As Fraternity RUSH and Sorority Recruitment is about to start,
I've decided to give you my two cents on why people should join,
and why it has become my biggest source of happiness in my life,
whilst it being an enormous, ever-growing passion of mine.
"You can never understand Greek Life from the outside-in,
and you can never explain it from the inside-out"
As far as Greek Life goes, I was probably one of the exceptions to it, because before I even entered college, I knew that I would be joining a Fraternity. I had seen all the stereotypical movies, have heard about them before, & of course had seen all the students wearing all sorts of different Greek Letters. Before I even thought about RUSHING, I was never big into stereotypes of people, so that wasn't one of the concepts that pushed me away from it, like I know a lot of people have. I saw it as gaining a lot of new friends, and having the most memorable times throughout my college years, whilst wasting away studying for my life.
Boy, did I have a lot more coming to me than that...
I came as a Freshman, to the University of Michigan-Flint, and as soon as the Welcome Back events started on campus, I was scoping out the Greek Life just as fast. I'm a person that highly believes and gets influenced by small world coincidences & events that seem like fate is trying to push you in one direction. For me, this was joining Kappa Sigma. Thus, I started the beginning of the most memorable, extraordinary, & blessed experience I could have ever asked for in college.
When you join Greek Life, you really don't know what to expect, or what kind of an experience you will have. Just like life though, Greek Life is exactly what you make it. If you put in the time and effort into what you just pledged into, ultimately joined, and the values that you now represent - you will sincerely be rewarded.
When you enter this new world, you instantly gain friends that will be there for you; when you're down, when you need the littlest thing, or when you just want to hang out. These are the people that you will remember for the rest of your life. Not only will you have friends from your own chapter, but the rest of the different organizations, as well! Sometimes, I feel like people forget about the other Greek organizations we have so close around us, or think they are more of our enemies than our extended support system. As soon as you join the 'Greek Life', you automatically accumulate the largest and most phenomenal support system in the world - And I will #always argue that.
Family
Greek Life is the tightest-knit family you will ever possibly experience. It doesn't just stop at your school though, or even across the country - it's spread world-wide. In an instant, you will have people behind you in a time when we need each other the most. There have been several times when our Greek Life on my campus has all come together in just a few hours to support each other. When you experience something like that, there is nothing that is more powerful than that feeling of togetherness. In that moment, there is genuinely nothing that can come between us. That feeling is something we all will #always share and remember. One of the coolest concepts about most of Fraternities & Sororities, is the idea of "Families" built into the chapter. You may have heard the terms: 'Little', 'Big', 'Grand-Big', 'Grand-Little', and so on. For example, "Oh, that guy, Trevar? He's my Little" or "I hope I become a Grand-Big this Fall!". This idea is one that will bring you closer together with your brothers or your sisters, than what you already were. I, myself, so far have two Littles, and I love those two guys more than a lot of people. They may not be your biological family, but they are definitely closer to you than some of your other brothers/sisters. Your family line sticks together and forms a team, and along with the territory, will give each other special privileges over other people - "Oh, sorry, I don't have that book anymore because my Little gets first dibs on it". Regardless of your family tree line, or the organization you're in, Greek Life as a whole is one big, happy family, and that is something that will #always be a fact for each of us.
Bonds
Along with being the happiest family, come along the bonds that you will forever earn and share. For me, this is one of the best things that someone could ever hope for in life. This is truly one of the things in my life that I am most grateful for and that makes me the happiest. This is one of those things that you can't physically touch, but something that you can undeniably see & feel. The bonds that you have with your fellow brothers/sisters is something like no other. These are the people that you will put as your top priority or people that you will defend. When you go through RUSH/Recruitment, you're going through the exact same process as what your older members did, and you're falling in-line with the chapter's tradition. You start out as a random stranger and over the course of a few weeks, build a bond that cements when your initiation day comes. It's truly an incredible emotion to gain new members to not only your chapter, but also to Greek Life in general. Wherever you go in the world, you will #always have an instant bond with another person that is wearing Letters, no matter if they are your Letters or not. When I studied abroad both last year and this year, whenever I saw a Greek , we instantly had a bond together, in the most random and foreign places of the world. You will have lifetime bonds with your chapter, your campus Greeks, and the Greek Family from around the world. It's #always the greatest feeling to immediately have something in common with a random stranger, and one that you're both passionate about.
Connections
My biggest life motto and my favorite one is building connections with as many people as you can. To me, this is doing life right. Remember when I said if you put in the time and effort into Greek Life, you would sincerely be rewarded? Connections are what makes this delicate, but ambitious dream come true. You will be going in the right direction by meeting all of the members of your chapter, but if you go out of your way to meet the members of the other Greek organizations around you, various doors will open for you in life. Get to know as many staff members of your campus as possible, because they will surely help you build these important connections. My past three jobs have been because one of my Greek Life members has referred me to them, and I have always got an immediate job interview from them too. I'm great friends with the head of Financial Aid at my school, so if I need any favors or direct help, I personally email or go right to her for it. I can't even tell you how many Greek Leadership Conferences I've went to with the costs covered for 3-5 day weekends through getting involved. These conferences are massive social affairs where you can gain astronomical amounts of networking opportunities. People from highly valued organizations such as PhiredUp, or Presidents of Umbrella organizations, or people that could get you in the door to your future career, or even just gaining high quality friends from around the world that know how to do life right, just like you. Plus, these conferences make me the happiest human-being on the planet because it's just a conglomerate of hundreds to thousands of Greeks from around the country coming together (Remember those instant bonds?) to talk about values and to share stories with each other. This to me is the perfect life. Everyone has a story, and a Greek probably has a better one. 
There are small connections that can just help you out in everyday life too. I got an expensive calculator for free because of the Tri Sigma's on my campus graciously gave it to me. Then there are also the ones that you can go through, just to get someones contact information or to flow through the 'Greek Grape Vine' smoothly. Having connections across the country and around the world, will have you flowing through life like a fish going down a stream.
Values
No matter which Greek Organization you join, we all will have the same basic principles or values. That's one of the best factors about being Greek, is the values that you join into and represent. One of these being Community Service or Helping People. If someone just took a second and looked at any of the Greek Organizations, they would see how much they help out their student body, their local community, and national organizations. In fact, the Greek System is statistically the largest network of volunteers in the United States, donating over 10 million hours of volunteer service each year. Every year, I know just my fraternity (Kappa Sigma) gives hundreds of hours to volunteering at The Crim, Habitat for Humanity, Relay for Life, the University itself, or to other organizations on campus. If one of the local businesses ever asks us for help, you bet we will #always give it to them, without a question. We have given countless hours to soup kitchens, food drives, clothing drives, and the like.
Most Fraternities or Sororities will have a national philanthropy they donate to every year. Kappa Sigma's is Military Hero's and Theta Phi Alpha's is Glenmary Home Missioners or The House That Theta Phi Alpha Built, while Phi Sigma Sigma's is the Phi Sigma Sigma Foundation, Theta Chi's is The USO and Tri Sigma's is The Sigma Sigma Sigma Foundation or The Robbie Page Memorial. We are dedicated to fundraising money toward these monumental organizations that produce the greater good. Statistically, Greeks raise over $7,000,000 each year for organizations around the country. Even as we Greeks turn alumni/alumnae in our chapters, we give over 75% of all the money donated to universities.
The overall good we do for the community is unparalleled to that of any other organization. Doing something like this, and knowing that we have this kind of overwhelming positive power - you really have no choice but to smile at something like that. The thought of thousands of people around the country helping out others in need is totally beautifying.
One of the most important values we represent is Scholarship. Every Greek Organization I have come into contact with has a 'Scholarship Chair' of some sort. After all, that is the primary reason we are at school: to do well in our studies and to get an education - Greek Life just supremely aids that quest. We have all-night study sessions in the library, organization study get togethers, groups built within our chapters based on the major you are, and various members that will happily help you with any of your classes. I tell you what, nobody should have a problem with finding somebody that will be able to help you in your schooling. It's also pretty cool when hang out amongst each other and advance ourselves in something like that; just an overall good feeling. I should also mention that overall, Greeks have a higher GPA than normal students do collectively. We have multiple competitions amongst ourselves to have friendly, competitive competition to see who can get the highest grades. I can't tell you how many Greeks I know that are purely dedicated to doing well in their education, it's inspirational sometimes. It makes you just want to do better. Over 70% of all persons that are Greek graduate, while below 50% of non-Greeks will graduate, just to put that into perspective.
One of the proudest values that a Greek can strive for is Leadership. It's not #always easy being a leader, but it is #always achievable. Being a leader means that you may need to be that person that stands up against the majority, or the person that lets their voice be known to defend their own values. The person that shows the right path when everyone wants to follow an unfavorable one. Striving to be a leader will help you become more mature as an individual, and help your mentality to develop as a responsible adult. You don't have to be a Greek to be a leader, I am aware of this, but being Greek will give you the necessary people and the resources directly to you to put you on the right track. There is a reason why we are known to be such an elite group of individuals in this world, and being a leader is an example of that. I will indefinitely and proudly embrace the fact that we are the highest quality of elite leaders. 76% of all Congressman and Senators belong to a Fraternity; Every U.S. president and Vice President, except two in each office, born since the first social Fraternity in 1825 have been members of a Fraternity; 63% of the President's Cabinet Members since 1900 have been Greek; Over 85% of the Student Leaders on some 730 campuses are involved in the Greek community; All of the Apollo 11 Astronauts were Greek; and the first female Senator and Astronaut were Greek. These are just a few statistics for Greeks! It's really unbelievable what Greeks become after they graduate from their respective colleges.
Finally, the most sensational value is the Brotherhood or Sisterhood we Greeks share. I've already talked about this earlier, so I won't reiterate. Just for a second though, think about it... We have 4 or more years together with the pledge class we initiated with, the older members before us, the younger members after us, and the other Greeks from our fellow organizations; and in these 4 years, we come together to do numerous charity events, spend hundreds of community service hours together, spend spring breaks together, study abroad together, make those cliche summer memories, or even have multiple get togethers at Applebee's for their half-apps every Thursday together, like what my Greek Life did. All of this together, all of the hours, all of the different people we meet, all of the memories we made, and all of the bonds that we create - this is brotherhood, and this is sisterhood. Nobody can change that, and nobody can stop that. That is ours, and ours to keep for a lifetime. This is a feeling that nobody can ever forget in their lifetime, and it's one that I will personality treasure throughout my life.
Being a Better Individual
Being a Greek certainly curves your life for the better, in the long run of things. All the positive memories and energy that is created throughout being a Greek individual, helps you become a better individual as a whole. The people you meet that become your lifelong friends, and the older members that become your mentors through life, help you stay on the right path and help you keep seeing the positive side of situations or in life, really. From personal experience, helping someone see the silver-lining on the edge of that destructive storm is one the most rewarding life experiences I could've realized. Helping our community, people in general, raising thousands of dollars for organizations, and giving thousands of hours of our time to helping a charity make someone elses' life better, will forever be the most inspirational and beautifying feeling one can have. Throughout your time, you really just gain a greater sense of pride and happiness for life - it's that surreal.
No matter what Greek Organization you choose to be with,
as long you choose an organization that fits with yourself,
you will #always have the most amazing time of your life,
with even more amazing people.
You will forever have lifelong friends, experiences,
& the strongest support system you could ever ask for.
"No matter the letter, we are all Greek together"
Life free. Be kind.
Stay loyal. Smile often.
#Always
No comments:
Post a Comment