By Esmeralda Rivera

With a new semester and an entirely new class of students, all 30 of Stockton’s Greek-letter organizations appeared at the Campus Center for Fall 2023’s Meet the Greeks, an event where students can get to know all the fraternity and sorority members on campus. It gave students an opportunity to make personal connections with the members and lose any intimidation or nervousness about meeting them.

Students were able to meet all sorts of members from different cultures. The Inter-fraternity Council sports 9 different fraternity chapters, the National Panhellenic Conference has 6 sorority chapters, the National Pan-Hellenic Council, or Divine Nine, holds the 9 Historically Black fraternities and sororities, and the Unified Cultural Greek Council has 6 Multicultural and Latin fraternities and sororities. There are also two non-social, co-ed fraternities, Alpha Phi Omega (co-ed service fraternity), and Delta Epsilon Mu (co-ed Pre-Health fraternity). With different groups and different traditions, students could see the diversity that Greek life has to offer.

During the Fall semester, freshman students aren’t able to go out for recruitment, since there is a Stockton GPA requirement of 2.5 for potential new members. They will be able to do it in the Spring. Meet the Greeks helped freshmen get to know the organizations and know for sure if they want to enter recruitment by the time Spring rolls around. Transfer students are able to go out for recruitment this semester, so Meet the Greeks gave them the chance to sign up for recruitment that night.

Kim McClair, a junior studying Criminology, felt very connected to the Divine Nine sororities. McClair stated, “D9 [Divine Nine] is a way for Black students, particularly in a PWI, to find a brotherhood or a sisterhood that they can dive into and make friends and connections out of college. I think it’s a great way to network and build long-term friendships.”

Rowena Adeclat, who is a freshman Criminal Justice major, was also given a change of perspective on Greek life after meeting the members. “When I walked in, I did try to hear them out, and it has made me want to join a sorority,” she said. “I know the volunteer service that they do and the connections are really good and beneficial. I really want to help people.”

The conversations PNMs had with the members opened their eyes to what Greek Life really is about. While at first, many of the guests were intimidated and nervous, they soon grew comfortable and realized that talking to a Greek member is simply talking to one of their fellow students at Stockton.

Julia Ricci, a third-year Dance major, is a returning student at Stockton but started exploring Greek life this year. “It was nice getting to meet people, make connections, and talk to everyone!” she remarked. Accompanying her was Isabella Delgato, a sophomore studying Health Science, who said, “I thought meeting all the Greek life was really nice and eye-opening to what their philanthropy does.”

Ana Edmondson, the Assistant Vice President for Student Transition Access and Retention, was present at the event, being a sister of Omega Phi Beta. “I think that this program turned out to be a success, the room is vibrant, the energy is electric, and I’m hoping that the culture [shifts to] where we see more students come out to join these Greek organizations, be leaders, and to be the change on their campus,” she said.

Tri Delta (@tridelta_stockton), Tri Sigma (@trisigmastockton), Delta Phi Epsilon (@stocktondphie), Zeta Tau Alpha (ztastockton) and Sigma Delta Tau (sigdeltstockton) are the only NPC (@stocktonpanhel) sororities participating in Fall recruitment. All the IFC (@stockton_ifc), D9 (@stocktonnphc), UCGC (@ucgc_stockton), and service chapters are open for Fall recruitment. Follow all the chapters on Instagram to learn more information!