Why you Should Go Greek

A lot of people coming into college wonder why they should join Greek life. Particularly students who are as academically and professionally motivated as Georgia Tech students wonder why they should introduce that distraction into their lives. First of all joining greek life does not mean you are going to be partying constantly and not focusing on your classes. But this post isn’t about debunking all the misconceptions many people have about Greek life. It’s about all the awesome ways Greek life has influenced everyone in it and given us truly the most memorable college experience we could have asked for and how it can also give you an equally rewarding experience. We asked three of our current brothers to share why Georgia Tech Greek Life is important to them and the rest of the community and here is what they had to say:

Why did you decide to join a fraternity?

Patrick Schulman

“When I first came to Georgia Tech, I didn’t want to rush. But then my roommate was going out to rush so I decided to join him. When I started meeting people in fraternities at rush, I realized it was something I really wanted. I saw that it would give me connections, leadership experience, as well as friends that would be with me for the rest of my life.”

Walter Kopacz

“I was pretty against it at first. I had never imagined myself as a fraternity guy, but over the summer before I came to Georgia Tech, I came up to an fraternity event that somebody had invited me to and I quickly saw how friendly everyone was and saw that everyone had a drive to be the best they could be and that’s what I wanted to surround myself with so I came out to rush in the fall and it’s made all the difference.”

Juniper Sloman

“When I first started rushing, I wasn’t sure if I was meant to join a fraternity. But after a series of interactions with different brothers, I saw that these people cared about each other and had a lot of depth to them. I knew they would care about me and provide me with a lot of unique opportunities.”  

How has Greek Life helped you personally? 

Patrick Schulman

“First of all, academically I wouldn’t be in the good position that I am now. Joining DU gave me access to older brothers who had taken many of the classes I was taking and were able to help me with the work I was doing. You’re always able to drop by the house and ask brothers questions about a class. I don’t know any tutors that are available late at night but I can always drop by the house and get my questions answered there. Socially, Greek life has given me the people I get to experience college with. College is supposed to be the best four years of your life and Greek life gave me the people that are helping make it the best four years of my life.”

Walter Kopacz

“When I came to college, I didn’t really know anybody. No one else from my high school was coming to Tech from my grade so I was really on my own, but Greek life gave me the best group of friends that I could ask for. It was really cool when I first joined DU that everyone wanted to get to know me. I had never met these people before coming to college but everyone was so welcoming and just wanted me to be a part of their lives and that was so cool to me.” 

Juniper Sloman

“Greek life has helped me in a lot of different ways. When I came to Tech, I was looking for a research opportunity and one of my older brothers walked me through the process of finding that opportunity. Greek life has also given me some of the most fun times in my college career by turning some small thing that we came up with into a really fun event that we all got to enjoy. Also, I’ve gone through some rough times and my brothers have always been there to pick me up and help me through it.”

Why do you think greek life is important? 

Patrick Schulman

“I think one of the things that makes Greek life so great is the ability to rally people around anything and achieve things that are unimaginable for the average person. Anything from raising over $20,000 for children’s cancer research to building a beach in your backyard, we can really achieve anything.”

Walter Kopacz

“Greek Life gave me a place to come home to at the end of the day to unwind. Tech is challenging and that’s no secret, but DU really gave me a group of people to fall back on. We always find ways to lift each other up and help us do well academically, professionally, and socially.”  

Juniper Sloman

“Greek life is important because it brings people together. If you direct their energy toward anything from fundraising to service to supporting the local community incredible things are going to happen.” 

Why do you think someone should join Greek Life? 

Patrick Schulman

“I would say anyone should consider joining Greek Life for both the personal and professional connections it gives you. On the one hand you can get jobs and internships through the network of current brothers and alumni but on the other hand you’re also meeting the people that will probably be the groomsmen at your wedding and that’s something really special that I don’t think I would have gotten without Greek Life.”

Walter Kopacz

“The kind of person that should consider joining Greek life is someone who is trying to achieve great things and get the most out of their college experience. Greek Life really helps you to amplify who you are and become the best version of yourself whatever that may be. In Greek Life you will achieve incredible things that you could not achieve alone or with any other group of people. If that’s what you’re looking for you should definitely look into joining Greek Life.” 

Juniper Sloman

“The Greek community gives you so many opportunities both during your college career and beyond. It will give you professional connections later on in life and so much fun during college. College gives you four years to do anything you want and Greek life will open up every avenue for you to experience it to the fullest.” 

Everyone at DU sees the positive effects of Greek Life and is thankful for the opportunities it gives them. If the words of these brothers resonated with you, consider coming out to rush this fall to see first hand what it’s all about! If you would like to receive updates on our Rush schedule fill out the form found here.

DU and Greek Week: A Story of Mini Musicals and Triumphant Tugs

One of the most fun parts of the DU experience is Greek Week. Greek Week is an event that takes place in the spring semester where all the different IFC and Panhallenic fraternities and sororities compete in a series of various events throughout the week. These events vary in size and style but all have their own unique challenges and fun. DU has a strong history of success in Greek Week from being picked as a finalist for Greek Sing for the last five years to our five year winning streak at tug. Although to us it is not so much about winning events as much as it is an opportunity for us to all rally behind something and have a great time doing it. If a DU or group of DUs is competing in an event then there will certainly be a crowd of other DUs to cheer him on.

There are many events in Greek Week, but the two events that DUs are most passionate about are Tug and Greek Sing. Tug is not your typical Tug O’ War competition that you would find at your high school field day. We take it to a whole other level. Each participating chapter fields a team of 14 people who compete against each other in a ten foot deep mud pit. You can see what it’s like in the video above! But that’s just what people see in the competition. Starting in October, our Tug team does conditioning workouts to prepare for the physically demanding tugs that sometimes last over ten minutes. On the day of the event, everyone gathers at the tug pit to cheer on our team. We have even set up a grill and speakers to tailgate the event before. From 2014-2018 we were tug champions. In 2019 we lost in the finals in a nail biting tug. This year, Greek Week was unfortunately canceled due to COVID-19 so we were unable to compete but we are excited to compete in Tug this coming year!

Greek Sing is another event that DU goes all out for. Each participating chapter comes up with a 10 minute musical with all original plot and dances with brothers acting and singing in it. Each chapter performs for two members of Greek Week Exec and they pick the top 5 fraternities and sororities to perform at the completely filled Ferst center. We have been selected as a finalist for the last five years in a row and placed the last three years in a row. Every year our brothers have a blast writing the script, choreographing the dances, and singing the songs. While some of our Greek Sing team did theatre in high school many have no performance experience but they still have a great time doing Greek Sing! Craig Schwartz, one of our recent alumni and a former high school theatre kid, said that he loved doing Greek Sing because it was a way for him to share his passions with his brothers which is one of the most important parts of being in DU. Another one of our brothers Nick Liccini who has never had any theatre experience also loves Greek Sing. He said that he enjoys it because he gets to try something he doesn’t usually do in a relaxed environment and it’s another fun thing he gets to do with his brothers! This past year, we were selected as finalists again but were unable to compete unfortunately because of COVID-19 but we are excited to do it all again in preparation for Greek Sing 2021!

Some of the smaller events are the most fun too! We always love fielding a team for human pyramid, a competition to see which team can hold a human pyramid the longest and we also love competing in Super Splash which is a belly flop competition. We also have had at least one DU who is particularly enthusiastic about Greek Week on Greek Week Exec for the last 3 years! There is something in Greek Week for every DU which is why we all rally behind year after year and have a great time doing it!

If you want to join in on the excitement of Greek Week in DU, fill out our Rush interest form and come out to Fall Rush!