Hundreds of Troy University freshmen found their new “home away from home” Saturday.

It marked the university’s annual Sorority Bid Day, where 311 freshman women discovered which sororities they will pledge this fall.

It’s the culmination of a week-long recruitment process.

“On Bid Day, we have all the girls that got a bid back from a sorority come and sit together, and we have the girls put their bids underneath them so they can’t reveal them just yet,” said Shannon Stickley, an active sorority member chosen to be a group leader to help the new recruits. “Then we all count down from 10 to have them open their bids. It’s all very exciting.”

For the freshmen, the excitement comes from both from the process of recruitment week and the promise of what’s to come.

“We’ve been working, waiting all week to find out where we’re going,” said Annabel Parke, a freshman from Daphne. “A lot of anticipation has been built up. You really make connections with people, so it’s nice. There are 24 girls in my group, and I couldn’t imagine doing this week without them. It’s very important, because I’m about to get 200-something sisters, too, so now I have friends and sisters, and I haven’t even started school yet.”

Stickley remembers going through the process and the impact it made on her first year of college life.

“I think it’s so important, because going through as a freshman really helps them focus on their grades, since all sororities have to focus on grades, and it helps them find their friends and also find a true home away from home,” she said.

Sorority Bid Day is a tradition that dates back more than 50 years at Troy University.

For many years, the tradition took place on the quad outside Shackelford Hall, but for the better part of the last two decades, it’s happened on Sorority Hill in Troy.

As the tradition has gone, the recruits find out their sororities, then run across Elm Street to their respective new sorority houses.

“I think it is a great way to get students involved on campus immediately,” said Barbara Patterson, director of Student Involvement and Leadership. “This is a way for the women to celebrate their new sorority membership and get right in the fold of campus life. The excitement is huge.”

A new sorority, Alpha Omicron Pi, will hold its own Bid Day on Sept. 16.