With the beginning of a new school year comes classes, warm weather and Rush Week.
There are 12 fraternities located at APSU. The history of fraternities on campus dates all the way back to the early 1970s. By joining a fraternity or sorority you would be joining a community rooted in academic success and involvement in your community as well as on campus. A number of advantages come from going Greek such as gaining a support group, opportunities for community service and hands-on experience that would lead to a number of acquired skills.
Rush Week is the time where the different fraternities are able to recruit students to their respective organization. The week is filled with different events such as Casino Night with Kappa Alpha, which took place on Wednesday of last week, or a barbecue hosted at the PIKE house. These events are targeted towards bringing both awareness and interest to the different fraternities on campus.
Rush Week also gives fraternities the chance to find the young men that they believe will give their house a good name. During the week fraternities are looking for dedication, a good spirit and a sense of leadership. At the end of the day, it gives students the chance to find out not only which house they feel connected to, but also whether or not they feel connected with the Greek community in the first place.
For sophomore John Gutierrez, it wasn’t that long ago that he was Rushing. Even though going into the semester he knew he wanted to join PIKE, Gutierrez says that Rush allows those interested to find the house that will be there home for the coming years. During John’s Rush Week he was able to attend the PIKE events and was given the chance to meet with members of PIKE, this meant that when he joined PIKE he already had personal connections and ties with senior members. Even though Gutierrez knew where he wanted to go prior to Rush Week, he says that the process allows students to find their brothers and find out where they feel most comfortable within the Greek community.
“It’s all about finding your fit,” Gutierrez said. “It’s not only about my fraternity, they get to find their fit within their fraternal brotherhood on campus.”
“Wherever your fit, that’s really what Rush Week is about.”
This year Gutierrez played a different role during Rush Week, he spent the Week reaching out to students interested in PIKE and got to see what it was like being the recruiter rather than the recruited.
“It’s nice to see a lot of the guys fully dedicating themselves to this,” Gutierrez said. “It really excited me to see that there is a bunch of other young men that decide that they would like to join the same brotherhood as me or even if it’s not my fraternity they get to find their fit.”
Bid Week took place on Saturday, and a number of young men chose the house that they will spend their time dedicated to for their academic career.
Rush Week is different for every school, but at APSU it is a time for enjoyment and a way to spread information. It allows not only the fraternities the chance to get to know those who have been interested in them but also allows new students a chance to decide if Greek life is for them.
