When I started graduate school at CU last semester, I knew that I needed a group of friends and a support system. After the pandemic started during my junior year of undergrad, I had much less interaction with my friends and classmates, I became lonely, and my senior year became so much more difficult due to my poor mental health. I knew that if I was going to be successful in graduate school, I needed to find a group of like-minded students to spend time with and talk to when I’m stressed out.
When I talked to members of Theta Tau tabling outside the engineering building last semester, they told me that Theta Tau focuses on professionalism, community service, and brotherhood. They also talked about social events that happen throughout the semester, such as Bonfire and Retreat. Interested in joining, I went to multiple events during Rush Week, including Movie Night and the Alumni Panel to meet current members and find out more about the fraternity. I also went to the invite-only Pancake Party, where not only did I get to talk to more members one-on-one to get to know them better, they got to learn more about me, what I was interested in, and why I wanted to join Theta Tau. Days later, I officially received my bid to join, and I was officially a pledge in Theta Tau.
Over the course of the semester, I went to pledge meetings every week to learn more about the history of Theta Tau, as well as meet more members and my fellow pledges. My favorite memories of being a pledge, however, were the events. When Bonfire happened in October, I was under a lot of stress. I had just finished an exam the week before that was worth 40% of my final grade, and I was struggling to understand some of the theorems taught in my other class. When I went to Bonfire, I got to talk to my fraternity brothers about all the pressure I was under and how stressed I was feeling. Since I don’t normally vocalize how stressed I can get, it felt really good to talk to other people about everything I was going through. Overall, it was a really amazing experience that helped me feel better about all the things I was stressing about and it helped me bond with my brothers.
The other major event last semester was Retreat, where we go to the mountains and stay in a cabin for a weekend. It was really cool getting to spend an entire weekend with the fraternity and getting to know everyone a lot better. Getting dinner, playing card and board games, and hanging out at the cabin helped me really feel like I was part of a family of other engineering students.
Overall, I had an amazing experience as a pledge of Theta Tau last semester. I was recently initiated as an official member, and I am super excited that I have a group of friends and a support system during my graduate career. There are plenty of professional co-ed fraternities for various majors at universities across the country. If you have the opportunity to join a professional co-ed fraternity, it can be an amazing experience.