So you are thinking about joining a fraternity….

Hello. Josh Barna is the name, recruitment is the game. I am the current Vice President of Recruitment for the InterFraternity (IFC) Council here on Truman’s campus. One of the main functions of my job is to help potential new members find out anything they need to know about Greek Life here on campus before men’s recruitment starts September 6^th. So feel free to email me at jrb3782@truman.edu, look me up on Facebook, send me a Vine on twitter, send me a carrier pigeon, follow me home from work, or any other way you would like to get in contact with me. I can answer most questions or find you someone who can answer it.

If you are looking to more about fraternity life, you can go to http://ifc.truman.edu. If you want to sign up for men’s recruitment, click here to go to the sign ups. Signing up is free and by signing up early you will get reminders about upcoming important dates. Men’s recruitment run September 6th-13th.

Hope you guys are pumped for recruitment to start!

Additional Biographical Information: Josh is a senior from Troy Missouri, studying Journalism here at Truman. He is a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon and is the Promotions Manager for 88.7 The Edge the campus radio station. In his free time he likes long walks on the beach and taking pictures of his cat.

Ladies that are interested in going GREEK can pick up a fall 2013 recruitment booklet for the CSI Office. For incoming students, they are available at the Orientation tables. Panhellenic Recruitment Team and Gamma Chis will also be passing them out in August when all students are back. For more questions about Panhellenic Recruitment, please visit their website at: http://panhellenic.truman.edu. Click here to directly sign up for Panhellenic Recruitment.

We are so excited to introduce our summer staff, Brooke Daly and Dan Condra. These students will be at all Summer Orientations to answer questions. We look forward to meeting you!

Brooke Daly is a Senior Communication, pre-MAE student with the goal of becoming an elementary school teacher.  In her sorority, she is the Panhellenic Delegate, but her official title is the Vice President of Internal Recruitment.  Unfortunately, she cannot share her Greek affiliation with you until after Yell-In because she has disaffiliated from her sorority due to her role in recruitment.  She joined the Greek community here at Truman State because it is a place where she feels comfortable expressing herself through leadership, academics, and friendships.  In her free time, she likes to be outdoors or with friends; she’s a big fan of the hiking trails at A Thousand Hills State Park!

Dan Condra, is a member (and current treasurer) of Alpha Kappa Lambda Fraternity.  He is a junior studying accounting and economics.  In his free time he loves to play volleyball on the Men’s Club Volleyball Team.  He plays the outside position, and as president of the team he also acts as coach.  Besides Volleyball, he likes to hang out with all his friends that he has made at  Truman.  He loves playing video games with Nintendo 64 being his favorite system and Super Smash being his favorite game.  His favorite food is seafood, and he highly recommends the sushi place up at the square.  His favorite movies are comedies with Anchorman being his number one film.  He is a proud a member of Greek Life at Truman State University, and hopes that his time as summer staffer can help answer any new students’ questions as well as help strengthen the Greek community.

Greek Life note: As we mentioned earlier, we will have several students blogging over the summer about their individual Greek Life experience. Our first student is Shallen Dautenhahn.

Hello! My name is Shallen Dautenhahn.  I am a senior from Kansas City, studying Business Administration and Music here at Truman. I was asked to write about my experiences of deciding to GO GREEK to help others figure out what might be right for them. Don’t worry, I will tell you all you need to know in time but first, let me tell you a little bit about how I decided to GO GREEK:

I was a sophomore and had recently joined a professional fraternity for women. After a business meeting one day, I was approached by some older members that I did not too know well since I had just joined the organization.  All I knew about the two girls is that they were best friends.  They said “hey, we really like all the things you bring to this organization, and we think you should rush a social sorority.”

My thought initially was “What is a social sorority? And why would I want to be in one?”

Since starting college I had stayed within my comfort-zone.  I came to Truman with my best friends from high school; I was in this professional organization with one friend, and in marching band with two of them.  I thought about the social sorority invitation for a few days.

The only people I knew besides these two girls that were involved in Greek Life were a few people that were in my Truman Week class.  I liked all the Greek people I knew, but it wasn’t enough to convince me that Greek Life was the way to go.

After thinking, I went through Recruitment the following week.  I am a shy person, so to go through by myself was a feat in itself.  I was shocked at how much fun I had! I didn’t know anyone, but I made instant friends.  I didn’t think anyone would like me, and I also thought they might think I am weird.  At the end of the week, I got my bid.   I was ecstatic that I opened up to a group of essentially strangers, and they accepted me for who I am.

I was proud to join Sigma Chi Delta in spring 2011, and have had many opportunities for leadership ( I am currently the President).  Not only do I love Sigma Chi Delta, I love Greek Life and all the opportunities this community has to offer.  I believe that there is a place for everyone in Greek Life; you just have to find the right home for you and open your heart and mind.

I look forward to sharing more of my story throughout the summer.

“Happiness depends on ourselves,” Aristotle

Shallen

It’s summer time in Kirksville which means we are excited to meet all the incoming students, and plan for an awesome 2013-2014 school year.  If you are visiting this page, we hope that you find all the resources to help you learn more about Greek Life at Truman State University. But if you don’t, you can always contact us by email at greeklife@truman.edu, on Facebook at Truman Greek or on Twitter @TrumanGreek.

To also help you get a better feel for Greek Life at Truman State, we will a few current student who will be adding posts through the summer so you can hear about their experiences here on campus. We asked them to really reflect how “Going Greek” has impacted their time at Truman so please keep in mind that the views that they express are their own.

Have a great summer and we hope to see you going through recruitment in the fall! And, don’t forget you can contact us: by email at greeklife@truman.edu, on Facebook at Truman Greek or on Twitter @TrumanGreek.

Congrats to all of the recent Greek graduates!!!

If you have any pictures from graduation you want to share send them in to greeklife@truman.edu! For more visit us on Facebook.

Congratulations (sorry, this is a bit overdue!) to our December and January Greeks of the Month!

Kayla Tigges of Sigma Kappa
-Junior
-IM Chair , Vice President of Philanthropic Services.
-I joined a sorority because I wanted to join a sisterhood like my Mom did during college.
-I enjoy being greek because I always have a support system in my academic endeavors and in my personal life.
-I have impacted the Greek community by working hard to make every event I am involved in a success.
-A fun fact about myself is that I live on a golf course and I am obsessed with twitter.

Zach Burklunk of Beta Theta Pi
-Senior
-I joined a fraternity to have the opportunity to invest my time with like-minded individuals and endeavor to better myself as a man. The thing I like most about being Greek is being part of a larger acting Greek Life body the strives to better not only Truman’s campus, but the greater Kirksville community as well.
-I feel I have positively impacted the Greek community through my term as president working to better the campus environment, and through my internship with University Tees with which I supply the community with affordable custom apparel!
-Favorite midnight snack: Hostess Swiss Rolls

Megan Zehlart of Alpha Gamma Delta
- Year – Senior
- Position – Alpha Gamma Delta President
- Why did I join: I initially joined for the friendships and the opportunities, upon meeting the women in Alpha Gamma Delta I discovered that they are honestly the most genuine and wonderful women I have ever met. I am incredibly proud to have them as my sisters.
- What do I enjoy most: I thoroughly enjoy all the people I have met through the Greek community and the opportunities that I have been given to do service both on and off the Truman campus.
- Fun Fact: I got a motorcycle last summer and I absolutely love to ride it!

Alex Thrasher of Phi Lambda Phi
- Sophomore
- Treasurer
- I saw how close people were in Greek life, even between organizations, and I wanted to be a part of that.
- Seeing someone from Greek life I know almost everywhere.
- I feel that everyone who joins Greek and participates in any philanthropic event has had a positive impact in the community. Get involved!
- I love to mountain bike.

Last month at Delta Sigma Theta’s event, Stigmas, Stereotypes, and Labels, a few non-Greek students said they feel as though Greeks are not as visible as they should be on campus or out in the community. This stirred mixed feelings among the Greek students who were present at the event. Some Greek students were eager to learn of different ways they could better appease the Greek students. While there were some Greek students who wanted the non-Greek students to understand that outside of planning events, school, and maintaining the other extra-curricular activities that they are involved in, it is very challenging to always be out in the campus community building relationships with their fellow peers and doing service outside of what their respective organizations require. I am writing this blog to encourage all of the Greek organizations to think about how do you want your respective Greek organizations and Greek Life as a whole to be perceived by the campus community. As Greeks, we must remember that we are LEADERS. We were given the opportunity to become a member of our Greek organizations to make a difference and serve a purpose that is larger than ourselves. I also want to charge everyone with the Greek Life Mission Statement:

With real life just around the corner, how will you market your sorority or fraternity experiences when you enter into the job search? How much should you assume your employers know about Greek Life when composing your professional resume? These questions and more are answered in an article recently published by the Association of Fraternity and Sorority Advisers entitled: ”Helping Students Highlight Their Fraternity/Sorority Experience in the Job Search.”

This is a brief article with many suggestions on how to give your fraternity/sorority professional credit, and how to appropriately market your Greek accomplishments.

You may access the article by following this link: http://afa1976.org/Portals/0/documents/Essentials/Helping%20Student%20Highlight%203.13.pdf

Enjoy!

Brandon Whitmore
Lead Greek Life Intern

Have you ever needed help getting home at night? Or needed an interruption during an uncomfortable situation? Now, there is an app that can help you during these potentially dangerous circumstances. Circle of 6 is a free app that can connect you with your friends to stay safe and prevent violence before it happens. It makes it quick and easy to reach the 6 friends you choose. There are four icons that represent actions, so no one can tell what you’re up to. The car icon sends a message to your circle of friends that says, “Come get me. I need help getting home safely.” A map using GPS is also sent to show your circle exactly where you are. The phone icon sends a message saying, “Call and pretend you need me. I need an interruption.” This is a great excuse to leave an uncomfortable situation. The chat icon is for when you need some advice. A message is sent that reads, “I’m looking up info about healthy relationships and respect. Just letting you know.” There will also be links to loveisrespect.org and whereisyourline.org. This keeps your circle aware of what’s on your mind without asking for immediate action. The last icon is an exclamation point that can be used when you are in a critical situation. This has pre-programmed national hotlines and a local emergency number that you can customize. Overall, this app allows you to let your circle of friends know where you are and how they can help with just two touches on you iPhone. All college students should download this app because you never know when you might need immediate help from your friends. Check it out at http://www.circleof6app.com/ !

Tess Coyman – Health and Wellness Intern