Alpha Epsilon Nu - University of San Francisco
Fall 2018: NUsletter #1
Each semester, Alpha Phi Omega welcomes a new pledge class to our chapter. The theme of the first NUsletter for this semester is to show the incoming pledges the brotherhood aspect of Alpha Phi Omega. With this Nusletter, we hope that you warm up to the idea of pledging and learn through the hard work and determination of what it truly means to be a part of our Fraternity. Everyone has expectations coming into the process–some good ones and some bad ones. With that being said, here is the prompt, and hopefully, both Pledges and Brothers can take something out of the answers. Remember that we are here for each other.
Prompts
Brothers: How have you developed as an individual since pledging for ΑΦΩ?
Pledges: What do you want to learn throughout this process? How do you hope to develop as an individual throughout this process?
My favorite thing about Alpha Phi Omega, is the people. Without the people, there would not
be an Alpha Phi Omega. From just what I’ve seen, the brothers are really dedicated to their jobs
and they seem to really care about what they’re doing. My pledge-brother, p-bros, really seem
fun and cool. They are fun to talk to and they are definitely making the pledging process much,
more easier. Especially, after the first Sunday meeting, I feel much more closer to them and
they seem to be really dedicated to the process. By building these connections with other
brothers and pledge brothers, I hope that it will positively influence not only my life, but their
lives as well. I also really like the idea of the p-bro meetings and sponsor meetings as it gives
you the opportunity to really get to know your peers.
I hope to learn how to manage my time wisely. If I am able to balance my school life, the
fraternity, and my life; I feel that I would be much better in life as a whole. It will make my life
more organized and much easier and efficient.
Moreover, I hope to learn how to become a leader. In high-school, I’ve always lacked the
courage and dedication to be a dedicated member or position of a club, or fraternity, and I
hope through this I will become someone that can voice my opinions and thoughts, but also be
able to direct and lead a group of people.
Expanding on the subject of voicing my thoughts, I hope to become an effective communicator
cause I have always lacked social skills, until in recent years, and I hope to continue to improve
on it. I feel that through this service fraternity, I will be able to better my interpersonal skills.
All in all, Alpha Phi Omega feels like the right fraternity to join, as it really does match with my
ideals and morals. I hope that in the coming years in my college career, I hope that I will not
only better myself but the fraternity and those around me.
- Kolton Xie, PVL Fall '18
My favorite thing about Alpha Phi Omega are the people I’ve met through joining. Everybody
I’ve met has been super welcoming and friendly. Coming to a new school, I was scared I wasn’t going to be able to meet any people outside of classes and make any friends, but I’ve met and made a lot of friends through Alpha Phi Omega that I’ve really connected with. Having people to just say hi to around campus that you recognize even if you don’t know their name solidly yet really helps me get through my day. Obviously I’m getting to know my p-bros a lot better than the brothers to start off with, but all the brothers I’ve met at the bonding events have also been very helpful with either giving advice or approaching us first because it can be intimidating to just say hi to people you don’t know yet.
In the pledging process, I hope to learn how to better my time management and work on my leadership skills. I’m pretty poor at managing my time outside of classes so that is something I will have to adjust to because of the amount of time all the requirements take. I also wanted to work on my leadership skills because I feel like I can have the ideas in my mind with helping out any of our goals, but don’t have the ability to formulate into something constructive out loud. Speaking out is one of the hardest things to overcome for me personally, and I think throughout the pledging process I will be challenged to do that. Starting off, pledge team has called on us, but I hope to be able to speak out and volunteer my thoughts without them having to call us out. Pledging feels like it’s going to be a very tough process, but I know if I put in the effort, it will be worth it for sure.