Category Archives: Greek Life

Greek life tips for those in fraternities or sororities

May 14, 2011

Are We Influenced By Our Surroundings?

There’s this saying that goes “We shape our buildings and afterward our buildings shape us.”

Truth be told, I believe this quote means that we influence the environment around us and in turn the environment influences us.  This is particularly true when it comes to Greek organizations such as fraternities and sororities.

I still remember my Freshmen year in college.  I was fairly timid and shy, but it was after joining my fraternity, bonding with the brothers, growing as an individual, and being put into leadership positions where I broke out of my shell.   My fraternity facilitated this process significantly.  I learned from the upperclassmen, and before I knew it I was one of the upperclassmen!

The second reason why I feel this is true is because often times it’s the members of the organization that truly shape it, and in doing so create something bigger than they could have ever imagined.  Countless houses across the nation run philanthropy events because it’s tradition, but after the members get involved with the philanthropy, they look for other ways to continue to give back to the community.

And lastly, it’s hard if not impossible to not be influenced by your surroundings.  If you have great friends who cook, it’s likely you’ll pick up that habit.  If most of your friends eat junk food or fast food, it’s likely you’ll fall into this as well, or if a lot of your friends go to the gym, you’ll probably tag along as well.  The people, things, and environment we choose to associate with as a whole often times make us who we are.

If you haven’t already, be sure to order your greek stoles before it’s too late!

photo credit

May 8, 2011

Fraternity & Sorority Collaboration

Working with your fraternity brothers or sorority sisters is always a tricky situation. On the one hand, a project can be delegated evenly across the entire chapter, but on the other side is to have one just one person lead. Personally, I believe by having just one person lead a project, a project is more likely to be completed and more likely on time.

The first reason as to why you’d want only one person to lead is to reduce assumptions. With everyone has control, often times nobody has control. If you’re hosting a fundraiser or a huge community service event, having just 1 point of contact ensures that there’s a “mastermind” that can take care of and delete the tasks needed>

Another reason for this is because when everyone leads, often times this leads to inaction. Everyone will have different opinions and decisions about what they’d like to do. This opens up the potential to many more heated and challenging discussions that might stall or delay a project. Giving a person the central authority to make the “final call” can prevent these situations. This is also very true in the event that your chapter has an even number of members and voting brings a decision to a split tie.
And lastly, and perhaps the best reason, it gives people leadership opportunities. By assigning a role to just one member, that member will likely have to rise or fall to the situation and learn more more than if they were just doing little bits of the project.

In conclusion, when working on project based initiatives for your chapter, truly consider mixing around the role and getting different people involved with different initiatives. Don’t always default to the all-star brother or sister, but give everyone their opportunity to shine.

photo credit

March 24, 2008

ABC’s Greek Returns for Season 2!

Greek Cast
Cast of Greek (photo courtesy ABC)

ABC’s Greek returns today to begin season 2. If you don’t remember this show, it brought about a lot of negative press and concerns from the Greek community last year because of it’s portrayal of us. Since then, the commotion has died down and there hasn’t been much negative press about the show.

What is the show Greek about you ask?

The show follows the story of Rusty, a college freshman attending the fictional Cyprus-Rhodes University, who longs to leave behind his reputation as a high school geek by joining a fraternity, while sister Casey hopes for little interference with her enjoyment of Greek life. Most of the characters belong to either the fictional fraternities Kappa Tau Gamma (ΚΤΓ) and Omega Chi Delta (ΩΧΔ), or the fictional sorority Zeta Beta Zeta (ΖΒΖ).
(wikipedia)

So, if you have some time this evening and are interested in ABC’s portrayal of Greek life, check out Greek! The new season premieres tonight (March 24th) at 8/7c.

March 16, 2008

Creative Fraternity & Sorority Gifts for the Lils & Bigs

sorority girls
photo courtesy of Mulsanne

Designing and creating Greek gifts for your big sis, lil sis, big bro, pledge mom, etc. has always been a time consuming and expensive task. Greek life in general is expensive! From chapter dues, to gifts, housing and more it all adds up. But I’m sure as many would agree, you can’t put a price on the brotherhood and sisterhood that you gain from going Greek.

Fraternity & Sorority Gifts: The Must Haves

Now traditional sorority merchandise such as coffee mugs, key chains, sweatshirts, etc. are the staple of any new member. For this kind of gear, you want to order early and have it professionally made. For this, we would highly recommend checking out GreekU.com for their great quality, large selection and awesome prices.
What are the must haves?  We think you can’t go wrong with any of the following.

  • Traditional Greek Sweatshirt
  • Embroidered Hat
  • Zip Up Sweatshirt
  • Lettered T-Shirt
  • Coffee Mug

Personalized Greek Gifts

Personalizing gifts can be both a fun and daunting task.  Creating a personalized gift requires a lot of time and often pre-planning, the right materials and tools.  But the great thing about this is that when you present it, odds are your gift will be unique and it won’t turn into a case of “Hey, you stole my idea!”

If the person you are giving the gift to is very sentimental, check out PhotoJojo for a great variety of photo themed gifts.  Maybe even make a gift as a graduation gift.  PhotoJojo’s most recent post about Photo Pencils caught our eye.  Definitely an interesting, unique, and clever spin to personalized gifts, not to mention inexpensive.  Now think of adding a Greek spin to this: use a group photo of the new class that just crossed, a photo of your pledge mom with her pledge sisters, or a fancy design of your letters.  Mix this in with making a board game with your own photos and you just might have created an awesome gift!

Photo Pencils
photo courtesy of photojojo.com

Where To Get Materials From?

So, if you are ready to start, go get the supplies.  But don’t be deceived, just because you are hand making gifts doesn’t mean they will be cheap.  Be wary of buying supplies at full price.  Here are a few good national chain stores to check out, depending on where you are located some may be in your area, maybe even all.
Michaels The Arts & Crafts Store – Michaels often has 50% off coupons in the newspaper or via their email list.
JoAnn Fabrics & Crafts – JoAnn also has coupons. Generally these are 40% off and in their newspaper and email newsletters.
Aaron Brothers Art & Framing – often has 40-50% off coupons in the Sunday newspaper, go look!

Good luck and if you make something wonderful, send us a picture, we’d love to feature it.

December 12, 2007

5 Simple Ways To Protect Your Valuables Over Winter Break

thief and police

With the majority of college students around the nation cramming for finals, most of their minds are focused on acing exams, finishing those term papers, and the first thing they’ll do once they arrive home. Very few students think about their (material) valuables and the potential risks of thieves breaking into their dorm, apartment, fraternity or sorority house over winter break.

While some of these tips may seem logical, many students just forget or simply do not take the simple precautions to protect their belongings.

So before you head home for winter break, do yourself a favor and print out this list and check it off!

5 Simple Ways To Protect Your Valuables Over Winter Break

5. Close Your Windows and Blinds!
Don’t leave your valuables in plain sight! If you can see it from the outside, so can thieves. At least cover it up, close some curtains, close the blinds, or throw it in your closet or under your bed.

4. Talk With Your Roommates, Fraternity Brothers, or Sorority Sisters.
Confirm with your roommates and whoever is going to leave last to double check all the windows and doors and to make sure they are all locked. Add in extra security to your windows. A very simple and cheap solution is to add a strong piece of wood or PVC pipe that blocks your window from being opened. This is a little trickier if you live in fraternity or sorority house. If that’s the case, you may want to talk with the house manager to make sure he or she sends a memo out to everyone living in the house. Just one unlocked window could be a disaster for the entire house and thousands of dollars of theft.

3. Bring It Inside
If you leave your bike, valuable lawn furniture, or any other valuables outside, bring it inside! Use your U-Lock to lock your bike to your closet or anything large. Block a window or extra door with your bike (just don’t make it a fire hazard!).

2. Call The Cops
At UC Santa Barbara, the local law enforcement had a program where students living in the local Isla Vista community could sign-up so that their apartments & houses would be patrolled by the local law enforcement at no cost. Most of the time this is a very simple step, you stop by the police office, sign a form and let them know if anyone or any car should be at your premises and who to contact in case of an emergency. See if they have something similar at your university.

And the #1 suggestion…
1. Bring It Home!
Just bring it home with you. Bring home your valuables and anything you’d really be upset about if it got stolen. You worked hard to buy your things, why not take it home with you to keep it safer, and so you can enjoy over winter break! The Nintendo Wii, Guitar Heroes, iPod, Digital Cameras, & Laptop… pack it all up and head home to the family!

Hopefully you found these tips helpful. Please spread the word to your friends!

December 3, 2007

College Students: Make Money During Winter Break Without Working

Christmas Ornament

Here’s a secret not many students or people in general know about Amazon.com.
This is a 100% legal method, it’s not a scam or anything, and just about any fraternity, sorority, or student group can make money this way. Even the average senior can! And no, you won’t have to get a seasonal job at your mall.
Amazon.com has a great Associates Program setup. Think of it as a commission that boutiques pay to their sales reps.
link: http://www.amazon.com/associates
The commission fee starts at 4% and as you make more sales it slowly bumps up to 10%.

How does it work?
 First you have to sign-up. You’d want to sign-up as an individual or business (depending on if your fraternity or sorority has a tax id #).
Once you are approved, they give you a link
ex. Here’s a link my sister has setup for her food blog: http://astore.amazon.com/jun4bel-20
*there are also links that go straight to amazon but have your referral code in it.
Anyone who clicks the link, or clicks straight to Amazon after and purchases something, you get credited for that purchase.
Now think of the popular items this season that your fraternity brothers, sorority sisters, or even parents might buy online for themselves or for others. Plasma TVs, GPS, Laptops, Digital Cameras. This all adds up a lot and very quickly!
Now get your entire house in on this… get them to send links to family and friends. Ask family and friends when they buy stuff to click through your link, and well your network just increase significantly

ex sale. Expensive Canon 40d dSLR camera runs for $1,400. If you referred that sale, your house gets $56 from that alone.
Now say your house is about 30 members strong. Say each person buys/refers just 1 person who buys a $300 GPS. That’s $12 per sale, $360 total. That’s just about as much as those magazine fund raisers that take all day!
And this totally works if you buy books or smaller gifts, the money still adds up!

Benefits of this:
 – On going fundraiser (works in summer and winter break too)
- Make $ on purchase you already make to Amazon (and they have competitive prices!)
Hope this helps! If any houses have great success from this, I’d love to hear.

November 28, 2007

The Perfect Robot for College Students?

Healthy Student Breakfast
via flickr

This article about the Japanese robot, the Twendy-One, was in the Washington Post earlier today. Basically, this robot can do a lot of things, including fetch items from the fridge! Now think about how great this would be for the typical college student…running late for class, or even better yet for a fraternity house!
The downside is that it won’t be available until 2015 and comes with a hefty price tag of about $200,000.

So, until then. Cup of Noodles it is!
It’s amazing what you can find on Youtube nowadays. Here’s a recipe on how to prepare Ramen that actually seems pretty good!

November 13, 2007

Top 10 Inspirational Fraternity & Sorority Mottos

sayings in a book
Every house has a different motto that they live by. For some, individual chapters even have their own specific sayings. These mottos make a huge impact on Greeks during their active years and often carry into their lives far beyond college. While many sayings are kept secret from the outside word, of those we found on the good ol’ Wikipedia, we’d like to share with you the 10 Greek mottos we found to be most unique and inspiring.

Without further ado, and in no particular order, our favorite 10 are:

Pi Lambda Phi — Not four years, but a lifetime
Iota Phi Theta & Iota Phi Theta — Building a Tradition, Not Resting Upon One
Sigma Lambda Gamma — Culture is Pride, Pride is Success
Alpha Sigma Alpha — Aspire, Seek, Attain
Alpha Kappa Alpha — By Culture and By Merit
Beta Chi Theta — Above All Else, Brotherhood
Gamma Omega Delta — Building our Future by Reclaiming our Past
Epsilon Sigma Phi — What we want most to be, we are.
Sigma Kappa Tau — Individually Unique, Together Complete
Delta Lambda Chi — Reach for the stars, but remain down to earth.

Source: Wikipedia
Are you in a fraternity or sorority and graduating soon? Check out our Fraternity Sashes & Sorority Stoles.

October 5, 2007

Greek Secrets: How To Study In A Fraternity House

If you’re in a fraternity and live at the house, you probably know getting any studying done or concentrating is close to near impossible. While some of my most fondest memories come from living at the house, … I have to admit it wasn’t always the most conducive studying environment.
Temptations to take part in the $5 poker game, smash bros tourney, or chat with the roomie seemed to be always present. And by the time I got situated and in the “mood” to study… I’m hungry and want to eat! wtf.

Here is where your best $11.97 (+tax) investment will ever come in. This tip comes from my bro Matt.

$12 College Student Study Aid
Home Depot sells these great AO Safety Earmuffs for $11.97. While these are generally constructed for construction workers and those professionals operating or near loud machinery, they function just as well for studying. Put one of these over your head while studying, and noise is suddenly dropped 20db. There are also some really baller status ones that run for $60.

So next time you’re at the Home Depot, grab a pair. They are located near the knee-pads and safety goggles.

If you’re looking for other great study tips, check out the “Ten Tips You Need to Survive College.” Well written, not too boring, and practical.

Done studying and just about ready to graduate with your bros? Stand out from the otehr Greeks and get your fraternity sash from us!