Proud to Be Greek Wednesdays - May 30th, 2018

The lifelong bonds you form, the communities you serve, and the invaluable lessons you learn are all part of an unforgettable Greek organization experience. Joining a brotherhood or sisterhood is an honor and a privilege, and with it comes social awareness and responsibility. Each week we are going to be featuring an essay written by a fraternity/sorority member to highlight how Greek life has had a positive impact. Joining Kappa Alpha Order As we approach the end of high school, college is the next big step in our lives. While being an exciting adventure, it comes with its downsides. Being at college my first year, I really enjoyed myself and had a great time; however, whether I wanted to admit it or not, homesickness was always a pressing emotion. Going to college requires a person to leave home and meet all new friends on their own. This can be a very daunting task, especially during the first few weeks of classes. My first week of class went well, I just went to class and then went back to my dorm. However, after a week of this routine, I found myself becoming very bored and missing home a lot. While lying in bed one night, I got an email about fraternity requirement was coming up. My father was in a fraternity, but I never considered myself a person interested in Greek life. I figure that I should at least go through rush and see if I was interested; if I didn’t enjoy rush, I would just not join any fraternity. That is where it begun. I went to a few houses to meet some guys before formal requirement, and I found myself a little uncomfortable due to my introverted personality. However, I walked into the Kappa Alpha Order house at the University of South Alabama and found my nerves at ease. I felt comfortable with the actives and decided that I was going to go through with this. About a week later, I was offered a bid from KA, and I was ecstatic. The bid was only the beginning, a few days later was induction. I was inducted and given my new member pin and book; these were sort of like valuable possessions to me. It was weird that an organization that I just recently joined became extremely important to me. I went through the period of new member education, and I found myself all in. I was 100% KA and proud to be a new member awaiting initiation. I wore my new member badge with pride and was happy to tell anyone what fraternity I was trying to join. After 8 or so weeks, I was initiated as an active brother of the Epsilon Alpha chapter of the Kappa Alpha Order, and I could not have been a happier person. Now, how did this experience change my life? Well, while going through my new member education, I had so many friends and was too busy to miss home. This made my first semester of college fly by and taught me so much about living on my own. I believe joining a fraternity during your first semester is essential to maturing into college. This not only taught me time management, but it also taught me how to live in a dorm. This experience was extremely helpful in growing in maturity and becoming a true man. While all these are beneficial, one of the best things that going Greek helped me do was make friends. In Greek life, you don’t really have a choice but to make friends and that is what makes it great. Not only does Greek life give you numerous friends, but it also gives you quality friends. Greek life in general has broken me out of my shell and has given me a network of friends and people I can truly count on for help. Going Greek has by far been the best decision I have made since I have been in college. I would highly recommend it to any freshman debating which organizations to join; even if someone doesn’t think they will enjoy it, at least try it.