Coming to Dickinson from a small school I had no idea what fraternities or greek life was in general save for the Amanda Bynes film Sydney White. But what I experienced at Dickinson was far from the stereotypes in the media and popular culture. Initially, I went through the recruitment process on a whim because my best friend was in a sorority and said to me “You have nothing to lose, at the very least, you’re going to make new friends.” Joining Phi Delta Theta opened my eyes to a whole new world at Dickinson. We are often labeled as the “football frat,” but that could not be farther from the truth. We have brothers who are involved in ROTC, Spectrum, Club Lacrosse, Crossfit, Student Senate, Zumba, the squash team, the golf team, Queer Peers, acapella, and the equestrian team, to just name a few. One thing that is very important to us is philanthropy. As Lou Gherig was a Phi Delt, our national philanthropy is the ALS Association. We have two main philanthropy events to support the ALS Association: Dunk a Phi Delt and Links for Lou. Dunk a Phi Delt is when we rent out Britton Plaza and invite people to dump a bucket of ice water on us for a couple dollars. In the spring we have Links for Lou, which is a big alumni/ brother event. We invite alums back to donate and play golf with us for the day. We raise over $1000 every year from this event. This has been a big year for Phi Delta Theta, we have one of the largest Phikeia (our name for new member) classes in years. We have 27 new members, practically doubling the size of the fraternity!

Phi Delta Theta has three cardinal principles that guide our everyday lives: friendship, sound learning, and moral rectitude.  The Pennsylvania Epsilon Chapter is one of the purist embodiments of these principals that I have seen. Regarding friendship, the best thing about Phi Delt is that we are much more than just a group of guys, we are a family. They are the most open, accepting, and kind people I have ever met and I am grateful everyday for their friendship. One thing Phi Delta Theta prioritizes is academics, which is why we have the highest GPA of all the fraternities on campus. In addition we all help each other out all the time with homework and school in general, we all have diverse majors and interests and they really come in handy when you are in a class that’s not your forte. The brothers of Phi Delta Theta are some of the most upstanding and honorable men, I have met in my life. We are always looking out for others and I think that is what sets us apart from many other organizations at the school. One of Phi Delt’s mottos is “Become the greatest version of yourself,” and that spirit is something that Phi Delta Theta strives to not only embody but share with the community. We might seem like a group of intimidating football guys, but there is far more to us than that. If you do not believe me, stop any of us and strike up a conversation, I promise we are nice!