship building becomes a lot more important to the rush process. Kappa Sigma Tau rush director Zane Bentley said spring rush is not only for welcoming new people in, but also for those who want to re-rush into a new social service club. 

“In a way, rushing in the spring is more of a ‘welcome home’ experience,” Bentley said. For many, spring rush is a more chilled-out experience…, (they) come into it with an idea of who and how many people will be rushing a club. It’s a nice change of pace after dealing with the constant stress and excitement of fall rush.”

Bentley said Kappa’s  spring rush setup will be similar to their previous rush season, but because it was so effective before, they hope to welcome new rushees in with it again. 

“It gives us a chance to sit down and meet people who are planning on joining us and get a feel for what kind of person they are and how they would fit into our little community,” Bentley said. “Having a chance to hang out with them is very valuable once voting time comes.”

Hester said rush season is an experience, and having more people to meet or get to know better is what rush is all about. 

“We are so glad these girls are back with us, and we want to create a special and fun event for them since they didn’t get to go to the fall events,” Hester said.

For clubs like Psi Epsilon, spring rush is a chance to build community. Along with his partner Cameron White, rush director for Psi Ben King said it is not about the event but the relationships you can build. 

“We recruit more by relationships than rush events,” King said. “The real spin, I think, is that we’re doing a rush event this year. Last year we didn’t find it necessary, but we are branching out this year.”

The clubs are continuing their fall rush themes and creating a positive experience for all rushees. Bentley said club is so much more than intramurals and spring sing. 

“Rush is incredibly special; it really, truly is,” Bentley said. “There are so many students who feel left out, who don’t have a community, who don’t have many friends and don’t really know where to start. For a lot of them, rush is that start. Just going to a rush event is almost a guarantee that someone is going to make an effort to talk to you,”

These will be the last official rush events of the 2022 to 2023 academic year, and it will bring in many familiar and new faces to the club atmosphere. King said pressing rush is a good opportunity to connect with new people they’ve never met before. 

“This rush season is always more about who you know than who you don’t,” King said. “I hope that many of them can find a group that they would enjoy for the rest of their college experience.”

This is the first full rush season after the coronavirus pandemic, which has revived many of the rush traditions at Oklahoma Christian. 

“This is also something you usually only get to do once, so soaking it all up while you can is so special,” Hester said. “We love Gamma so much, and getting to show rushees why we love our club is so much fun.”

The spring rush events have been and will carry out into the rest of this week. Rushees will be fully integrated into their chosen clubs by Jan. 27. Check out each social service club’s social media to find out more details about spring rush events.