Last Friday afternoon, the Coates Esplanade was filled with cheering, marking the end of another Greek life recruitment season with bid day. By night, 450 students cheered on the San Antonio Spurs and supported the Trinity choir’s national anthem performance.
Throughout the fall semester, Greek organizations get to know their prospective new members (PNMs) through “rush dates” and “first, second and third rounds.” Bid day is the chance for Greek life organizations to invite new members by offering them a “bid.”
The recruitment process happens every year, but the process changes as the previous new members now become the ones welcoming new members. Sabrina Cinque, sophomore biology major and member of Gamma Chi Delta, shared her experience during her first bid day as an active member.
“Rushing other girls has been a pleasure. I enjoyed meeting so many people. And I peer tutored fall semester, so seeing other girls that I peer tutored for branching out and being the person who I was last year was a really fun, cute, wholesome, full circle [moment],” Cinque said.
While joining a Greek organization can be a common journey for first-years, students aren’t limited to joining a Greek organization during their first year. Josh Rosenberg, sophomore finance and marketing double-major, shared his recruitment experience.
“I had a great couple of months and it was super great to just make connections and meet friends and find out more about the orgs,” Rosenberg said. “I barely rushed my first year. But after that, I was like, I really want to do this next semester.”
While bid day is a fresh start for all Greek organizations, this one was particularly significant for Delta Theta Nu, an organization that was founded last year and participated in its first bid day. Ariana Oaxaca, sophomore computer science major and recruitment chair for Delta Theta Nu, shared the emotional significance of bid day.
“We definitely struggled a lot with the logistics of things,” Oaxaca said. “Having bid day solidified that people really want this and people really like our mission and know our goals and they want to see this succeed and grow.”
After the decorations were put away and the organizations prepared for initiation, other students prepared for a different night out. At 7 p.m., students loaded charter buses and headed to the Frost Bank Center to cheer on the Spurs basketball team and the Trinity Choir.
The tickets were provided by the Trinity Student Government Association (SGA) free of charge to students who were able to swiftly fill out either of the two Google Form ticket-claiming surveys sent in December and January.
Taking students to go see a Spurs game is a Trinity tradition that originated with residential life, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there had to be a temporary pause on the tradition. The San Antonio Spurs vs. Golden State Warriors game last year was the first Trinity x Spurs night out since 2019.
Danny Nguyen, senior marketing and communication double-major and student body president, described Tigers Night Out as a way for students to take part in the San Antonio community.
“With the Spurs winning, people could feel the electricity within communion and family and starting to better understand the town that Trinity resides in,” Nguyen said.
While members of fraternities and sororities may have been disappointed with not being able to participate in Tigers Night Out because of the coincidence with bid day, Nguyen offered a different perspective.
“While we were disappointed that we couldn’t have our fraternity/sorority life members of Trinity join us at the game, we kind of in hindsight realize that it was actually a pretty great idea,” Nguyen said. “Tigers Night Out was just a great way for students to just have something else to do on their Friday night along with such a large part of Trinity.”
The Spurs game attracted many different students, sports fans or not. Winston Hutchison, senior accounting major, mentioned the opportunity to break out of the “Trinity Bubble.”
“It’s really cool to be able to explore the city more and just be a part of the actual culture here. I’ve been a sports fan forever and it’s really nice to have my first professional game I watch to be with Trinity,” Hutchison said.