Written for The Argo by Esmeralda Rivera

Ready to go Greek?

With an entirely new population of students replacing the Fall 2022 graduates, Stockton’s fraternities and sororities once again met in the Campus Center Event Room on January 19^th for students to introduce themselves. A crowd of PNMs lined up at the door to swipe their IDs and get to know the different organizations from the different Greek groups at Stockton. Stockton’s four Greek councils: the Unified Cultural Greek Council, the Interfraternity Council, the National Panhellenic Council, and the National Panhellenic Conference all put up tables with the most important information about their organizations so students could know about their philanthropies and siblinghood. Clusters of students were gathered all around the event room, talking with the brothers and sisters of Stockton.

Besides the social fraternities and sororities, there were also two co-ed service and professional fraternities. One is Alpha Phi Omega, dedicated to providing community service to nearby areas and leadership opportunities to members. The other is Delta Epsilon Mu, a pre-health fraternity that focuses on services related to the medical field. Both are organizations that students can join while being part of a social Greek-letter organization.

The PNMs attending the event seemed to instantly click with the organizations; the members hoped to make the non-members feel welcome and excited about joining. Stephen McCloud, a second-year Social Work major minoring in Cannabis, attended the event to get to know the different fraternities of Stockton. He commented, “The fraternities here are great. They all give you a lot of information, they tell you about the brotherhood, offer you connections. They said you can have fun, but they’re more about helping you exceed through life.”

Danielle O’Neill, a freshman majoring in Health Science, immediately signed up for the NPC sororities’ Spring Recruitment. She met “so many different sororities” and stated she felt that “all the girls were just so wonderful and nice and I just cannot wait to rush!” She had met them before in the Fall semester, but “meeting them again just really locked it in for me, and I was like ‘I really need to rush!’”

The Greek members themselves were satisfied, having met many new students. Chi Upsilon Sigma alumna Daniela Puerta from Stockton’s class of 2021 is excited to grow their sorority after many of its members graduated, including herself. She said, “I’m very excited that we have new members on campus, and there were a lot of great people to meet this semester.”

Another freshman Health Science student, concentrating in Pre-Communication Disorders, Julene Omar, is excited about her Stockton experience and also enjoyed her time with the sorority sisters. “The main reason I want to [rush] a sorority is because I didn’t love Stockton originally, so I feel like this is going to put me all in, 110%,” Omar said. “I’ve been hearing a lot of good things from all the girls, every girl was so nice… they all know how to make sure that you want to come here. They were all super sweet, I had a good time, and I’m happy I came!”

The Cussies actually acquired some new undergraduate members this semester, one of them being Leilani Moreno, a second-year Biology major and honor student minoring in Studio Art who holds a Forensic certificate. She is heavily involved in many other organizations on campus besides being a part of CUS. Some of her activities include being an Admissions Ambassador, a Financial Aid and Student Manager, an EOF student, and a member of Los Latinos Unidos (The United Latinos).

Christian Iosue, a third-year Business Management major in Sigma Pi, thought it was a good turnout for the semester, but felt that the event “wasn’t as promoted as it was last year, and they definitely should change up the tabling. Every social fraternity was jammed into a corner and all the sororities were packed in the back, so it wasn’t fair for the kids in a social fraternity who were stuck in a corner compared to the ones lined up [right] at the front of the door.”

He had a suggestion on how they could improve the organization at the next event, saying, “I feel like if they were to intermingle some of the fraternities and sororities, show the diversity throughout all of Stockton, that would benefit everybody.” In addition, he suggested they “offer food or drinks so we could give initiative for someone to come out.” This could be a good idea since every Stockton student knows that free food is the key to luring guests to events. Yum!

He also thought that having the event during the first week of the semester was disadvantageous, considering the students were busying themselves with their syllabi and first assignments, especially the new students acclimating to the school. In Fall 2022, Meet the Greeks took place on the second Thursday of school, September 15^th, instead of the first. This had also given the members more time to promote and prepare for the event.

All Greek organizations and councils will appear in the Get Involved Fair on Tuesday, January 24^th, and Wednesday, January 25^th from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The National Pan-Hellenic Council and the Unified Cultural Greek Council will also be holding their Spring Semester Yard Show on Thursday, March 2^nd. Hours are to be announced.