– With me, NPHC was kind of always in my life to a degree. Both of my parents are members of NPHC organizations. I’d see my dad go to Alpha Phi Alpha luncheons and give away scholarships to young kids in the community. When he did learn that I was pursuing Alpha,
He told me that if this is your choice, you made a good one, but he never pressured me along the way. He wanted me to make the choice that was best for me and I believe I did. Between him and just the other men in my community
Who surrounded me, such as my godfather, and just mentors growing up who are also men of Alpha, I just learned about Alpha in a very broad sense. And when I got here to this chapter, I learned specifically about some of the men who came through this chapter.
If you look up Alpha Phi Alpha, you’ll see the same notable members, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Jesse Owens, Thurgood Marshall. There’s a lot of notable men throughout this very chapter here at Purdue who are coming through still and have come through for nearly 75 years now.
Actually, one of the Board of Trustees, Mr. Don Thompson, is a member of our chapter from the 1980s. He’s also the first Black CEO at McDonald’s. Obviously we’re at Purdue University, one of the premier institutions in the nation. So it only makes sense that these organizations that are dedicated to excellence
Breeds that level of excellence. One thing that I found coming into Purdue is an adjustment period is really finding my family. I feel like this is an area of the country that I won’t really have as much family. So coming up here did feel very foreign.
And as I got more and more involved in my community, started meeting more people, this became a part of my life. I really did start to feel my family. And I think that’s the biggest thing Alpha has provided me. They really are people who I know are in my corner
Through my darkest days, through my brightest days,they are going to be there. Can’t even say how much they mean to me. And there’s never been work that I’ve done with Alpha that I just don’t want to do. It’s always been work that I’m passionate about. I’m really big on mentoring,
Paying it forward to those who paid it forward to me. So that was just a really big aspect with me personally at Alpha. My Brother’s Keeper, essentially a program geared to helping older or disabled brothers. So as I began to network and meet more alumni in our chapter,
Some from the sixties and the seventies, I hear some of their conditions of where they’re living and seeing some of the efforts our chapter’s done in the past to help ’em it kind of just drives me towards making sure that they’re okay. So seeing all that work that they put in,
I would feel remissed if I didn’t pay it back towards them. I would honestly say Alpha was the giant leap. And the things that came from Alpha were the smaller step. With Alpha, it kind of just propelled me toward leadership opportunities. I was able to kind of network towards being the Vice President
Of the Black Student Union here at Purdue, as well as other networking opportunities with mentoring. Just being able to kind of branch Alpha off of all these things really has helped me not only find my home, find my place in this community. I’ve never met an Alpha who I haven’t connected with
As soon as I saw them. When I was applying to graduate schools and I’d go to interviews, I would hit up the local chapter there. I never had to get a hotel. So, having that feeling of brotherhood and people who really care about me definitely felt feelings
I couldn’t even explain at the time. Going towards San Antonio in the future I already have connects going in. So that’s a really great feeling that I don’t have to necessarily navigate a whole new city and area of the country all by myself. It’s kind of weird to say,
But I feel like just anywhere I go I know I have a brother through those letters.
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