With nearly half of the students participating, Greek life is prominent in the lives of TCU students. Some students shared how Greek life affects the campus environment and their college experiences.
Rising senior, Grace Toups, said a lot of people in her family have been in Greek organizations.
“My mother actually attended TCU and was in a different chapter house than I currently am now and just after seeing their experiences through their Greek life and all of the connections and friendships they made, I knew that that was going to be a great starting point for me,” Toups said.
TCU football player, Garrett Wallow, is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. He said their events focus on community engagement and relationship building.
“We host events like, for like the community to really come together for fellowship with each other,” Wallow said.
All potential members of Greek organizations go through a recruitment process. While it differs for each organization, graduating senior, Danielle Bradford, who is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., said she wouldn’t change anything about the recruitment process.
“Rush is kind of an interview where you go and you see other people who are doing it for the first time and you learn about the chapter you’re trying to get into and the sorority.”
Not all students join Greek organizations. Rising junior Rachel Barnes said she remains an independent mostly because of the high cost.
“Additionally, the kind of social life that comes along with that is not what I grew up with because academics comes first and with those kinds of societies, you have to balance those things and most of the time, the Greeks come first,” Barnes said.
Recent graduate, Joseph Spellmeyer, said that while his fraternity has given him lifelong friends, he can also use the connections he’s made in his future professional career.
“It’s given me people who I’ve been able to use as a resource that have gone through professional development, getting ready to graduate, that sort of thing,” Spellmeyer said. “To have multiple people that I can look up to and still reach out to and use them for that has been awesome.”
Spellmeyer said he pays it forward by helping his younger fraternity brothers apply for jobs and edit resumes.
