This Spring semester I decided to go out and participate for Phi Alpha Delta’s recruitment. Phi Alpha Delta is a Co-ed Fraternity that is pre-professional and Pre-Law oriented. I wasn’t sure if I would join at first, but I went to the interest meeting and they spoke a lot about professional development and a lot of other aspects that I thought could help tremendously with life after College. After that, I decided that it would be fun to at least go to the recruitment events they held.
The first event was to meet the brothers, and I was beyond nervous. I walked into a room filled with brothers and knew no one. Although that didn’t change the fact that absolutely everyone was eager to meet all the potential new brothers. We spent about a minute talking to each of the brothers, asking silly questions and just getting to know their majors and hometowns and whatever else you can think of. Everyone was so genuinely eager to meet and get to know us. I walked away having met so many brothers that I almost couldn’t remember who was who. I was so eager to go and hang out the next couple of nights though. For the week of recruitment, I went home and reported how excited I already was about the organization.
Once we got through recruitment, we were encouraged to do a couple things as we were being newly initiated. One being dates with brothers, which for me was the most exciting. I loved talking to the brothers one on one and genuinely getting to know them all. I learned a lot about who they were. It was nice to see that most people were involved in so many other things on campus. I loved this mostly because I am involved in a lot of things on campus myself, and to see others who are equally driven was so reassuring. It made me feel even more at home.
As for professional developments and events we partook in, I think I had three things that I loved the most. I loved our professionalism day. Our professional development chair did such an amazing job with this event. Phi Alpha Delta had so many amazing speakers take time to talk to us, as well as promote other professional aspects like headshots. I listened to one of the JMU professors who spoke about how internships can aid in your career directory, and it was honestly incredible. It’s nice to start to hear these things so early on in my college career and having other college age kids looking into similar career paths really helps with that. Another event I really loved was retreat. Each semester we promote brotherhood by gathering everyone together and doing a bonding event. This semester we went camping. Everyone was so out of their element, but it made us bond so much more. It was amazing to see everyone around the campfire and singing songs and getting closer with each other. Lastly, I loved participating in “The Big Event”. A lot of different organizations took part in this, but as an organization we fixed a playground for Bridgewater Christian School. Being a part of a brotherhood that also prioritizes giving back to their community is so important to me. It’s nice to see a bunch of them put their weekend on hold for a couple hours and put in hard work for something greater.
I love being the PAD brotherhood. It truly is a group of like-minded individuals who are promoting moves to work in professional settings, from learning to dress appropriately, to meeting local attorneys. They work hard to create a close-knit group of friends. You truly get what you put in. Its worth going to events and taking the time to get to know people. If you’re looking for a home within JMU, I recommend checking out Phi Alpha Delta, not everyone in PAD is pre-law, and we have so many people with so many different majors that it really could be home for anyone. Being a brother has been a great investment as well as a great time with great people.