Mr. McDaniel!

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Robert

Mr. McDaniel is a contest held once every year by Alpha Sigma Tau sorority on campus. This event is always fun since it is the sister event to the Ms. McDaniel competition hosted by the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. The events are known for being more comical than serious in comparison to other competitions that go by a similar name, and this year was unique for me because I was selected to compete in the AST’s Mr. McDaniel competition.

Of five competitors, two of my brothers were also selected to compete. There were three Alpha Sigs, one Phi Delt, and one Phi Kapp in total and each of us offered a unique take on comedy. The first event was formal wear, which was pretty basic. As we went onto stage, one of the ASTs hosting the event would read us a question and we would do our best to answer in a way that would appeal to the crowd. A few of the questions were given to us before the event so that we wouldn’t make complete jerks of ourselves on state; but most questions were given on the spot to show how quick we were on our feet.

The competition was more than anything just to entertain the campus and help the ASTs raise money for their sorority. Judged by two students, one randomly selected by the ASTs and the other the current Ms. McDaniel, and a faculty member, the criteria were most visually appealing, crowd appeal, best answers to the questions, and of course, general sense of humor; criteria that brought out the best in each contestant including myself.

In the course of the night, we saw one guy rap, too much speedo during the swimwear portion of the competition, I performed a song I had learned earlier in the day, and one of my brothers brought out a harpoon and stared seductively at the audience…which was interesting. Though I didn’t win, I thought it was a great opportunity and a really good time.

Let the Greek Games Commence!

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Robert

Monday around 4:30, the opening ceremonies for Greek Week were held on the ANW quad. Each year this tradition serves to commemorate the spirit of interfraternal togetherness and competition. Monday was simple field games like tug-of-war, water bucket relay, hoola-hoop passing, and a crazy relay where one person spins around a bat the runs to a chair and is fed a number of gross things.

Since it was boys against boys and girls against girls, Alpha Sig’s only two competitors were Phi Kappa Sigma and Alpha Gamma Tau (mostly known as the bachelors). I was surprised, since most of the bachelors are football players are football players and since most of the Phi Kapps have played highly physical sports that we did really well. We won the tug-of-war competition, the hoola-hoop passing competition, the sack race, the wheel barrow race and number of others.

If that wasn’t enough excitement, today was swimming events. At 7 all of the greek organizations gathered in the pool for a number of…interesting challenges. The first two were your typical biggest and smallest splash contests which we placed second and first in respectively. I was lucky that none of the Phi Kapps had anyone as skinny as me for the smallest splash contest. Then the events went on to include a race to gather rings off the bottom of the pool, a regular relay, crocodile wrestling, and even an animal noises challenge.

It has been a lot of fun and Alpha Sig will go into the track and field games of tomorrow leading by ten points and it’s truly an exciting time. Reasons like this are why college can be so much fun. Sure I’ve had to put a few assignments aside to make time for it, but it’s worth it. Who needs sleep anyway?

A Very Alpha Sig Night at Bdubs

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Robert

A while back I blogged about a philanthropy event that I organized for my fraternity at a local gaming place, Players. It was a huge success. Well tonight the Alpha Sigs hosted another fundraiser at my direction, a fundraising night at Bdubs (Buffalo Wild Wings) to help raise money for Relay for Life.

Typically money for Relay is raised by going door to door essentially asking your friends and neighbors for money. Since we live on a college campus, however, and only really have immediate access to our families, it is important to get creative. So I had the idea a while back to use a restaurant that’s popular on campus, like Bdubs, and see if they wouldn’t give me like 10 or 15% of the profits on a given night if I could rally the campus to come out and eat.

Well this is apparently a common thing for them. The manager set me up with a printable ticket format that said “Alpha Sigma Phi Relay for Life Fundraiser” and said that I would get 15% of whatever was sold as long as the customers presented that ticket (By the way, never miss an opportunity to get out there an build professional relations with business owners). So I printed out 1000 tickets and for the past few days my brothers and I have been standing outside of Glar (the dining hall) handing them out to everyone walking in, instructing them to go to Bdubs Thursday from 6-9 and help support our cause.

Well as you would imagine, by the third day, our peers were getting a little tired of us giving them tickets that they would likely throw away as soon they got out of sight. 6pm rolled around and I was worried people might not show up at all, but I was gladly surprised to find the exact opposite. There were McDaniel kids everywhere, taking up a large part of each section of the restaurant. Just goes to show you what impact a little bit of persistence and a good cause can have on a community. The good food doesn’t hurt either! I love my fraternity job!

Intramural Volleyball: Trying New Things

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Robert

Let me just start this one by saying, I’m not very athletic. I’m pretty skinny and I guess you could say I’m toned but not extremely strong or coordinated so when it comes to playing sports at McDaniel, I’m not the first guy on anyone’s mind. I swam in highschool and I’ve always been a decently fast runner so I don’t mean to make myself out to be some kind of loser, this is just to say that Tebow or Jordan. That said, one thing I have really enjoyed at McDaniel are the intramural sports.

Joining my fraternity has been helpful in this field since it gave me a nice gateway into intramurals, this spring especially since I finally have a softball and indoor soccer team that I can just be a part of without signing up. I’ve played all of these sports before though, what’s new this Spring to me is indoor volleyball. I had no idea it was such a fun sport! Having never played before, I wasn’t sure how it would go, but the fraternity had their first game today and I did not do as terribly as I had expected.

Our first game was against the Phi Delt fraternity. They were pretty good. They snagged a girl from the volleyball team to play for them (kind of cheating in my mind but whatever), and then they had another guy on their team who was pretty good. We were better. We lost our first game after staying tied for most of it, then won the second by a landslide. It all came down to the third game in which we had kept a decent lead on them until they snuck up on us in the end and won. The second game was against Phi Kapp fraternity and they crushed us. It might have been that we were tired, or that they were really good, but either way we didn’t stand a chance.

It was a great learning experience though, especially for a non-athlete like me. My brothers taught me how to set, how to block, and a number of volleyball terms that I wouldn’t have ever known otherwise. It was a great bonding experience even if we lost and it’s nice to know that even if you might not be the best at something, there’s still time to learn at McDaniel.

Get Your Pancakes!

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Robert

This weekend I helped establish and run the first Alpha Sigma Phi pancake sale we have ever had. Taking the idea from Res Life (Residence Life) and their pancake sale last semester, we thought that it might be a good way to make some money as well as get our name out in terms of recruitment. My brother Logan, recruitment chair, and I teamed up to get the ball rolling and through the support of the rest of the fraternity, we were somewhat successful.

The sale was saturday night. I had spent a good portion of time Friday and Saturday during the day making flyers with tear-off numbers that residents of Rouzer, McDaniel, ANW, and DMC (we focused on these residence halls since we figured these building would be most likely to have guys that would want to go Greek and still have time to pledge) could take with them in the event that they had nowhere to write the number down when they saw the flyer, which is usually the case. Students could call in to the number, place an order (two pancakes for $1 = an order), and we would make the pancakes fresh and deliver them to their dorms.

The night started off really strong. We were getting calls right at 10pm when it started, but these were mostly close friends who we had personally demanded call in to the event. We passed the time playing catch phrase, watching family guy, and in general just having a great time. After about 2 hours, we had given up hope, then around midnight the calls starting flowing in one right after another as people were returning from their night’s activities and getting hungry.

All things said and done, we made about $28 over what we spent on the mix and the plates. Not a huge profit but we succeeded in getting the name of our fraternity out around campus and in some great brotherhood bonding among the guys who were there which is sometimes undervalued. Hopefully we’ll make our pancake sale a more regular thing and it will grow in popularity but for now it’s a great memory!

Recruitment: Go Greek

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Robert

Now if there’s anything a fraternity will teach you it’s that recruitment is a year round thing, it’s always a good time to extend a friendly hand to a potential new member. However, there are busier times than others in terms of grabbing the interest of prospectives and the past few weeks have been very busy in this sense as we build up to the open smoker next week. So far it’s been weird being on the other side of the experience since only this time last semester I was a member of the recruited and not the recruiting.

I’ve been using the time as a chance to learn what it means to be efficient at recruiting new members so that hopefully after apprenticing this semester and next fall I can make a case to be elected recruitment chair which is my ideal position. The one benefit to not studying abroad next fall as I had planned to is that I will be here to really find my place in the fraternity.

Today we set up table outside Glar for the first time which is just a broad a approach to recruitment and it helps to get our name out to the community and hopefully have some prospectives sign up for our open smoker. An open smoker is just a meet-the-brothers type event that most social fraternities host at the beginning of the semester to introduce prospectives to all the brothers.

On such a small campus, it can be hard to get independents (non-Greek lifers) excited about all the things Greek life has to offer. In fact many don’t realize the great things that Greek life can bring. A fact I didn’t know for example is that of the 50 large corporations that dominate the American economy, 47 CEOs were a part of Greek life. Not to mention that all US presidents except for two were involved in Greek life. This is not to say that going Greek guarantees you a spot among presidents and CEOs, but that the experiences it brings can be huge in sculpting your people and business schools which will help you all throughout your life.

What it means to fundraise…

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Robert

Thursday, April 18th – Alpha Sig Buffalo Wild Wings night…be there. I’m just kidding, but in all seriousness I’m on top of my game with my job as Fundraising/Philanthropy Chair for my fraternity. Basically my job is to spawn and act on ideas for ways in which to raise money for the fraternity to donate to local causes and drives. The difficulty with my position is that in recent years the fraternity has fallen off its commitment to philanthropy so I don’t have clearly set footprints to follow in. I’ve been pretty successful in making it up as I go, but raising money isn’t an exact science and I’m in a constant battle with apathy among the student body and sometimes among my brothers.

Today I met with a woman from Bdubs (Buffalo Wild Wings) to discuss what it would take to host a fundraiser at their restaurant. Bdubs is a campus favorite, mostly for big game days during football and basketball season, but also for their traditional wings. It’s a prime spot for fundraising. Now I didn’t learn this all on my own, you might say I stole the idea from other organizations on campus (cough, cough, Heroes Helping Hopkins) but, nonetheless, it’s a great idea so I hopped on the bandwagon.

Hopefully we’ll have a good turnout because we’re relying on this particular fundraiser to help the fraternity reach its fundraising goal of $2,500 dollars for McDaniel’s Relay for Life in April, and important cause to me since I lost my grandmother to cancer and should be an important cause to everyone because statistically speaking, you’re probably going to get cancer at some point in your life. Anyway organizing this event has given me some invaluable experience that I can use in almost any career.

I’m currently in the planning stages for an Alpha Sig night at Players Amusement Center in Westminster. A girl I’m friends with who lives on my floor works there and has been amazing in helping me get the plan going and it looks like it might be a success and hopefully bring some money to the fraternity since, like all organizations, we have operating costs as well. In any case, college will throw opportunities like this one to become a leader and if you’re lucky like me you’ll have some great success.

A New Motto to Live By

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Robert

Today was a dreary, bland, annoying day. One of those days where you can’t think about anything except turning around and climbing right back into bed and sleeping until Spring. Personally, I’ve always wished that we humans could hibernate like polar bears from the day after Christmas until the first day that it’s warm enough to wear shorts comfortably again. We don’t hibernate though and the monotony of going to classes in the middle of Winter really wore on me today.

On days like this it’s important to keep yourself busy with little tasks because focusing on “big-picture” things is just not going to work. Me being the person I am, I never rember to do this. In fact, I was a huge slug through both of my morning classes. I almost fell asleep in my 9:10…but then again, State and Local Government isn’t exactly an action/thriller so can you blame me? Plus anybody will tell you that you can only listen to Dr. Smith for so long before you need a breather.

Productivity came to me unexpectedly when I returned to my dorm after my 12:40 class. I sat down at my computer and realized that I had a decent amount of work to do to fullfill my fundraising chair duty for my fraternity. I’ve been working to set up fundraising events with both B dubs (Buffalo Wild Wings for those who don’t know) and Panera, and I finally heard back from their manager and called to schedule a meeting. And in the spirit of productivity from that, I put together a plan for the Alpha Sig night we’re hosting at Players in Westminster (come to Players, Fri. March 1st for Alpha Sig Night) and while I was at it set up a job interview for a prospective summer lifeguarding job.

I guess what I’m getting at is don’t let a day like this keep you from being productive. On campus organizations, especially Greek life, are good for giving you busy work you can do to keep yourself in a productive and spirited mood. It’s currently 7pm and I’ve got my homework and one of my two blogs for the week done. You’ll find out when you go to college but that’s a great day in my books. Just keep calm and keep busy…a new motto to live by. Man I’ve just been filled with advice lately.

Join the Rush

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Cassie

There are eight social sororities and fraternities on campus. But there are also two lesser known service groups: APO, a service fraternity, and Gamma Sigma Sigma, a service sorority (although both are coed). Last night, Gamma Sigma Sigma held their Meet the Sisters event. Now I know, there are many reservations and assumptions that come with the “Greek” title, and I had many of my own. I chose Gamma Sig because not only did it look great on my resume, but it actually was a great deal of fun getting to know this wide variety of girls. My MIT (member-in-training) class even had three guys, the first in several years). But more than that, this organization is focused on serving the community through volunteer service for great local groups.

But last night was focused on getting to know the prospective, our future members and sisters. Yeah, that sounds a little cheesy, and even I was hesitant to go, what with the mounting homework teachers continue to thrust my way. The theme “Welcome to the Wild” had everyone dressed up in colorful and crazy prints, from pink leopard-spotted leggings to cheetah fur hats and every color of the rainbow in our Gamma Sigma Sigma lettered shirts. With food, snacks, and the latest top 40 pop songs playing in the background, students from all grades filtered in. A jungle path was laid out on the floor for interested students to walk along, with current members standing at each point to answer any and all questions. Afterwards, we played the classic “Rock, Tree, Bridge” for a little friendly competition. Conveniently, each team one once, which didn’t exactly appease my competitive nature, but it was a great way to end the night.

The great part about Gamma Sig is getting to know people from all of the nitches and groups across McDaniel Campus that I wouldn’t normally have gotten to meet. From girls (and guys) involved in other Greek organizations, sports teams, various majors, and a number of clubs, the people are all unique. I couldn’t ask for a greater college experience and I’m excited for our new members.

To Be a Part of Something Big!

Posted on November 19, 2012 by Robert

This past Friday I was initiated into the fraternity I have been pledging for most of this past semester, Alpha Sigma Phi. As anyone might indicate, becoming a part of a fraternity is no easy undertaking and consumes a good portion of your time. This is true. Finding a balance between my various responsibilities to class, friends, and school work was quite difficult. It was worth it though to join arguably one of the best fraternities on the Hill.

Alpha Sig is a social fraternity with a purpose: To better the man through an understanding of the core concepts of silence, honor, charity, purity, and patriotism. By publicly promoting this goal, which most fraternities only share with initiated brothers and pledges, the fraternity is held accountable by both itself and the community at large. This makes the fraternity a body of men, of whom are some of the best guys to know on campus, and of which it is an honor to be a part. Not to mention they’re some of the most enjoyable people to hang with.

Brotherhoods have two major stigmas: that they change perfectly nice guys into jerks, by robbing them of their beliefs and brainwashing them with new, conformist beliefs; the other is that it is essentially a way for losers to buy friends. It’s not one and it’s not the other, it might be called a mixture of both but I feel that neither statement can be taken in their fullest senses.This is me saying that this is not an accurate representation of Greek life at McDaniel in general, and is certainly not applicable to Alpha Sigma Phi.

I was not brainwashed in the process of pledging. However my mind was opened up to many new ideas about what it means to be a citizen of my community, this country, and in many ways the world as I was encouraged to question my goals and values. This with the intent of making me a gentleman, not to take away everything that is good in me. I did not buy friends, but I did gain 27 brothers who I have come to enjoy and love through the sharing of common values. They are friends, but they are so much more that. Though the true bond we share is revealed only through the secrecy of the initiation process, the result is the same: a band of brothers all committed to improving each other as gentlemen and humans.

Though I may look back on this experience as one of the more challenging of my lifetime, it was certainly one of the most valuable and I treasure this experience as it has put me in a place where I feel confident in the forward direction my life is heading, and in my peers as good influences in my life. I highly recommend Greek life, like most things it sounds scarier than it is, and when it’s over you get to wear letters!

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