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Letter to the Fraternity

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Submitted By twei11239
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Dear Brothers of Alpha Phi Omega,

These past 9 weeks have been some of the craziest, most stressful, sleep-deprived moments of my life, and I wouldn’t change a thing about them. Being able to pledge APO this semester has truly been one of the most rewarding experiences of my college career. I went into Rush not knowing what to expect—a little nervous and scared—and within the first few minutes behind Leavey, I was overwhelmed with smiles, excitement, and new friends. Looking back at who I was coming into this semester and who I am now, I can wholeheartedly say that APO has changed me for the better.

A lot of people say they wish they had joined APO earlier, but for me, it wouldn’t have been the same if I had been in another pledge class. My pledge brothers and the Pledge Team mean the world to me, and I couldn’t have made it this far without them. They are some of the most considerate and caring people I’ve ever met. Everyone came to the first pledge meeting, determined to support and help each other as much as possible—a dynamic that I had not really expected. Who knew that I’d grow so close to people in such a short amount of time. Being an Alpha Eta means more than just being a pledge brother. It means being a part of a family that will never let you down.

One of the biggest reasons why I want to become an active is that I want to be able to make an impact on other people’s lives, whether it be as a mentor, a Big, or a leader in the fraternity. The three cardinal principles have become so engrained into who I am, that whenever I talk about APO I can’t help but go on and on about how it’s impacted my life. To be honest, I didn’t anticipate being so active in my pledge class. I joined originally for the service aspect and, with the heavy class load I had, I thought I’d be known as Tiffany “Forget-me-not” Wei. But as always, things don’t go as planned, and in this case I’m so glad they didn’t.

Being Pledge Class President is one of my proudest accomplishments. After meeting everyone in the Alpha Eta Class, I felt like this would be a great opportunity to really make a positive impact on our class. I no longer wanted to be the pledge who went MIA or the upperclassman who joined late. I wanted and still want my pledge class to remember me as not only a leader but also as someone they could count on whenever and wherever. There were definitely times where just wanted to go sleep under a rock, but overall, it gave me the most worthwhile pledging semester. I got to develop my own leadership skills as well as motivate my fellow pledge brothers to do the same. Pledge Team and Pledge E-Board worked hard to make this semester as fun as possible, and I really hope that resonated across the pledge class and the entire fraternity.

Thank you for giving me the time to express my feelings about my pledging experience. I KNOW that I am ready for activehood, and I’m excited to see what’s in store for the Alpha Etas!

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