To be honest I feel like joining Greek life has been the best decision of my college career so far. I decided to go Greek in January when I came to William Jewell College during my senior year of high school. On that day, only one fraternity house was open at the time. During my brief tour of the house, I received answers to questions such as when formal rush was, how much money it would cost to live in a fraternity house as opposed to the other residence halls on campus, and approximately how many students were in Greek life. The answers I received were that: formal rush is in the spring; the cost of living in a fraternity can potentially be more expensive than living in a residence hall; and lastly, that approximately 45 percent of students at Jewell are involved in a fraternity or sorority. I believe that the decision to join Greek life is a fantastic choice, but it may or may not be for every student. The decision is to each his / her own.
When the fall semester began I joined the Hilltop Monitor and discovered that several members are involved in a fraternity or sorority. I spent a lot of time in Room 112 of the PLC copy editing and preparing our paper to be completely digital for the first time in its history.
I early September I joined “the Calling,” a group of students who take time out of their day to relax and discuss our faith in God and the Bible. In early October I found out that several members were also part of Greek Life. They told me that going Greek allows you to make lifelong friendships with good people. After joining “the Calling” and Jewell MOSAIC, I became acquainted with numerous members of Greek Life.
Before I came to Jewell I was very interested in joining Greek life as a way of meeting new people, and I found it is like having a second family on campus. After we came back to the Hill from winter break, Greek life was the only thing on my mind, especially since the first week back was fraternity rush. We had a meeting on that Monday to discuss Greek life and then we spent 30 minutes touring each of the fraternity houses. Tuesday through Thursday we went to visit the three Greek houses of the Kappa Alpha Order, Lambda Chi Alpha and Phi Gamma Delta. I was able to meet a lot of great people from all of the fraternities. I was interviewed by the three fraternities to decide which one was the best fit for me. On January 20th those who were interested in Greek Life went to KA to socialize as well as participate in an interview. The process was repeated with FIJI, and I continued to rank my preference of fraternities per the rules of rush week. Finally Thursday I went to LCA, met numerous members of the fraternity and participated in a final interview. After that night I wanted to keep an open mind. After a long time I was lead upstairs of the Pryor building as I had finally received a bid. In addition to the bid, I received very personal letters that were written by my fellow brothers welcoming me to the fraternity. After signing my bid I was lead to a room and greeted by my fellow brothers. Everyone was cheering and shaking my hand. It was a crazy experience. I ended Bid Day by going back to my new fraternity’s house, and after walking through the door I realized I had made the best decision of my college career.
