A Different World: Greek Life

Good Well good evening and welcome to gen cares powered by children counselors i’m your host jen cares the founder of children counselors a non-profit organization that seeks to inspire motivate empower and strengthen individuals and families as always i want to say thank you so very much for tuning in for liking for

Sharing for commenting and coming back again i truly do love and appreciate each and every one of you so special thanks to nicole powers who kicked this off last week with you’ve got options and that was just an amazing segment one to learn that the philadelphia technician training institute is the only african-american

School in pennsylvania amazing and then they hear that two of my chosen friends went and signed up yawardabom.com and that’s what we’re about sharing resources so you can find something new and know that hey you’ve got options i made my heart so glad when she sent me that email so again if you

Know somebody that’s interested in going to a tech school for six months to eight months they provide lunch they provide transportation again they did better than my hbc you i mean shout out to my hbcu hopefully i catch it but you know we got some other options and that’s

What i want our friends to know so tonight’s theme is greek life now i have always been fascinated by the divine nine the style the sisterhood the brotherhood how they come together it’s just amazing and i first learned about greek life probably when i was younger

Because you said the greek picnic um and i didn’t necessarily go but i lived on 57th street in west philly and after the picnic they would do like a parade up and down 52th street hungary horns and all that fun jazz and things of that sort but then again our theme is a

Different world so you know they talked about greek life on there too oh my goodness it was an episode where dwayne and ron were both pledging for catholic new and uh ron was committed he knew what he was getting himself into while dwayne seemed like he was doing it

Because his friend was doing it we’re going to talk about that tonight joining because you want to join or trying to be with that crowd there was another episode where whitley um she led the alpha delta row and it didn’t really work out with her leading him so you know

How to control things does that really happen how does it work out we’re joining we’re going to talk about that too and then the other part that was interesting was that ryan after he joined throughout the series you was able to still see him connected you didn’t always see that with whitley and

Kevin so tonight we’re also going to talk about commitment levels when joining something it’s going to be good so that was a glimpse from a different world or however you may have seen it but tonight i have my friends here that are going to share i’m excited i’m

Talking fast but catch up with us because we’re on this train and we are rolling so help me welcome and introduce michael tiffany david joe and victoria Thank you all so very much for joining us on tonight how are you all doing doing great fantastic yes they are so excited friends they’re going to let us know all about life on tonight so over here we always start with the quote of the day today’s quote of the day is

Coming together is a beginning keeping together is progress working together it’s success and that’s by henry ford again coming together is a beginning keeping together is progress working together it’s success so who wants to share your thoughts on that quote who wants to go first well i’ll go first

Um that quote is really a very very profound statement that was made by henry ford and i think that you know if we take a look at henry ford’s contribution to the assembly line at the beginning of the 20th century he was a visionary now what’s important and how it applies

To greek life is that coming together is the beginning of of really coagulating as an organization but keeping together again makes progress now the thing that we all strive to in in our various organizations is actually staying together and really becoming uh what i would like to say is a a a mouthpiece

Or a um i would say a talented tenth if i may using w e dubois of the african-american community so we are black history and all of us participate in that and we have a responsibility if not an obligation to our community to be as leaders in our

Community and i think that we do that in so many ways that you’ll hear tonight awesome yes anybody else want to share don’t be nervous friends i’m gonna have to pull you out like i’ll be like all right come on tiffany what you thinking wow i agree with mr sinclair um and it’s

Funny because you think about it you know there’s this vision that you know hey we want to do we want to do something or hey i want to join your chapter i want to join your sorority and it’s great it’s pretty pink and green flowers or whatever your colors may be

Flowers um but you know working together and staying together you know everybody doesn’t always agree right so we have to kind of have the mission in mind to stay on the same page for success going forward so it can be you know it looks it looks pretty but it’s hard work

One more one more i was going to say him i think uh dr sinclair he hit it dead on you know you know as tiffany also stated you know coming together working together and i think our predecessors um those who came before us that’s why you have the divine nine because you

Know each organization came together individually but then we combined it and came home so you know okay okay joe and victoria are not and i’m gonna let you slide this down i appreciate it all about having fun so friends as always i have prepared some questions to guide tonight’s topics but

If you have any questions or any comments be sure to drop them down below and we’ll be sure to talk about it because hey i might not have all the questions but you got some questions and guess what they have some answers for us

So i want you first to tell us a little bit about your organization um and about yourself um who wants to go first let’s let’s actually let’s go in order who knows who’s the first person oh come on that was a that was a soft pitch um

Welcome welcome everybody my name is dr michael sinclair and i am a member of alpha by alpha fraternity incorporated i was initiated over 34 years ago at a small college in new york called state university college at old westbury i was initiated through capiro chapter since then i’ve been active for the last

34 years i’ve been active for the last 34 years i have been active for the last 34 years in my organization i’m currently in kappa phi lambda which is in um college which is in columbia maryland um i am a professor at the morgan state university i teach graduate school there

I am proud to say that um i am a member of alpha phi apple which was the first college fraternity in this country it was founded on tuesday december 4 19 say it with me everybody at cornell university in ithaca new york founded by seven visionary men who thought that it was appropriate

That um african americans could have their own fraternity and they put together what we consider a prototype of of organizations in a college atmosphere since then we’ve grown to over 850 chapters internationally we have chapters in asia africa the caribbean um one of my fraternity brothers that i

Pledge is is actually i’m starting a chapter in panama um that’s going to be chartered this year and we have chapters in europe germany um and um so we’re all over the world um the objective of alpha phi alpha fraternity incorporated is to stimulate um the ambition of its members it’s also to

Promote the greatest usefulness and causes in humanity um freedom of dignity of the individual and to encourage higher and noble forms of manhood but what’s most important what we’re most proud of is that we aid the downtrodden and the ones that have been often marginalized and oppressed in our community

And we we help them assist social economic and intellectual status within our community and we’ve been driven to do that for over a hundred and 16 years now my math is is fading but um we’ve been doing that and we will continue to do that we we have some

National programs that we sort of work on um and we we we manifest that in different ways in different regions and different areas but our national programs like go to high school go to college voteless people as a hopeless people a project alpha which is a man-to-man talk about teenage pregnancy

And we have a brother’s keeper where we are working with our brothers and and senior citizens and making sure that they preserve their dignity and get the resources that they need to live a good life and we have a world policy council where we talk about issues that affect the african diaspora

All over the world and how can we leverage our collective strength in order to um better our brothers and sisters across the world we have initiatives that we partner with big brothers and big sisters we also partner with boy scouts of america and we have a college corporate where we

Help some of our college brothers um um get and produce resumes in order so that they can assimilate into the corporate life we also work with peace corps and one of our one of our keystone hallmarks is leadership development where we start developing leadership at a college level and we enhance support

And nurture leadership um throughout their lives so we develop leadership because we know that when there’s a clarion call for leadership we have to we have to be that call we have to answer that call and i’m gonna let my my counterparts talk a little bit about but i’m proud to

Be an alpha yes yes the interesting thing is going to see how um similar some of that um efforts that you all do connects because it’s all about helping community we’re all different fingers in the same hand all right well i’m tiffany matthews i’m a member of alpha kappa alpha sorority

Incorporated um i’ve been a member for 19 years now and i’ve been financially and physically active the entire time i just want to thank my sorority sister shamika canty green and lisa white for inviting me here and thank you jen for having me so a little bit about alpha kappa alpha

We were founded on wednesday january 15 1908 on the campus of howard university in the attic of minor hall so we’ve been going strong for over 113 years as you know we’re proud to have our vice president as a member of our illustrious sorority um similar service targets to a mr sinclair

Dr sinclair said um one of the things we’re working on right now is raising a million dollars in one day and so we’ve done this for the past three years and this is the fourth year in a row that we want to do it and all

Of the money goes to our hbcus and so we say it’s in one day but this whole week has been like a countdown so we’re getting people to um donate and that’s been an exciting thing um for us we have flyers up every day just um focusing on that goal um

Again i guess so our our we we strive to serve all mankind so regardless of where you’re from who you are the color of your skin we want to help all mankind um and my biggest piece of advice i’m not sure if you ask this but is lifelong active membership

So we put an emphasis on being active and sometimes you know financially you can’t do it but that doesn’t mean you can’t serve so we have sorority members who sometimes you know can’t pay for that year or have to take a break to raise their families but they

Still come around they still serve all mankind so thank you thank you very nice i guess so it’ll be me next yes okay we want to speak out of turn hi everybody uh my name is uh david swenson uh member of cap official fraternity incorporated uh we founded

January 5th 1911 on the campus of indiana university uh 11 founders um i myself uh crossed in spring 2006 at cheney university gamble omega chapter and uh we was founded on may 26 1950 at cheney state teachers college um as uh others before me stated um our organization we have multiple uh

Different uh levels of giving back to the community also giving back to young children uh kappa league um once i graduated training university i was blessed uh some of my frat brothers uh helped me get into the government i’ve been working for the united states government for the navy since 2008 i

Currently work for our nav c in south philly but i’ve been around the map a little bit and i’m just a pleasure being with the fraternity you know i met some real good guys some mentors that kept me on the sturdy path uh helped me raise a beautiful family you know

I’ve just been blessed ever since thank you for letting me uh come here tonight thank you awesome thank you good evening uh my name is can come on yes yes we know this um how you guys my name is joe b heard i am a member of phi beta sigma fraternity incorporated

Founded on friday january 9 1914 on the campus of howard university and washington district of columbia we have three founders whose principles are culture for service and service for humanity we have three pillars of brotherhood scholarship and service currently provided sigma has 559 active chapters let me back up

I’ve been a member since the fall of 2009 and just like the others before me i’ve been active and financial ever since the fall of 2009. so shout out to all the financial members and continue to do uh the work of all our founders that came before us

Um yes so like i said we have 599 active chapters and um currently we have been mentoring 4.5 000 bro young brothers we have a mentor program of um sigma beta club similar to uh i my brother’s keeper initiative as uh dr sinclair said before so we like to make

Sure that our brothers we have our brothers back and at the start is in the beginning uh so that’s my spiel uh again jen thank you my sister for inviting me on this platform today yes thank you thank you i mean i’m not trying to mess with the water let’s go sorrow yeah

Yes following up behind frat so my name is victoria holmes uh before i start special thank you to my sister-in-law shaniqua canty green uh for inviting me or sending me the invite for this panel and jennifer thank you for having me on this panel um so i’ll keep it brief my

Name of course is victoria holmes i’m a pediatric nurse practitioner at a.i dupont hospital for children in their cardiac intensive care unit um i am also a doctoral student pursuing my doctorate in nursing practice at wilmington university down here in delaware but i am from philly uh

So i am an active member and have been an active member since joining in may of 2013. i served on the executive board uh for the phillies chapter beta delta zeta of zeta phi beta sorority incorporated so zeta beta sorority incorporated we are a non-profit organization founded on

The campus of howard university on january 16 1920 our sorority is a very it’s very active in community service and we have many partnerships including march of dimes american cancer society st juice children’s research hospital u.s wishes which fish and wildlife and national education foundation and several other national signature

Programs which i’m not going to get into because the list is pretty long as i said i’m active in the philadelphia chapter which is made of dr zeta chapter uh we have many first as zeta phi beta sorority incorporated including being the first sorority to chapter a charter a chapter in africa liberia

Africa and today we have chapters in the u.s virgin islands jamaica bahamas japan korea barbados haiti germany belgium and tobago and uh ghana and there’s a few that i’m missing but i can’t think of it off the top of my head we are also the first organization under the

National panhellenic council to have national headquarters for all operations and we are the first and only nphp organizations to our fraternity phi beta sigma fraternity incorporated and i’m going to end right there because how can you go any further than being frat and sword wars with five better singles fraternity incorporated so i’m

Gonna leave it at that i was waiting on yourself i knew the constitutionally down was coming and you could can you you can apply that’s your choice i love it but i love that you also have the love for each other and um no matter what your organization is it still is

Like we have before we’re not covered we rock our colors we rep for our organization but we all still also can get along i wish we could do that uh-huh right there can we all just get along one day maybe one day um something that was really big

That you all said was talking about being active why is it important to be active in your organization to people well i think it’s important to be active because the organization requires our commitment and when we pledge that’s really what we’re saying we are we are taking an

Oath or taking a vow that we’re going to be committed to this this is not a sprint this is a marathon and unlike some of the white organizations and i’m not knocking them but some of the white organizations um are just college-oriented we are life fraternities and sororities

So in order for us to continue this good work that we’re doing we need to be um cognizant of what not only our financial responsibilities but also um participating in the activities that bring uh um bring forth transcendent change in our communities so you know the things that we’re doing

Right now should be things that all people are doing i’m just going to give you for an example in 1989 i started a homeless drive in port authority in new york city um i go back every christmas and there are people still feeding homeless on christmas this is something that not only the

Fraternity does but you have people that are affiliated with high schools and community centers coming out because this is our obligation to uplift our community so this is a life commitment the work that we do is work that we should be doing as rent to pay to be on this earth right right

And i think that being financial you want to have some set you want to have a seat at the table so like i said there are people who have to take a break from time to time and that’s great and they can still serve but when it’s time to make the rules and

Change the bylaws and put in the paperwork and do those you can’t do that unless you’re financially active and i think for me personally it was a long time coming um i fell in love with alpha kappa alpha at delaware state university shout out to dr lambda chapter um

And joined the mosaic omega chapter in newark delaware so um you know when you get that opportunity then you you know you repeat this every day like this is what i want to do you have no choice but to remain active and for me i always want to see it at

The table so i’m going to always be active no matter what it what it takes i love it i love it and why because when you join anything you want to be active and if you join anything it takes some finances to keep it going um because

People like you know i gotta pay money it’s helping the organization keep going it’s not like they steal your money same thing at church they’re not stealing money is helping the organization to keep going forth and that is your reasonable service to help because you

Invested in it you believe in it and you stand by the principles of what they’re about absolutely cause they’re pretty cool pretty good um so who went to hbcu did everybody go was everybody gonna say if you see you hbcu yeah you went to hbcu i got i have

A doctorate from it from so i say that to ask like do you have to be at hvc you to join fraternities worthy or are you at all campuses whether um if we see you or not no you definitely don’t um i went to hbcu i went to cheney university uh they

Argued back and forth to us on lincoln who’s the first but you know i went to um interesting because uh the first time i saw kappas wasn’t at cheney university it was at west chester university uh a good friend of mine i wish he was i

Wish you had cues on her he was a kid real real good friend of mine from cheney uh he took me to a party at westchester he wanted me to be a kid you know i really didn’t have any interest you know i heard that the cap was coming

A party and i saw these guys with the coats up i was like yo who them dudes he’s like man i was the kearney kappas you know i followed them all around the party all around the party i’m gonna try to introduce myself um so you definitely

Don’t have to be at hbcu um again i saw the campus first at westchester university can i just add something go ahead uh joe go ahead okay i yield so um i attended uh a pwi um and you don’t have to be at hbcu uh to join the organization just that my brother

Says currently previously sorry um but i i felt the bond of the brotherhood and the sisterhood by joining my organization on my campus because a lot of times a lot of people that we that should be remain nameless didn’t a lot allow us to be the best that we could have been and

We had to have a seat at the table in order to at least make decisions so um joining my organization was one of the best things i could do i did at my campus because we started a lot of firsts uh my organization was one of the first to

Be chartered at seton hall campus and others came after and it became so much more greater at that time very nice and if i can add on um i actually crossed as a graduate in the graduate chapter so just to add in you can join as a grad

In a grad chapter as well but i will say i went to university of pennsylvania pwi and they have a zeta chapter i also went to temple university for undergrad and they had a zeta chapter i’m now i’m at wim u which they don’t have many of d9 no woman’s

Campus at all so hopefully that’ll change soon but just to say you can also join a grad chapter if you are beyond um graduating from college okay so what’s the qualifications to join well for zeta five beta sorority incorporated and i’m sure for all of our d9 brothers and sisters

Maintaining a good gpa is a standard that we all upheld academics are very important and we encourage that our members who are inspired to become members at least maintain a certain gpa at my very per organization and also once you become a member maintain that gpa afterwards it’s

Not just about having a good gpa to get in we expect you to have a good gpa throughout your time in college so that is one of our big standards and then also we have to have a love for community service you have to have a love for sisterhood and

Bonding or you have to have a love for what that organization stands for which we all stand for community uplifting and and bonding with our brothers and sisters and serving our community and scholarship fundraising and we all have our our special um uh missions but ultimately when you’re

Joining you have to be interested and committed to serving that that mission you don’t want to join just to have the colors uh that that is not the purpose of our organization we join to continue to move forward forward building our community and building up scholars as

They come up as well so um academics and passion are two major things that you should have when joining um one of our orgs i just like to add um also to be a member of cap off assad you have to be smooth like um

I do want to i do want to share something to really dispel this um maybe this is a shortcoming of of alpha phi alpha and i’ll candidly share this with you um today we don’t have the capacity to change your character you are who you are we are looking for leaders

We are looking for people who have um a sense of obligation to do the work that’s necessary to roll up your sleeves and work in the community if you weren’t doing that before you you saw alpha phi alpha it’s doubtful and dubious at best that you’re going to do it as an initiated

Member we’re looking for people who have high academic standards so we’ll put on our literature that the minimum gpa is 2.5 in a 4.0 scale but let me clarify that that’s the minimum yeah we’re not looking for minimal candidates i’m sorry so what i encourage people to do is to

Be the best at what you’re doing and bring that to the table in any organization that you’re that you’re going to be affiliated with so we’re not looking for people who are just getting by if you have a 2.51 um we’re not really in the in the business of saying you know

That’s what we’re looking for we want you to elevate your your standards not for us not for us but for you for you so you know alpha phi alpha does not have the capacity to change a person’s character we’re looking for people who have established a good character and a good trajectory

And we will have subtle nuances to nurture because we believe it’s prudent to nurture those people who have such potential very nice very nice hey forgot two point i’m teasing have to be a college um so you have to have attended college graduate college what’s that you have to

If you want to um be initiated on a college chapter you have to be in a a four-year institution and be fully matriculated and have at least two quarters or at least one semester um and you have to have that gpa um but something that i just want to emphasize

And reiterate you have to be a good character too you have to be a good character so somebody needs to stay you know that’s the type of person that i want to be affiliated um that’s on the college check on the graduate chapter you wouldn’t have to have an earned degree from an

Accredited university again you have to have good character if you have to demonstrate to me at least as a graduate brother you have to demonstrate to me that you are doing the work already that you know you are doing the work that you aspire to do already so you know it’s not um

Unthinkable for me to say well what have you done for me lately you know what have you done for the community lately um because those are the people that we’re interested in and we want to make this reciprocal so there’s we’re going to read mutual benefits of having you

As a member of my fraternity yes yes dr sinclair is out here recruiting um you can’t change your character and you know what the minimum time is what it is we want you to elevate and that’s what it’s about too because it’s a brother and sister coming together and wants the

Best not just for the community but for those that are helping the community too so like you’re strengthening and helping each other they’ve been sharing how you know to connect with jobs and things that sort so it’s some benefits and joining as well um but just making sure

That you’re going and it’s not just because of the colors you can be smooth but make sure you smooth when you in line with what their program um is founded on and what the principles are because you can’t smooth they’re not being about community service you’re

Wasting some nice time and yours and you don’t want to do that um so what happens for those people let’s just talk about it um who may not have the best character that wants to be a part because you have the pinky green or the blue or the gold order you know

Whatever the ring uh oh i’m not sure what’s happening with that um but like what do you do for those situations that’s why it’s important to have a seat at the table like this person’s character isn’t the best or you know her her resume says

That she does all of this but i see on facebook where she does this you know so um that’s why it’s very important to have a seat at the table you can ask my chapter members i’m a crazy person i’m on every commit because i want to know everything

That’s going on and because you know i’ve worked hard and i’m paid my money and i want a seat at the field so i think that’s where it comes in you where you have a say as to who comes in and and who doesn’t oh so for me um

I feel like just like tiffany said again i feel like to have a seat at the table to make you have to make decisions um i’m also i’m the advisor to my undergraduate chapter and i also serve as the area deputy director the northern new jersey area director um

For my organization and what that is is like more so i oversee about all of eight chapters that um are in northern new jersey uh and i utilize that this position as a the time to mentor mentor does not stop uh i know we said we mentored the

The younger kids and once they get to college um some people think that they’re just off we let them off to the walls uh the mentorship starts again once you want to you show your interest into the organization and you may not you may not have that character in the moment

But once you um become once you start the mentorship program you then um you start to touch you start to get the character versus of what the the true brother is supposed to be um or are supposed to embody uh oh and it doesn’t it doesn’t doesn’t really hurt to just

Tell a brother or to pull a brother to the side and say hey that that they may not fly over here uh because certain people don’t understand that you don’t have to put everything out there right you know can i can i can i jump in on that um

Jen you said something earlier that that that really struck me um you know i’m i’m coming from a deeply religious um upbringing and in proverbs 27 17 it says iron sharpens iron and i i put myself purposefully around people that are going to challenge me that people are going to

Wise people who you know who are wise beyond their years they’re going to question and encourage me and continue to refine me i’m a project that’s that’s um in the making and what i’ve realized you know in my years that uh being a part of an organization you’re talking about being

Around the table i’ve been at boardrooms where i may be one of two african-americans that are sitting in the in a boardroom and i look over and i see a gentleman across the way and he’s he has his diamond for kappa alpha psi and immediately we have a connection

Right he and i understand that we’ve been through something you know and we have expectations and immediately everybody else in the room is like how do these people know each other we’re not in the same organization but there’s a sense of mutual respect for one another i already understand what your what your

What your mission is and i see you as a as a ally in that mission so when i see an aka i’m i’m i’m jumping for joy i’m like sis right yeah you know when i see a zeta um you know so again it it transcends just the organization in

The more years you’ve been in the organization the more confident in who you are and the more you see the greatness in the other organizations you know so you work with them i you know when i’m i’m the chair of a committee and i have to choose people i’m looking for an

Omega i’m looking for aka i’m looking for a sigma i’m looking for a kappa i’m looking for because i know that when we’re going to do parliamentary procedures i know you know right i know you know so i’m like i need you on my team i know how you

I know that you have been trained and taught to get the job done so i i’m really much more alike than we we tend to we joke with each other sometimes i’ll give somebody a little rib and i’ll joke with you but with there’s a tremendous amount of respect for for each organization

That sits around the table right got it so david were you trying to say something So something’s going on with your sound we can’t hear you yes i’m muting you because something’s going on with your sound so maybe you might have to pop up again or something what he was trying to say is alpha phi alpha is a great organization i was reading his lips

Let me see let’s try again because i don’t know yes was that what you’re saying okay all right so maybe popping pop egg out david maybe that’ll help us to get your sound back um on track um so what i did just hear though dr sinclair is that that because if i’m not

A part of the illustrious divine nine and that’s not on my resume then i might get overlooked because you’re looking out for your sisters and brothers like i got good quality too like that’s not no no no we’re not we’re not exclusive in that manner but but what i do know is

There’s a certain expectation of of preparation or tutelage that that i can expect from people who have been affiliated with organizations um i you know i just met um joe today you know and joe said he’s a district director i know he knows how organizations run so it’s almost like

If i could if i could use the analogy um it’s almost like if we were playing a sport you know you may be on a different team but if you know the fundamentals of football and joe says you know you know i’m a left tackle i know what he’s doing

I already know that he knows what he’s doing because he’s on another team but he knows the fundamentals of organizational structure um and i’m not saying that people who you know what i have found very um very exciting very privileged is when people see the symbiotic nature of organizations and see us working

Together in in harmony they’re like how do you know all this and then they go you’re you’re an alpha and i’m like yeah and and sometimes it’s proven through the work that i do i don’t have to wear paraphernalia is people will look at me and say

That’s that’s an alpha or they may see another organization and see that they feel more aligned with with um zeta phi beta or sigma gamma rho you know but they see the symbiotic nature and and oftentimes that inspires them to participate at a larger level if not be initiated in one of the

Organizations and i will fully support people who who find their calling got it and i really only brought that up because sometimes people feel like um that does happen but you do if that’s one of like the hidden benefits i guess of being in towards your fraternity that you look out for

Your sisters and brothers because you had that common mutual um you know connection and things that sort of but also letting people know that they don’t just look out for their others they do really look out for well being of everybody you have that capacity they want to help you i also

Like the piece you said joe about that mentorship because sometimes you’ll get some young men or some young ladies that see what you’re doing and say hey i want to do that but they don’t um initially line up with that it’s like that support that you give them to help them get on

Track You say alpha’s great organization dude i could see that i saw myself um so like that’s the big thing um you know there’s that community and things they start coming together um so let’s get into some of the myths that they have um about sororities and fraternities one

That i heard was that also warranties and fraternities do its party is that really true no not at all no you know you know it it that it’s a sense of advertisement like uh we it’s a history behind why we i wouldn’t even call party partying i would more so say strolling or

Um stepping it’s a history behind it and usually people only see that aspect of it we be from the start of this conversation we we automatically spoke about the how we mentor how many um active chapters we have how many how many hours of community service have we

We’ve done not only this year but since this organizat organization started uh but i feel like that’s the only time people see us it’s when we are in that limelight or something negative happens but it’s just like if they take that away from if they take that aspect of what our organizations are

They see uh the person that or the people that are in the organization a lot more i’ve been partying my way into a phd program right right right right so so let’s be real there’s a there’s a part of college life where we do have fun with you know with each other but

That’s developmental i think a lot of the i think a lot of the misperceptions is what you see in an animal house and some of these white organizations um the fraternities do um enjoy and and stroll with each other but they also get up on saturday mornings and and are

Mentoring you know kids in in elementary school or in a senior citizen’s home and the campus is usually not around to see that you know the campus is usually not around to see that so you know those people that are up saturday mornings and up you know um

On the weekends they will see the work that we do in our community so i think that that’s our responsibility to put it out there but i want to be very clear we’re not doing the work for a pat on the back we’re doing the work because the work needs to be done

This work needs to be done that’s a good one here’s another one it said the only friend someone in fraternity or schwartzie can have are his brothers or her sisters not we encourage you to still have your own life and that includes the social life as

Well we don’t expect you to just conform to only this organization be in your life um so of course family friends you have work you have other activities that you like to do maybe other organizations that you’re a part of uh we want you to explore and be yourself um because that

Being yourself allows all of us to come together and be well-rounded so we don’t want everybody to just be focused on the same thing with no outside influence we want you to come as you are so that we could come together as a group and flourish uh and be well-rounded

You say well rounded i say grounded right you need to be grounded grounded you know one thing i used to i i tell my um my undergraduate brothers is uh you know you are a man first and you have to handle all um things that are very important first sigma will

Come after sigma has been here for a number of years and will continue to um strive you do that first and then you you handle what you have to do in sigma secondly uh another thing another myth um outside of that is once you cross the organization you just become someone

Totally different people start to start to look at you as this different person you gain this this this whole identity of when i was on the campus it was to joe the sigma but they they forgot that i was still joe um and it’s not me that’s changing be

I’m just expanding my network and my net worth just like um my uh dr sinclair said earlier when when i go into the office yes i may wear a medallion or a pen just so he sees the light that shines not only with me but he sees where i’m coming from

It is just to show to expand my network just in just the same way if i see my any of my sisters or any other brothers in in the area it’s just a sign of let me help you out uh but i feel like i’m just the same person

And if you know you’re part of my network you can tag along on my network as well very nice i got another one if honestly and that’s and i want to highlight that too because so many different times you like different stories you hear that some people do make it through the

Process some people don’t make it through the process um you hear underground lines and things of that sort so a lot of different things happen um but if they do feel like they’re in a situation where it’s not going very well who can they go to [Laughter]

Yeah i supervise the young ladies of epsilon new chapter at lincoln university um so they i mean they’re texting right now they’re having a program so it’s there and we do our best to instill in them that listen you know no one knows what your process is no one needs to know

Instill in them that you know this is the way to go and they’re they’re very clear on that um but i i won’t say that things don’t happen and you know we have to you know deal with things but um certainly certainly the myths don’t

Make it don’t make it easy for us yes yes they have a zeta and an audience she’s saying final women don’t haze right if we want you to be our sister we don’t we do sisterly things to you and that doesn’t include breaking you down physically um that’s just not what’s

Needed in order for you to become my sister yeah and it’s so needed oh that’s a good one another one says joining a fraternity or sorority will hurt you academically it’s the opposite we need you to stay grounded within your academics we want you to flourish after

College we want you to be able to uh be successful in your career it’s the opposite we really want you to maintain good grades afterwards as well not just to get in and a part of what joe said earlier is that informal mentorship i had brothers that brought me in

Who were concerned about so what do you want to do after you graduate yes you need to be taking this course you know if you want to go into this direction into this graduate program you need to be taking this course and you need to be taking this seriously and these are the

Professors that you may want to have a conversation with and you know i had a it wasn’t a historically black campus but it was a black campus nevertheless i had fraternity members in my in my administration that the brothers the older brothers would say you need to sit down with dr welcher

Um and he’ll guide you so it actually is an asset to be able to belong to a um to an organization and have that sort of um institutional insight that you may you know again when you’re talking to people that may have been initiated through your chapter

That came through 10 years ago who could give you some some um some some context you know it will definitely um be an asset in your favor got it so i had one more okay go ahead go ahead uh my brother hear me now yes yeah yeah yeah you’re back say it again

Say it say what you were gonna say wow you chosen man respect respect um when i’m looking at this thing and saying join a fraternity or sorority could hurt you academically i know i’m an um undergrad some people do fair that because um you put so much time doing

Certain services and things they feel the gpa can go down when i was on an undergrad i was the president and one thing that um we tried to do is you have to be honest with the guys that want to come on you know sometimes i know uh

Be speaking on it earlier about mentorship i think that’s when it comes into play working with the guys and letting them know hey i know you want to join a fraternity but right now let’s work on your gpa let’s work on this and work on that so i think it hurts you

Academically when you’re not ready to embark on that journey you know because you’re gonna have to do communities you’re gonna have putting your time in so many places so sometimes some guys aren’t ready some girls aren’t ready and i think that’s when it comes uh takes

The members to let these guys and girls know like hey it’s not time for you right now yeah bro let’s wait for next semester wait till next time you know i know i’m kept off the side you know say the diamond but the diamond starts off it’s cold so everybody doesn’t polish everybody

Isn’t ready sometimes you know get people up to speed get them ready um i know [Laughter] you know one thing i wanted to say was uh i challenge again my undergrad brothers and i ask them as soon as they cross what legacy do you want to leave

Behind with not only within the chapter but in your life uh and i asked that question because there’s certain things that i did when once i would when i was the president and i was on the yard at seton hall at that that i wanted to change so if they

Wanted to change it as well they have to be able to have a vision uh and and and just like uh dave right yeah dave okay just like dave said earlier um like uh a a diamond is first a cold like yes you have to have that vision to in order to

To to be very successful and make it not only just make the chapter better but your life better in itself so um building a legacy is very important that’s good two more myths that i found it’s cold oh god no no um again i told someone today uh we have

We everyone has a family my last name is heard um uh we have dr sinclair everyone has a different name we have secrets within our family yeah we’re just we’re just a family amongst ourselves that you may not know the secrets of them it’s not a cult it’s

Just you’re probably upset that you don’t know you’re not privy to the information that my family’s secrets is that’s the girl one joe yeah yes because you know also growing up guitar what happens in the house stays in the house i think this is some things

That are core values that don’t have to go outside that’s like some for example some family recipes you can’t sell all the recipes because then people run away with the things so you’ll see the fruits of the labor you’ll get the benefit of the recipe but

It doesn’t mean that you know the pieces of it and i think that’s what the sororities and fraternities do you don’t know the full makeup of it you see the colors you see the glam of what they do but it’s that work that they’re doing in

The kitchen and have that good plan and then give to you yes now my mama biscuits though okay my last one is you’re just paying to have friends oh yeah that’ll get large calls for friends right yeah and i pride myself on you know i have my different you know circles you

Know and i can obviously have not changed in any way i have my college friends that i hang out with people have you know um so i mean i can see why people think that because they think that oh automatically you’ve gained over 300 000 sisters

And you have but it’s real it’s you know so they would just have to see for themselves that it’s that it’s not that i i actually had the just the contrary um before i pledge i had more friends than a man should have i mean i had so many people that were

Were considered more than close associates or affiliates they were friends when i joined the organization um you know i already had established my own identity so i did not join the organization in order to get more friends actually um if anything i i i brought more attention to the organization because

I came with my a thousand friends when i showed up on campus but let me just tell you about how you know some of the benefits of the organization and i’ve traveled and i’ve lived matter of fact um joe my daughter my my oldest who’s 23 right now was born at seton hall

Really born at seton hall now i’ve traveled i’ve lived in new jersey i’ve lived in virginia i’ve lived in georgia um i live in maryland now and when i make these um transitions and i know that there’s a a brother from my chapter or a brother

That i may have known at the regional convention or i it could be somebody i didn’t know when i went down to georgia i didn’t know anyone but i was able to connect with a graduate chapter right there and to have a network of resources and support is absolutely immeasurable

In terms of how how much it helps you to know that there are people who will take you in and sometimes invite you over their house so when i went down to georgia my my wife um said do you know anybody down here i said no you know and i moved to

Brunswick georgia that’s where ahmad marbury died um and i moved to brunswick georgia and the president of the grad chapter came out and took us around and showed us different um housing developments he told us about the schools because he was a principal and and she says did you know him before

We got here i said no but he know i was a good brother and when you have that type of resource um not only nationally i mean i’ve i’ve also been on cruises where you know we doctored haiti and the brothers saw my fraternity paraphernalia and came up and

Said you’re with us you know so she was like you really get connected like that yes these organizations do have um the ability for you to connect and plug into communities that you’re not familiar with and to feel a sense of safety and uh sometimes with people that you

Just met but have the same ideals and the same mission that you’re in so it’s really a benefit to being in an organization that’s good and along with the one of the pain for friends and it kind of goes in line with like that’s your family and

Things that sort and you feel some people that you don’t like either you know they’re not going to say that they don’t like some of their sisters and brothers but that might happen where they clash but their iron still sharpens iron and you’re learning from those that

You’re around um so you’re not really paying for friends you’re you know having experience as well it’s an investment i don’t want to say like you’re paying it’s an investment to be able to help somebody else and to build on you because as you’re doing these events for other people you’re i’m

Learning new things about yourself learning you know how to get along some customer service some uh rapport building strength builds and things like that um leadership development and personal development as well i would say that’s one of the huge things that i got out of joining uh this sorority is

Just the personal development as we said just surrounding yourself with people who can sharpen you and encourage you so um one personal thing for me is uh i was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis two years ago and it flipped my world upside down because multiple sclerosis is basically your

Body attacking your brain and your spinal cord so here i am i would be graduate nurse practitioner have my body attack in my brain and i was devastated but i have to say my sore roars came through so thick to pick me up and encourage me to keep

Going i wanted to get my doctorates but now how do i do this when my body is attacking itself completely told me girl you gotta go do what you got to do so now i’m saying and i’m doing well and if it wasn’t for just that encouragement and being surrounded with people who

Have their own struggles who are pushing through um personally develop me to be able to be strong enough to keep pushing so that’s another gain or plus um from this these organizations as well just that bond and it’s like family like they are there when you need them yeah and even

When you don’t they just pop up building character and and personal development is a huge factor as well and that’s the benefit you know like it like you know to think of like that’s my cousin i still love her she crazy that’s my cousin they got my back they look out

For me they want me to do good you know how hell high water whatever it is like we’re supporting each other and that’s amazing um component that the sororities and fraternities have of their sisterhood of their brotherhood and really seeing what it’s about y’all probably could teach the city of brother

You love a little bit um because we’re struggling right now in that area but really that love that you have for somebody else is really really important and people are learning it because they don’t necessarily get that in their area right or where they came from so i have

To see like what another brother wants me to do good another sister hate on me but want me to shine too like you know things of that sort so it’s um educating the population to help us to be better humans i was on a pledge line of nine and um

I consider them my accountability circle you know they will they will challenge me in ways that you know i’m gonna say that um in ways that no other people will challenge me because they’ve known me for 34 years and they could say yeah you need to get it you need to get it

Together you know and they will challenge me um and hold me accountable to the things that i say to the man that i said that i wanted to be it’s funny you say that because um i go to college i was 22. so when i pledged i was 24

So a lot of the guys that came after me they were they were young guys i seen them as my little brothers and i come from a family where i have three brothers and a lot of them didn’t understand what brotherhood is they understand friendship and not brotherhood right

And this is something when you see a guy cry when you tie bow tie on them or when you say come in my room and you give them a suit or a god that’s not even part of your fraternity and you see him walking in the hall i’m like yo young

Boy come here but you can have this anybody why are you giving me this dave like nah i don’t want it no more you can have it and make a difference because like you said a lot of people they don’t experience that they ain’t experienced but brotherhood is just that it is so

You can share that with somebody that goes a long way you know it’s random victoria you’re the truth that story that touched my problem victoria i’m going to keep you in a prayer thank you i appreciate it it’s been a crazy two years but here we are we got in school and we’re

Doing our thing we push it she got this so i have a question for you somebody said somebody’s gone no i said just keep pushing us oh yes yes definitely victoria so my question my next question is what was your line’s name your name and number

Hello and tell me how you got your name because if you have a special name i want to know what happened okay uh i i’ll go first because you know this this has been the bane of my existence you know for the last 34 years um believe it or not um

Um lisa could attest when i was in college i was a very good dancer okay i grew up in new york city and i was a very good dancer and a lot of my popularity was because i danced so well you know people used to say that’s mike boogie you know and

Before i pledged everybody on campus knew me as mike boogie one of the brothers that were was initiating me um he had to sort of give me this noble name that that i was gonna and he said you’re a nightmare and i was like what does that have to do

With me you know and it’s stuck and nobody else called me but they said that’s your life my name i was like that is such a loser like a loser line name but that had nothing to do with me because right after he said that he’s like boogie come

Over here you know so i was like so so my line name was boogie i was not i mean my line name was nightmare i was number five on the um ascari akyoto line which is soldiers of a dreamline um for capital chapter spring 1987. i’m glad that you did not live up

Tonight there i don’t know because names you have power um but that you still was able to show you know enlightened things that’s a different name you can’t change it huh i i can’t change it but you know what nobody calls me that because everybody refers to me as like

No one ever called me that so i was like it was i suck a nonsensical name mike boogie the legend i um i’ve heard of you i’ve probably met you before i was young i needed the money nice to see you uh i was a number one i’m only five four so

I was you know the shortest number one my name tapes because i always knew everything whatever it was and to this day still you know or might say oh tiffany um do you have a picture of this part like i’ve memorized people’s phone numbers we don’t pay attention to that anymore we

Just like program it i’m like oh no she’s 442. you know whatever i just i always know things and the entire last name was elegant 18 and i was number one taking a guy okay all right elegant 18. that’s smart that’s right david university game omega uh

There’s three people on my line uh my line my name was uh einstein aka the pulse i was the ace i mean number one i can’t go into that but um he’s called the new black mafia okay all right all right we’re gonna leave you with nightmares since we can’t go in today

Um so i was i’m gonna line up four uh the lion’s name is life after death uh and i’m the quad of the line that means i’m the number four and my line’s name what is the exact the executive so um they named me the executive because even

Though i was at the back of the line my line wouldn’t move without me saying so So i mean it’s just more so i like to be organized i like things to be done a certain way and yeah that’s it all right and my name was it for people who live in philadelphia it might ring a bell to you but kyw which is a news radio and basically

Long story short i asked too many questions so i was like apparently you know felt like i was interviewing people and uh and when i spoke i spoke like i was on tv on the news or something like that so kyw and and i am number nine of nine tail club

And i’m five eight so i’m pretty tall uh for female and our line name was i dub radio because we have a lot of singers and we all have some sort of radio type of name so i’m kyw because i talk too you much like you’re still a little sad

About this it’s sad you know it is what it is also awesome this is cool i also liked in the beginning how when you were sharing watch organizations um you knew the dates you knew the time frames and things that started because these are things that are kind of drilled into you

So that you know what you know the standards and the uh mission and all that of your organization is so then i know your line of things and how that ties in as well my boogie i’m still i’m still lost with your nightmare though i’m not gonna

Lie and then david we’re not even gonna talk about it we’re gonna let you stop what’s wrong in the post that’s nice that’s a nice one um but yeah yeah that’s pretty pretty cool so we talked about how there are some perks of being an organization we talked about you know absolutely seeing

Your love and joy for the organization that you are part of um what did you learn about yourself being in your organization or what are you learning because you all are still active good job to you all learn that i’m stronger than what i think i am and that i

I didn’t know my potential until i was able to get out of my comfort zone um growing with growth comes both pains and you have to be able to allow yourself to grow and grow as stretching and stretching hurts sometimes so you have to be able to extend yourself

In order to grow beyond uh what you thought you could do and with this organization being on chairs and committees and just being a sister uh it pushes you to explore the other tenets of yourself so um i would say that that is a huge thing that i’ve gained from from being in

These organizations awesome i’ve learned to kind of i’d like to just meet people where they are everybody is not you they’re not going to be the same you know i think i have this expectation like if i’m doing something i expect everybody else to be if i’m cleaning up on saturday then i

Want my one son cleaning the bathroom the other one to always want but that’s not how it works people work on their own time some people are early risers some people are late night so i’ve learned that um over the years and it all works out at

The end of the day you just have to trust the process and everything works the way it’s supposed to work nobody told you to be in my business telling me trust process who’s next that’s the hard part i receive it i receive it i learned that i had a reservoir of

Strength that i haven’t tapped into now unlike some of my my esteemed panelists i put 34 years ago when pledging was above ground um i did not know i had strength until i tapped into this reservoir of strength that that that really said like you could do this and that has

Really been um groundbreaking and an epiphany for me in many ways because i know whether when i face adversity now that i could tap into this reservoir of strength and i could pull something out you know pull something out that i didn’t think that i could do you know

I may have said that that hill was too high to climb or that mountain was too high to climb but then i pulled the strength out and i i leaped over it so i think the challenge is right now i i take a look at them very differently

Because i know that the things that i can do i could push myself to do um when my mind is willing so that’s that’s what i’ve learned through the pledge process and when i said that that preached that will and i’m gonna let him be great too because you know

Even if you’re not enough towards your fraternity when you really think about your life too the things that you’ve learned as well you find out that you’re a little stronger than you thought you were too victorious sharing testimony of you know two years ago being diagnosed with something and how she’s still

Pushing forward you know it caused you to be quiet about what your little thing is that you’re going through because if she was able to push through that i could push through this too i just gotta try the process who’s next uh so i you know i i learned throughout um

My years that it’s okay to lean on the shield um leaning on a shield for those that may not know is just like trusting those around you you know just like tiffany said like there’s certain certain times you you you got to meet people where you want

Where they are uh but sometimes you got to trust that sometimes it’s a different way to get a to get a result so leaning on the shield making sure that you allow people to be who they are and contribute whatever they they can to to the bigger picture

That’s what they can contribute to so leaning on the shoe my shield is jesus y’all just yelling at my y’all encouraging me because i’ll be ready to fall sometimes but i gotta i got i can’t fall come on come on david bring it home bring him

Home uh for me it was uh being vulnerable um when you uh go to hbcu most colleges and most people in the black community everybody want to be the coolest everybody want to have everything together so what i try to do in our chapter just let people like they

Said do they all be vulnerable um i don’t have to be the guy that’s hit all the time let somebody else be yet you know let people make mistakes and um don’t condemn people for mistakes um just being vulnerable because when you set that atmosphere this it’s changes

Everybody’s not trying to up one another now everybody’s not trying to point somebody out it creates a real brotherhood and man i lost you now y’all when uh from the time i crossed oh four and so when i graduated i mean oh six so i graduated home and um oh eight

Started off with three of us and then we had like 20 guys up there that was like some of the best moments of my life i really love them dudes we had so much fun because after we crossed and we had another four people crossed and we had

Another 11 then we had people transfer and i just wanted to set that atmosphere to say yo guys we got to be vulnerable and let everybody who they are as they so two people talked on strength and high not knowing the strength that you had don’t want to learn by trusting that process

Then you gotta lean on the shield and then you gotta be vulnerable because that’s what we’re human yes that you do cry it’s moments that it does hurt it’s moments that it does sting but that’s what we wrote from these experiences so good all right um

Very good i like what y’all learn and i’m learning about my life too thank you for sharing my friends that are listening i see some comments over here they listening to um this is good what is something that you would want us to walk away with um

College life is a different world greek life is a different world but life is a different world so as it relates to anything what’s something that um you have to platform of my amazing uh listeners what is something that you want them to know as they walk away from tonight’s segment

I would say be true to yourself um and i know sometimes with these organizations and with jobs whatever it sometimes it doesn’t happen right away but that feeling never goes away it’s always on your heart right so you just have to get yourself in position and be prepared for when that moment comes

To be ready um but and don’t change yourself for for anyone or anything be true to yourself mine is very quick and succinct surround yourself with greatness absolutely uh i would say proverb you know a lot of ways acknowledge him he shall direct our path whatever sorority or organization you join

Put god first put god first whatever you do you’re gonna be all right uh be be slow to speak and swift to hearing um because you may miss out on the the true message that’s meant for you so just like david said uh listen to the higher being and the message that he

Has for you or the path that he’s trying to provide for you um because you may be taking a detour and he’s already created the the shortest route or the fauces route to get to the destination and i would say keep in mind open to learning new things uh god

Surrounds you with the people that he wants to be around you and there’s a lesson to learn in every experience that you come across whether it’s good or bad so have your mind open to receive what it is that god is trying to give you um through your experiences and um keep

Your eyes focused on the goal the goal is to serve our community the goal is to strengthen our bonds um whatever it is that you have in your heart that you want to pursue through these organizations keep your eyes on the prize and just continue to grow you know life is funny sometimes

Uh you could just be mind your business trying to talk to your friends about greek life and some things that you need to hear or some things that you’ve been talking about maybe the day before you get the confirmation of what you need the trust in that process of being

Vulnerable um because you can only be strong but for so long uh this is all just really great i i thank you all this again i gotta remember i gotta remind myself sounds so good thank you all so much for joining us um so we say that if you’re

An undergrad you have to be a college student to be a part of us or to your fraternity so if in undergrad you can just connect with somebody on campus to join you can but most organizations right now will have you connect to their national website okay and

That’s the first place that i would look um if i was an undergrad right now is just take a look at the national website and they’ll have some um tag about membership and then it’ll give you some membership also speak to the greek advisor on your campus if you’re

At a at a university speak to the greek advisor and um you know again do your own research um like i did there’s no easy way around that um you know um i tell my students the only time success comes before work is in the dictionary

You know so you got to put in the work first and and actually do your research find out what the organization stands for because if you love your organization whatever organization you choose if any if you love your organization as much as i love my organization then you made the right decision

And is a lifelong investment as well it’s a this is a lifelong brotherhood uh we said we talk about brotherhood and sisterhood brotherhood and sisterhood is not only a poem or uh that initiative is a way of being uh so you just got to make sure that

We said like we said before this is where you are this is your family it so this is for undergrad now if i’m i graduated from undergrad and i didn’t you know join as undergrad student but now i’m a graduate i may be in graduate school may not be in graduate school how

Could i potentially connect if i wanted to be a part national national websites again go to the national websites and and take a look at what they’re doing um the national website may direct you to a local area director or district director um or a local chapter president and again um

Before you jump you know look before you leap you know find out about the chapter what are they doing you know locally um these are national programs but they manifest differently in local chapters so find out about the chapter attend some of their events um get to know

Um are these the people that you want to affiliate yourself you know my litmus test is if i can’t take my mother to an alpha event that i’m in the wrong organization we call it dating you’re dating a court stating your chapters going out and just like courting and

Exploring what they’re about we call it dating so to figure out where you want to go the direction you want to go is important like dr sinclair said to to see what the chapters are all about to see what the organization is all about and again just

Like dr sinclair said the information is all on the website very nice my last question for you all was your sorority fraternity your first first choice being honest absolutely what i didn’t have like i said i didn’t know anything about this stuff i didn’t know anything about

It and my already like i said he was a few he was trying i’m not worried about that when i saw the campus i just knew it it was nothing about me i had to change it was like these guys are red man these guys are right

Okay you know what i was surrounded by zetas as well before i joined and i saw the work that they did and i saw them in the community and and so i always had my heart on zeta um i did have the opportunity to get to know other um organizations but my heart

Was being pulled i could not get away from that blue and white that that was that was my call can i say something real quick not sinclair there’s some offers on my own campus these guys i was trying to make them decapitate so much i’m doing all this stuff to get this guy

And then i didn’t know what he was doing he was coming up to my meetings and then i saw him in the probate being the alpha man and it just it touched my heart man cuz y’all y’all some smooth brothers man and i was like my name and i’m like yo

You knew what you wanted to do man i i i tried to get home so bad that was the only dude i ever went at heart he knew he wanted to be a alpha though man i was i you know i went to uh not a historically black college with a

Black college nevertheless and um alphas were the smallest fraternity on on the campus it had queues you know we’re talking about 30 qs and and 30 kappas and you know you know um 45 sigmas and zetas you know so it was it was a lot of people and

I actually went to a smoker you know back in the days it was a smoker which was like an interest meeting and of all the organizations that were presenting themselves to me i think the alphas were were the most inviting they were they were not engaging they actually had

Arrogance and a bit of audacity they took out the book of this is this is what we’re doing take it or leave it have a good day gentlemen i was like you don’t you’re not courting me you know and i had a big ego

Because i had a lot of friends so i was like wait wait you’re not coming after me to see how i could be in your organization they’re like nah we’ve been around for you know 80 years at that time we’re like you know they were like nah and i was like

The audacity you know but what they did do which which was impressive to me was um they made me do the work like mr miyagi you know they were like go out there take a look at everything else because um when you come here you gotta come you

Gotta come right um the day that they sat in a smoker we had like a we had like 150 men out there and when they looked at their watch and they said okay it’s seven o’clock they closed the door and the brothers that were in the room were were like

Um if you don’t have a gpa of a 3.0 you can leave right now and i was like about 30 men just got up and and brothers escorted them to the door and and those who weren’t wearing a suit they were like you could leave right now they weren’t they were being um

Purposeful but they were being um very selective and i just felt like you you this is a different take from an organization who is trying to recruit you they were absolutely doing the opposite they were like you’re not going to make the mustard because we have high

Expectations if you don’t have a 3.0 talk to us next year you know they were just very very um and and they didn’t do it because they had large numbers they did it because they were like we’re only looking for the cream of the crop yeah and i said

I am the cream of the crop you just don’t know so what i got online i said there’s two things you got to kill me across me because this is where i’m going to be i was like i am the cream of the crop you just don’t know it yet yes so that’s

Alphas did not impress me in terms of engaging they actually give gave me what i needed which was to say you got to step up very nice and distinguish yourself all right tiffany and joe uh what was the question was your uh fraternity oh first choice um i plead the first

You dated and you found the right one that fits but yeah the way job is yeah so yeah i outweighed my one of my family members is uh part of the divine nine as well and he tried to push me to join that organization and every beat in my heart was was beating

That that that blue and that white i mean it was beating very hard like one of my my pro fight was very like uh forthcoming he was very accurate on everything and just said like listen um i can show you what sigma is better than i can tell you um

And i already had friends like dr sinclair said i already have family members he showed me what an extended family looks like and he sold me from there and i’ve been a member ever since how hard was that to do joe how hard was what to

Do like i i don’t know the pressure of a family member saying yo do this do this do this and then you make your own wave like was that hard to do man i um that man you know um honestly it was it was easier than what um it may look

Because he allowed me to to to make my own way like you said he allowed me to at least explore my option yes it was presented and yes he probably would have preferred me to join that organization but you know um at the end of the day brotherhood is brotherhood no matter

What color i’m wearing and just like i said earlier about the whole network like now i’m connected to not only brothers within my organization but brothers in his organization and when when you see our organizations combined you’re like wow they’re working together like that i thought the stereotype said that y’all

Supposed to hate each other no you guys made that stereotype i actually love my brothers and my sisters is black excellence this is this is black royalty you know this is black excellence right here um when organizations get together uh on the common with the common mission my

Younger brother only digress for the second joe my younger brother was initiated at howard university um and he also became an alpha and i said i’m glad that you became an alpha because i didn’t want to have to talk about you at the hou you know i was like you know

I was already content he played six years after me but i was like listen i i would just have to talk about you at the thanksgiving table so i’m glad that you and i could call each other brothers because you know but i took it around you know hilarious

So i went to delaware state as i said and it was just very clear that was the only way okay um no matter what you thought like whatever myths you may have heard they i remember i was going into the cafeteria and talking to my best friend

And i said she said what are you about to do and one of the aka said i’m coming to watch me dance and i was like huh you know and went to see them whatever the program was and that i got hooked i was they were they were light skinned they were dark

Skinned they were tall short heavier skin i was like this is it like i wherever they were that’s where i wanted to be you know and then you find out later that there was a guidance counselor i had in high school um that saved all of us because

We all could be we’re only one decision away from being in another place and then you later learned that she was an aka you know i didn’t know that at the time you know i didn’t pay attention to the stuff in her office um but it was just for me that was it

And i wasn’t going to stop until i got it so very nice very nice so my last thing before i let you all know is that a lot of you have said y’all didn’t really change after you became a part of your organizations what was your favorite color before you became

And what’s your favorite color now black and black mine was turquoise um yes i don’t know i like the charlotte hornets i you know i was who knows um and then my favorite color now is green so it’s my son’s it’s just not the whole pink

And green you know like i was worse with our favorite color is red so every time we go out she’s got a red dress on her red lipstick and we tease her you know but yeah my high school colors were black and gold oh okay

I i grew up around black and gold and um okay still my favorite colors okay uh my colors was uh green and blue it was actually it was really blue okay i’m a giants fan so you know okay mine’s just blue my favorite color blue okay

And now let me ask that because i um i see it’s one of my friends that say okay i was like is that pinky green you want pink and green you just want pink and green okay but you know that’s the product that you have in your organization as

Well so like it might not be your favorite color per se um but you know it may become more prevalent in your uh attire and things that story so that’s one thing that may have changed just a little bit but it’s just for you to be able to represent that which you stand

For hey jim get me blue and white when i first i had so much we had to write it on i remember my dean was like you gotta stop man you got a chance i had like a red bucket a red white shirt a thing uh he’s like dave you gotta take something

Off man But again hey it’s an investment you really enjoy what it is that your organization is doing and you want others to know about what it is you’re doing and you want to help them too so that’s amazing again i thank you all so very much for joining me tonight i thank you for

Sharing uh your stories personal stories words of wisdom i’m encouraged from the pieces that i’ve learned you know whether organization or not organization just be committed to whatever it is that you’re doing and be active um and hold true to what it is that you put your name attached to

Because if you’re saying you’re a part of something let your name really be you know what your name is standing on what it is that you want uh the foundation for getting it’s like akas they known for this alphas they know if it is they also sit down for

This whatever it is just make sure your name aligns with what it is that you’re sending out to do in life so again i just thank you all so very much thanks for having me thank you thank you thank you and thank my panelists thank you thank you okay

It is a pleasure meeting you guys yes shout out to my own aka friend uh shamika cancer she’s one of the coolest girls i’ve known that’s my sister i want to introduce you to um one of your source whose phd she teaches nursing nice so i may send jen

The information so she could share it with you absolutely cool people she’s a zeta you know she’s a zeta um one of my favorites and tiffany do you know kim i absolutely do you know that’s my twin right i absolutely do yeah that’s right oh and special thanks to all of those

That joined that are part of the sorority or fraternity into divine nine i did see some point white hearts i uh saw some friends that i know that are akas um whoever else out there that are interested um or currently a part of thank you so much

For tuning in today i hope you learned something if you have any questions i can for sure connect you with one of the amazing panelists and they can share with you about their story and why you should join their organization because if not dr sinclair is going to talk about trivia fraternity

But thank you again so very much may y’all have a great great evening until next time thank you thank you that was awesome tonight we had michael we had tiffany we had david we had joe and we had victoria to tell us the amazing parts of the greek life and the divine nine

Oh friends i thank you so very much for tuning in on tonight i hope that you learned something new man i got some good pieces for my own self ah gotta lean on that uh that uh i’m gonna lead on a rock he said lean on

The spear i forget the word that he said but either way you gotta lean on because one it’s a lot that’s happening sometimes but don’t give up be encouraged you are stronger than you think you are such a great great great episode on tonight don’t forget our quote of the day

Coming together is a beginning keeping together is progress working together is success and i like what that uh dr sinclair said how success only comes first in the dictionary before work but you got to work to get to that success you got to work to get to that

Success so friends i hope that you did enjoy them tonight be sure to join us next week as we will have dr cynthia chestnut and we’re going to talk about culture shock why because when you go away to school it’s a culture shock i went away to university store i tell you

About it next week it was a culture shock though because it wasn’t what i was used to thank you so much to my friends i’ve been listening and staying in shield leaning on the shield come on keisha come on shamika come on pj lean on the

Shield it was a great show thank you all so very much for tuning in i do just want to give you a heads up for october october is going to be amazing the theme is going to be safe walk why because october is the first month of the last quarter of the

Year and i want to encourage you friends that whatever it is that you’re trying to do in life there is still time whatever it is you want to do for this year there is still time and we have an amazing lineup that will share with you their story of how they are pushing

Forth how they are on this faith walk and going into dreams and pursuing dreams and pursuing goals that sometimes people think you can’t explore but that’s where they’re going to let you know that they’re doing it and going to let us know that we too can do it as well

So again thank you so very much pj said made me want to be a cappy even more oh you know there is still time they say go to the main website and that’s how you can get connected okay if you want to be a kappa you go to their website

All right and check it out they can guide you i don’t think we had a cabinet tonight but what they could connect you if they don’t know and you know you probably already know somebody can connect you but nevertheless i do thank you all so

Very much for joining me i love you all i appreciate you all um if you missed any part go back and catch everyone it was some good that was dropped today greek life is not a cult it is a family and they are all about helping

The community find out how you can help the community along with them again thank you so much yes dave wasn’t careful sorry you know i gotta learn the terminology shamika thank you shamika she got my back uh i’ve already been researching see they ready for you too why because

They’re always looking for more people to do that amazing work that they’re doing at community all right friends i gotta go i kept you all a long time tonight i do thank you so very much i love you all so very much so until next time bye You

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