Secret Week Shenanigans

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Name: Noah Guiberson

Year: Class of 2014

Hometown: Houston, TX

Major: Neuroscience and Molecular and Cellular Biology

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If you’re interested in being a part of a sorority at Hopkins (guys, keep reading…this will quickly become relevant to you), in the Spring of your freshman year you will become intimately familiar with Secret Week. Secret Week takes place after you have already rushed and joined a sorority, and is the week before Revelation—the night during which Big/Little pairs are revealed. (If you’re unfamiliar with Greek Life lingo, it’s okay, you’re not alone…several sorority friends of mine are actually watching me write this, and are correcting just about everything I’m writing.)

A Big, I am told, is like a mentor within your sorority—a special person who welcomes you to the chapter and with whom you will form a very (very) close friendship. (Tori chimes in from over my shoulder, “It’s as close as you can get to having an actual family away from family.”)

But back to Secret Week…during this time, the Littles (new members) do not know who their respective Bigs are. The Bigs take advantage of this by showering their Littles with presents through anonymous deliveries.

Guys, this is where you come in.

You will be responsible for these deliveries. Fraternity pledges and freshman guys from the Varsity teams carry out most of these, and a few are couriered by unaffiliated males who are unfortunate enough to be close friends of Bigs during Secret Week. Almost without fail, these deliveries manifest themselves in outright hilarity.

Even though Secret Week is a time focused on the new Sisters, it ends up being a really memorable time for the guys who deliver their gifts, as well. Ask any Brother or Water Polo player about their Secret Week experiences and they’ll reminisce at length about all the crazy stuff they had to do.

I asked around and heard some great stories.

A friend of mine, Melissa, had to go on a campus-wide scavenger hunt facilitated by fraternity pledges dressed as secret agents. At the end of her “mission”, they surrounded her and gave her the gift from her big. Another friend, Jenna, fondly recounted the time she was told to do pushups for her gift by a group of shirtless pledges, who jokingly criticized her technique and kindly offered to “show her the proper form”.

Legendary are the exploits of pledges who delivered gifts to Littles in a variety of ways while actually inside the library. When he was a freshman, Hopkins Interactive’s very own JHU_Nick brought chocolate covered strawberries to a Little on M-Level!

I am told that this year one fraternity pledge will, in what is surely one of the most unique delivery strategies I’ve heard about, play viola during the entire delivery event.

The incorporation of music in these deliveries is not uncommon, but an extra-classy alternative to the normal Secret Week shenanigans is to hire the AllNighters, Hopkins’ only all-male A Cappella group, who are expert serenaders. See the action here:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=109918202424125&set=vb.100002178388101&type=2&theater. 

To conclude, a more personal story and a word of caution…about a week ago, a friend of mine (here unnamed until after Revelation) asked me to make one of these deliveries on her behalf. She assured me that I wouldn’t have to do anything too embarrassing, and that all I had to do was to go to Wolman Hall at exactly 9:00 p.m. in order to hand a bag filled with Secret Week swag to her Little, Hannah. Under these conditions I was happy to help. Nonetheless, I still managed to embarrass myself.

In my defense, I had been on the set of #LearnMoreSeeMoreBMore (the City of Baltimore) filming our most recent episode for eight and a half hours by the time I got back to Charles Commons, and was exhausted. I thought that I would take a little nap so that the person giving Hannah her gift on the first day of this special week wouldn’t look like death. I set an alarm for 8:30 p.m., and went to sleep.

Naturally my alarm didn’t go off, and I woke up at ~9:45 to a number of furious voicemails from Hannah’s Big. I bolted out of bed and sprinted over to Wolman, where I apologized profusely and gave Hannah the bag. Apparently, Hannah’s Big was planning to make me sing Hannah an apology song, but luckily she let it slide.

Moral of the story: don’t ever go to sleep during Secret Week…or at least don’t cut it so close…

Anyway, Secret Week is a fun time to be at Homewood. I’m a fan.

GO HOP!

Going Greek: A Blue Jay’s Perspective

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Name: Becca Krishnan-Ayer

Majors: History of Art and French (double major)

Year: 2013

Hometown and state: Dallas, Texas

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The beginning of the spring semester marked an annually exciting yet busy time for Greek organizations on the Homewood campus. Here at Hopkins, most fraternities and sororities participate in delayed rush, or second semester rush, so that during their initial months at the university, students are free to explore what the school as to offer independently from their extracurricular or Greek affiliations. I was certainly interested in Greek life when I arrived at Hopkins freshman year, but wasn’t certain how involved the rush process and actual membership process would be. After talking with Lauren B. of Hopkins Interactive, who I met during my time on the Student Admissions Advisory Board, I felt more assured that trying out rush would suit my interests. I’ve always enjoyed broadening my horizons and meeting new people, and while I absolutely loved getting to meet all of the new students in my AMR I Royce house, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to branch out and at the very least, meet a number new people in the rush room that I wouldn’t otherwise have met. Luckily, I predicted correctly, and although there were a bunch of nerves that accompanied those interesting three or four days– chatting, talking some more, following a bunch of smiling sisters around in an intimidating room filled with older girls—ultimately, I ended up confident that I had made the right decision.

Not only did JHU_Lauren B. help to demystify the entire experience for me (she explained to me when we met each other the first week of school that she was a sister of the Phi Mu Fraternity), but also I was able to talk to a fellow classmate from my high school turned Hopkins student, also a Phi Mu sister, and another friend from home’s mother, who actually served as president for the first ever chapter of Phi Mu at Hopkins. After talking with current sisters and alumnae of the chapter, I realized that one aspect of Hopkins Greek life that sets it apart from other schools is its flexibility in terms of the degree of your participation or involvement. Our undergraduate student body is around 25% Greek in total, making it something that that certainly has a visible presence on campus, but doesn’t at all overtake the social or extracurricular opportunities here. Nonaffiliated individuals and affiliated individuals interact a great deal, and while Greek affiliates here definitely have an allegiance and brotherly or sisterly “pride” for their respective sororities or fraternities, this doesn’t negate the general Hopkins pride inherent in the student body.

During the spring semester, Greek visibility is generally more pronounced due to various rush activities and beautiful weather, which allows for outdoor events. Organizations typically plan events that coincide with lacrosse games, Homecoming, and Spring Fair, and I think it’s amazing to witness so many young alumni prioritizing their return to their alma mater from all over the country (not to mention, the world!) so they can visit with old friends and take part in a number of social, sporting, and university-sponsored events. Greek organizations typically plan separate homecoming events to welcome their own alums, so weekends such as Homecoming Weekend become an all-around thrilling time for returning students to not only to reminisce about their good times as an undergrad, but also about their fond memories as a Phi Mu, Kappa, or Fiji, for example. Students also embrace their sorority or fraternity pride during Spring Fair, Hopkins’ annual student-run fair and concert, a time when individual organizations can sign up for selling booths to raise money for certain charities or philanthropic events. In the past, there have been barbecues, stationary bike riding, head shaving for a cause, dunking booths, and much more.

As a current junior looking back on my initial reservations about participating in Greek life here, I have a whole new perspective about what being in a sorority, particularly a sorority at Hopkins, entails. After serving on the Junior Executive Board, a stepping stone for higher leadership positions in Phi Mu, for two consecutive years, I was thrilled when my sisters elected me to lead them as Vice President of Chapter Development. I just began my position this semester and have really enjoyed the opportunity think creatively on behalf of the entire group; plan fundraisers, brainstorm philanthropic events, meet with other members of the Executive Board, attend Panhellenic meetings, and most importantly, run Phi Mu’s weekly meetings.  At the very least, joining a Greek organization has enabled me to expand my circle of friends and acquire leadership skills that will undoubtedly serve me well in all of my future endeavors. But most what’s more, being a part of a group of successful, extremely motivated, talented young women has taught me what it really means to embrace tradition and friendship, and to use both of those in order to impact the Hopkins community positively.

Joining Greek Life: Perspectives from a Senior

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Name: Danielle Nemzer

Year: 2012

Hometown: Santa Monica, CA

Major: Public Health Studies

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In my opinion, one of the reasons why spring semester is the best semester here at Johns Hopkins is because sorority and fraternity recruitment happens during the first week back on campus! About 25% of students are involved in Greek life here, and just two weeks ago we invited 192 new women into the Panhellenic sorority community. This year we had some of the highest numbers of women go through recruitment – all four chapters handed out invitations to 45-plus women to join their group. I’ve been involved in Greek life since I was a freshman, when I joined Phi Mu. It has given me the opportunity to take on a bunch of leadership roles; last year I assumed the Assistant Membership Director role for my sorority, and this year I’ve acted as the President of the Panhellenic Council, which is the organization which overlooks all of sorority life on campus. As Panhellenic President, I got insight into the sorority and fraternity recruitment process like I had never seen it before. It was a really fun start to the semester.

Sorority recruitment is different here at Hopkins than at other schools. It happens during beginning of the spring semester, only spans about 4 days, and is really an exciting time for both the current sisters and the potential new members. Everyone who goes through recruitment makes a ton of new friends, even those who decide not to join a group. The best night of recruitment, however, is the final night – Invitation Night – that’s when “bids” to join a specific sorority are given out. The way that Invitation Night works is that we arrange a room with almost two hundreds chairs in the middle of it. Every chair has an envelope which will contain an invitation to join a sorority for the women who have decided to go through recruitment start-to-finish. Women from each sorority come into the room and are cheering and dancing and yelling (and wearing matching t-shirts), and then there is a big countdown for the potential new members to open up their envelopes and see which sorority they have the opportunity to join! It’s very loud, exciting and the energy in the room is absolutely electric. After the women open up their envelopes, they run to their new sisters and there is a lot of hugging and happy tears. Writing this out doesn’t come close explaining how much fun this evening is – I guess you’ll just have to experience it next year!

Fraternity recruitment is less formal, and it is going on right now as I write this blog. Fraternities will host events, like Wings and Pizza Night or Duckpin Bowling to get to know boys who are interested in joining. Fraternities are a lot smaller that sororities here at Hopkins, and most of them invite around 20 students to join each year. The events that fraternities will plan range from “Duck Duck Goose Night” (still unsure what that means) to heading down to DC for a Wizards basketball game.

If you decide to come to Hopkins, I highly recommend checking out Greek life. It’s one of the most vibrant, exciting, and involved communities we have here on campus!

SO D-Xi-rable!

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Name: Amanda Goldman-Petri

Area of study: East Asian Studies, Writing Seminars, and Russian Triple Major

Year: Class of 2012

Hometown: Baltimore, MD

How I grew up and what my family is like are questions with answers that would push just about anyone away from me––anyone except for the sisters of Delta Xi Phi Multicultural Sorority. I have only been here for 3 years and yet Johns Hopkins has given me so much. I have undoubtedly been given an unrivaled education, but what has touched me more is the people that Johns Hopkins has blessed my life with. I have sisters now, life-long friends, and a fiance.

As a prospective student, each time that I stepped foot on this campus, I sensed a warm and inviting atmosphere. The campus community was a family and I was their welcomed guest. Coming from the dysfunctional family that I do, I needed to attend a university, which possessed this hospitable ambience. Attending Johns Hopkins is a decision that I have never regretted, because it has given me everything that I will need to succeed and be happy in life. Johns Hopkins has even satisfied my search for a family.

As a freshman, I knew I wanted to rush a sorority and the greek system seemed very appealing, but the problem was finding a sorority that fit me best. I immediately scratched all of the sororities in the Panhellenic Council off of my list, because I felt that those sororities were too big to foster the type of sisterly bonds that I wanted. This left the sororities of the Multicultural Greek Council. Delta Xi Phi Multicultural Sorority immediately caught my eye. The Johns Hopkins community has its own lingo and I originally knew this sorority as DXP. At DXP rush events, I saw a group of about 20 close, intelligent sisters who were bound together by the pillars of their sorority. These pillars are sisterhood, friendship, the advancement of women through higher education, philanthropy, and multicultural awareness. I have been an active sister for a year and these pillars have become a huge part of my life as well. The first pillar, sisterhood, means the most to me and how strong the bond of sisterhood can be never ceases to amaze me.

In my time with Delta Xi Phi, I have seen sisters do extraordinary things for this bond. They have answered the phone at 2am for a sister even when they were asleep and would normally never answer the phone for anyone else. They have gone together to the hospital when another sister was sick. They have driven to and from Towson for a sister many times and even multiple times in one night. Sisters from other chapters who we have never met have been loving and hospitable to us. Three of my sisters will be bridesmaids in my wedding, one of which is my maid of honor. My guest list is crowded with DXP sisters and I am on the guest list of another DXP sister who is getting married.

The bond of sisterhood runs deep within us and we are always opening our hearts to new sisters, who want to join our family. This is one of the many aspects of my undergraduate career, which has exceeded my expectations. Being a part of DXP has been an amazing experience and I would pledge all over again if I had to. So, ask me, “Why Hopkins?” My answer is going to be, “Because I wanted a family”…and I got it.

ΦM PHUN!

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Name: Kate Vacovec

Year: Class of 2013

Hometown: Sherborn, MA

Major(s): International Relations Major; Entrepreneurship and Management Minor

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Every week I spend an hour giving a tour around the Hopkins campus to prospective students.  Most tours I’ve given follow the same format with students half-listening as they recall the 10 other college information sessions and tours they have already attended. Most tours are a blur even to me.  However, one specific tour that occurred last semester specifically stands out.  I remember walking into the rec center to give prospective students and their parents an opportunity to look around.  As I waited patiently, one student approached me with his father and hesitantly posed a unique question that no prospective student had ever attempted to ask.  “Is Hopkins…fun?”

Now flashback to when I was a senior applying to Hopkins.  At first, I didn’t even consider it.  All the college guides certainly did not make it seem fun.  Who wanted to go to a school where everyone studied and was extremely competitive?  While I wanted to get an amazing education at a great school, I made a vow to not sell my soul and sacrifice my sanity by going to a school whose extracurricular was study on M level. Well fortunately for me, I had a cousin who had graduated a couple years before and promised me that he had an awesome time.  After I applied and got in, I had to figure out how I would actually have fun at Hopkins.

Phi Mu Dinosaur-themed party

Luckily, the answer hit me immediately when a cheery girl handed me a cup of pink lemonade on the “beach” at Hopkins.  Joining a sorority became the answer to my question.  I was certainly tentative at first. A sorority? I’m an intellectual! Sororities are only for girly girls who are from the south and wear Lily Pulitzer and pearls. But instantly I realized that those involved in Greek Life at Hopkins are more than what is depicted in the movies. They are scholars looking to balance their academics and extracurricular activities with some fun on the weekends.

Phi Mu dresses as Hopkins cheerleaders for Halloween

After joining Phi Mu, my life at Hopkins changed dramatically. I met a group of girls who manage to get over a 3.5 GPA while devoting their time to every extracurricular on campus possible and still making an appearance on the

Phi Mu's flag football team

weekends.  Fun? How can date parties, flag football, Greek weekend, sister dinners, themed celebrations and random movie nights with lots of ice cream and chick flicks not be fun? Phi Mu certainly satiated my appetite for activities to balance my academics, but so far it has provided me with much more than I even expected.  It has challenged me to volunteer and raise money (think bake sales, visits to Hope Lodge and Pastathon) for our philanthropy organization Children’s Miracle Network. Some of my Phi Mu sisters and I even challenged ourselves to run the 10 mile Cherry Blossom Run to raise money for this organization (Challenge is an understatement. Come decision time I was still battling three miles).  Phi Mu has also helped me to establish bonds with sisters on campus that I would have never met without my pledge to Phi Mu. Walking around campus and receiving smiling faces from my sisters never seems to get old.

Phi Mu has certainly proved to be my answer to my own tentative question, “Will Hopkins be fun?”  After two years as a Hopkins undergrad, I look back and think, Phi Mu has made my experience at Hopkins fun.  But I actually have to correct myself. Phi Mu has made my experience at Hopkins unforgettable.

Not Your Typical Sorority Girl

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Name: Caroline Katz

Year: Class of 2013

Hometown: Syosset, NY

Program of Study: Public Health Studies Major

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When I came to Hopkins last year as a freshman, Greek Life was the farthest thing from my mind. I was consumed with fears about my new roommate, what classes I would take, picking my major, and making friends. If anyone had asked me to describe myself, “sorority girl” would not have made the list.

I breezed through first semester with few worries. While my classes were challenging, I had covered grades on my side. This meant that only a “satisfactory” or an “unsatisfactory” would show up on my report card instead of letter grades. I was focused on getting to know the campus and becoming accustomed to my new life.

When second semester came, everything changed… sorority rush season started. I decided to try it out because I figured that I couldn’t loose anything by just seeing what sororities had to offer. My family was very discouraging and urged me time and time again not to go through with the process.

Even though I decided to go to the rush events, I was sure I wouldn’t actually join a sorority. I was very close-minded about the whole thing, and wrongfully so.  I was taken aback by what I saw. I had honestly expected to see sororities like in the movies- too many girls giggling and talking about shopping, hair, and makeup.  Instead, I saw girls just like me. We talked about real things, like study abroad, the best classes to take, and what level we liked to study on in the library. I decided to investigate sororities further. What I found comforted me. Everyone here knows that academics come first. Having a variety of interests in other clubs and organizations is encouraged, not looked down upon.

Upon this realization, I decided to finish out rush. I was invited to join Alpha Phi and happily accepted. As I got to know more and more sisters, I learned what sororities (at Hopkins) were really about. Sororities are about bringing different people- with unique and varied interests- together to bond over friendship and camaraderie. We enjoy making s’mores, doing community service together, and supporting one another in our endeavors. Mixers with fraternities and date parties are an added bonus

Now, almost a year after my initiation I know another 100 people on campus. I’ve been to homecoming and a Greek Week powder puff football game. I’ve dressed up as a hippie,  and a flapper from the 20s for our themed date parties. But I have also had time to do so much more. Besides for giving tours for the admissions office, I am a lifeguard at the pool, and a member of CHAI, the “Coalition of Hopkins Activists for Israel.” I am also a part of the Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium which brings speakers (Elizabeth Edwards, Jon Landau, Donny Deutsch etc..) to campus. I’ve had time to explore multiple majors until I found one I loved and I look forward to doing research next semester at the School of Public Health.

If anything, Alpha Phi has been an outlet for me to just be myself…as cliché as that sounds! If I could go back in time, I would make the same exact decision.

Tales of a Second Semester Freshman

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Name: Siobhan Callanan

Year: Class of 2011

Hometown: Barrington, IL

Major: Mechanical Engineering, Math and French Minors

Previous Guest Blog Entries:

Nov 29, 2007: Another Team…Another Family!!!, click here.

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Hey all, I’m back. Since my first blog I’ve had a ton of stuff going on — basketball season ended, I got a job, and I joined a sorority!!

So basketball ended and I can’t believe that it’s over. I love all of the girls and now I don’t get to see them everyday and it is quite frustrating! Whenever we see each other across the quad we hug and go crazy as if it’s been months since we’d seen each other, but that is seriously how it feels. It’s really hard to go from seeing people for 3 hours a day, every day for 5 months to seeing them once, maybe twice a week. The good thing is that we still spend a ton of time together on the weekends. We’re going to be starting up our spring workouts pretty soon, so then it’ll be almost back to normal.

As I mentioned, I GOT A JOB!! This is kind of a big deal. I am now a typical poor college student working her way through college (maybe not exactly but close). I work in the Athletic Center. During basketball season, I typically only worked around 9 hours a week. However, now that the season is over I have been able to work a lot more hours. A great way to do this is working the different games. I’ve been working Men’s Lacrosse games, Women’s Lacrosse games, and some baseball games. This is a great way for me to make money because the majority of the time I would be at the game anyways, so now I am getting paid to go.

For the Women’s Lacrosse and baseball I was a ball chaser. Haha … it is a VERY important job which basically allowed me to just sit/stand and watch the different games!!! It’s great!!

When I worked the Men’s Lacrosse games I got to sit up in the press box and answer phones. I basically got paid to sit, eat, and tell people the score of the game if they called and asked … what a life!!! Working the games is a lot of fun, I get to cheer on my friends and get paid for it. But really … it is so easy to get a job here at Hopkins, at least half of my team works in the Athletic Center in some way and it’s possible to work in the mailrooms in the different dorms (my room mate does it and she said that she gets paid to basically sit and do homework … sounds pretty nice to me).

And now, I saved the best for last … I joined a sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta!!! I have to say that coming to Hopkins, there was no way I ever thought that I would join a sorority. I am definitely not what I would consider “sorority girl material.” However, at Hopkins, sorority life is much different than it is a huge state schools. First, we don’t have any houses. Also, we only have four sororities: Kappa Alpha Theta, Alpha Phi, Kappa Kappa Gamma, and Phi Mu.

Rush week was a lot of fun but it was also soo tiring. Days when I had events in the evening went as follows: class til 4, practice til 7:30, then straight to a rush event til 10. It was chaotic, but sooo worth it. The main reason that I wanted to join a sorority was so that I could branch out. Through first semester, I mainly hung out with basketball people or the people in my hall. Rushing allowed me to meet a ton of new people and those girls that are now my sisters and I have had so much fun together already. It has been a very worthwhile experience thus far.

Historically Black Greek Lettered Organizations at Hopkins

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Name: Blake Edwards

Year: Class of 2010

Hometown: Detroit, MI

Major: Public Health (Social Science concentration)

Previous Guest Blog Entries:

Dec 20, 2007: End of the Year Shows, click here.

Archived 2007 Blog, Vol. 1: The Life and Times of B. Edwards

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In the fall of 2007 I entered a world that I had been dreaming about way before I got to college. In the fall of 2007 I became a brother of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated – Sigma Sigma chapter, here at the Johns Hopkins University. My eyes were first opened to Alpha Phi Alpha when a teacher at my high school began mentoring me during my freshmen year. I would sometimes see him walking around with Greek letters on and didn’t make much of it. As I got older, and my relationship with him grew, I began to notice the appearance of these letters throughout my community, and the world. Family members are Alphas, friends’ fathers are Alphas, and then it really got big … the current and last mayors of Detroit, other political figures, Olympians, and Activists like Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglass, and W.E.B. DuBois are all Alpha men.

The cool thing about Alpha Phi Alpha and other historically Black Greek Lettered Organizations (BGLOs) is that the involvement is not about college; that is just the beginning. There are undergraduate chapters and graduate chapters so that the involvement never stops.  Alpha Phi Alpha was the first BGLO, founded on Tuesday, December 4, 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Initially started as a means of survival for the extremely small Black population at Cornell, it grew into an organization that inspired other BGLO formation and has served the world for over a century. Being at Hopkins, where Black students are a minority, the appearance of BGLOs is a reminder for the campus community about the past struggles and triumphs of Blacks in America. We may not have the largest numbers at Hopkins and many other institutions, but we still make our presence felt, here and in the community. The relationship between college chapters and our professionally established graduate chapters help us bridge the gap between Hopkins and the Baltimore community.

Because of films like Drumline and Stomp the Yard, the awareness of BGLOs in mainstream America has increased, but stepping is not all that we do. Don’t get it twisted, we do step hard (see video below), but another aspect of our organizations is providing vivid leadership, everywhere. Alpha Phi Alpha, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, and Sigma Gamma Rho have representation in many of the organizations here on campus, ranging from presidential positions to the general body level. There are nine BGLOs that make up the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), and the four organizations mentioned are the ones active here at Hopkins.  Though are numbers are small, we make our presence known and will continue to do so. As opposed to getting interested in Greek Life after hitting college, many of us had Greek life on our minds as an incentive for attending. The beauty of the BGLO is that its history is so deeply rooted in our history in this nation. While our populations are larger at other academic institutions, we do in fact exist here at Hopkins, and will continue to do so as a means of connecting with our past and embracing our futures.

Going GRΣΣK

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Name: James ‘Jason’ Siegler

Year: Class of 2009

Hometown: Little Rock, AR

Majors: Neuroscience and History of Science and Technology

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My name is Jason Siegler and I am a Beta. Instead of telling you about my academic statistics and the scholastic achievement of Hopkins students, I want to focus on Greek life. For the most part, Greek life is underrated by the academic community. Greeks are well-known for their misdemeanors and miscreants, but seldom are Greek organizations ever openly appraised. I wish to remedy this misunderstanding by letting the next generation of students know that there is more to Greek than meets the eye.

Boasting higher grade point averages than non-Greek students, thousands of community service hours more than the average student group, and far more leadership opportunities than a typical student would have otherwise been exposed to, the fraternity and sorority system is indeed quite a valuable asset to Hopkins. Furthermore, Greek organizations provide a number of scholarships to outstanding incoming freshmen. Beta Theta Pi’s ‘Recruitment Through Scholarship’ and Sigma Phi Epsilon’s ‘Balanced Man’ programs are only two examples attesting this.

In Greek organizations, undergraduates are also armed with networking and communication skills. Many fraternities and sororities on campus, though they do work with chapter advisors, are almost entirely student-run organizations. To succeed, they must continue to build and strengthen campus and community relations. They have to synchronize many interests and goals to plan events and carry them out successfully. One of Hopkins’ largest events is the ‘Fiji Islander’ in which months of planning are necessary to acquire financial support from the Interfraternity Council, find and hire third party vendors, schedule entertainers, and coordinate with local charities who benefit from the event. Imagine the work necessary and responsibility delegated in order to make such an event successful. It may seem like a lot at first glance, but joining a fraternity or other campus organization will sufficiently prepare you for it. And in your future careers, this kind of experience is invaluable.

Making good men better is a belief shared by each fraternity and sorority (in the case of women). It is also one of the principle axioms of Beta Theta Pi. Having doubled our chapter numbers in the past five years, we are striving to make even more men better. Our Men of Principle Initiative and numerous leadership development programs from the Beta Wilderness Challenge to the Keystone Regional Leadership Conferences provide incomparable opportunities for young men to assume leadership roles within their chapters as well as in their other campus organizations. I charge you to see for yourself what Greek organizations like Beta Theta Pi offer and take advantage of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences with a band of brothers who will last a lifetime.

Living Off Campus in a Fraternity House

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Name: Andrew Langer

Year: Class of 2009

Previous Guest Blog Entries:

March 27, 2006: Baltimore’s Music Scene, click here.

December 5, 2006: My Path to IR, click here.

March 26, 2007: Gangster Films, click here.

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Hey everyone, Andrew from Hopkins Interactive here once again. My guest blog entry this semester is about living off campus in a fraternity house. Before I get started though, I just want to give a little background about who I am and what I do on campus (for the newbies).

I’m a junior majoring in International Relations, with a concentration in International Security. Part of me wants to take the time senior year to minor in Italian because I already have about half of the classes done. We will see what happens. This semester I am taking five classes: The Arab-Israeli Conflict, Introduction to American Politics, Modern Alchemy, Medieval History (Occ Civ), Advanced Italian. I’m a member of the Student Admissions Advisory Board (the group responsible for everything you’re looking at right now), a fraternity, and I play Club Lacrosse when I have the time.

Living in dorm rooms both Freshman and Sophomore year was a lot of fun, but living off campus right now in my fraternity house is a completely different and worthwhile experience. Let’s clear some things up first: yes, I actually do get work done here. I’m sure that surprises you completely, but I’m being serious. Right now, I’m in the middle of writing an enormous paper on Israeli-Syrian relations since 1948—I’ve done most of it in my room in the house and haven’t had a problem with noise whatsoever.

The second point that I want to clear up is the stereotype that a fraternity house is always a mess, which isn’t necessarily true all the time. Right now, it’s a mess. One of my fraternity brothers spent the fall semester in Washington DC studying with the Aitchison Program; he comes back to Baltimore every weekend and usually ends up sleeping on our couch because he takes a class on Homewood Campus every Friday. Hence, the mess in the living room.

The kitchen is a bit dirty right now, but it’s only out of recent laziness. I think that having a kitchen is probably the coolest part about living off campus, let alone living in a fraternity house. I never really had the opportunity to cook meals for myself before this year. Mac and Cheese in the dorm room is one thing, but cooking steak, fish, chicken, etc. is another. One of my housemates used to work in a restaurant, so he’s been able to show me the ropes, which is pretty awesome. I find myself eating a lot of steak, chicken, and pasta, but I recently picked up some frozen pieces of salmon from Whole Foods.

The walk from my house to campus is actually not as terrible as I originally thought it was. There are a few shortcuts—it really only ends up taking about five minutes, tops. My room itself is enormous; unfortunately, I have to split it with one of my friends next semester. I lived with someone in tenth grade (I went to boarding school) and as a freshman at Hopkins, so at least I am used to it. My room is a bit messy. I’m going to blame that entirely on this huge paper I am writing right now, and NOT on my own laziness.

I’m sure you’re all dying to know what it’s like to live in a house where frequent, uh… social gatherings occur. Well, here’s some footage from our two most recent social events:

Ha ha ha… just kidding. I hope you all enjoy YouTube as much as I do.

So there you have it: a concise look at what it’s like to live off campus at Hopkins in a fraternity house. Feel free to post questions in the comments section below if you have them. Happy Holidays and best of luck with the application process!