This week’s Greek of the Week is Elias Fambro. He is a junior Accounting major from Rockford, Illinois. Elias is a Spring 2019 Initiate into the Gamma Iota Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated. Check out the rest of the article to find out more about Elias.
HC: Was there any times where you felt like being an Alpha wasn’t for you, and if so what held your motivation?
EF: The only thing that I can think of is just me. Certain times I would doubt myself. I’m not the most confident all the time. So when I was in the process of trying to become an alpha I used to just tell myself “maybe this isn’t for me”, “maybe I should do something else”, “maybe greek life isn’t for me”, “maybe im not fit for it or cut out for it”, but going through everything with the 19 other great men that I was brought in with and them encouraging me and loving me, and the great brotherhood we had just kept me going.
HC: What was your deciding factor when choosing alpha?
EF: Well I’m not a legacy or anything, so I didn’t know anything about Greeks. The Alpha’s moved me in and I just got to talking with them and I saw the brotherhood, and how they interacted with each other, and how they embraced me even if I was just another student. Not saying that all fraternities don’t do that, they’re all great, but I just really resonated with the alphas. I believe that Alphas are men of distinction, real gentleman, and reputations uphold themselves. I feel like I resonated with the alphas the best. Also, me being a bigger dude, not a skinny pretty boy, a lot of people expected me to be a Que or something else. But one thing that I wanted to prove was that I think the stigma that you have to look a certain way to be greek or in a certain organization is wrong. I wanted to be able to prove that. With joining the alphas, or being an alpha or any other fraternity, is that it’s a mindset and how you move as man. The ideals that you hold as a person and not how you look on the outside. I wanted to be that role model for other men who maybe “don’t look the part,” to remind them that they can do it too. I wanted to prove that to other people, the world, not just on Hampton’s campus.
HC: If you were not apart of Greek life what would you be doing?
EF: I would be doing the same thing that I was doing before. Being apart of other organizations like SLP, being Mister Midwest, Men’s Caucus, and the Senate. All of the things that I’ve been doing before and thriving in all ways possible.
HC: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
EF: Hopefully with a nice family, maybe not kids, but if it happens…it happens. Just settle down living a subtle life. I just want to make bread and take care of my family. As long as my family is good, I’m good. I just want to be able to provide for all of them.
HC: What is your favorite event your organization hosts?
EF: I think my favorite event we host is the Pink Bowl. My mom almost dealt with breast cancer and she got away from it, and the doctors thought she had it, but God blessed her. That point in time of life where we thought that was going down, it was real serious.I know I have friends whose family members have died from breast cancer and so I think the movement is very important to support. The whole month is important. And for us to all come together as one on campus, no matter what org you’re in or the type of person you are for a game of football. Little things like that to bring the campus together is why I love that event.
HC: What is the funniest memory with your line brothers?
EF: There’s so many great moments. But I think the funniest one was when we first got off line and it was our first Ice Cold Tuesday and I wore this really pink suit. It just looked so bad. When I go back it’s just like why did I wear that. My brothers clown me for it all the time, but I can’t even be mad at them, because it’s just like man, it looked so bad. It was so awful. I have a lot of brothers who are big on dressing and alphas are big on how you look and looking good. And that just wasn’t it and my brothers clowned me for it. I’ll never do that again.
HC: Has being Greek played any part in your dating life?
EF: I would hope not. When you become greek, especially on this campus, being greek is looked at as something so great. Of course women will come up to you and try to talk to you, but you never can tell why. There’s definitely been moments in my life where I’ve been like “yo I look the same, I have the same body, and I’m the same height” and now I definitely question the reason behind it. A lot of girls will talk to me that have never talked to me before. So it’s like why are you really talking to me? It’s always a question that I have in the back of my head, but at the same time I have to think, maybe that person has just never seen me before. Because now that I’m an Alpha my face is out there, or maybe they did see me, but they’re just now getting the confidence. You can’t just blame it on one thing. But there has definitely been moments where I’ve been skeptical.
HC: Who would you consider to be your favorite girl boss on campus?
EF: That’s hard to answer because I feel like there are so many great girl bosses here. I have plenty of friends who are girls bosses, but to name one specifically. Her name is Ariana Green. She is the owner of Ariana’s Canvas and she does hair. She is really good at her job. I’ve been friends with her since freshman year. But there are just so many girl bosses, it’s hard to pick.
HC: What would you say makes a girl boss?
EF: Just being about your business. You don’t need anybody to get what you need to get done. You don’t need someone else’s opinion or validation. You have your own thoughts and your own creativity. And you make it happen yourself. That’s just what makes you a boss. Being a boss is so attractive.
Follow Elias on instagram @yungg_renzel