There are so many activities to participate in on campus. With the great success of the Activities Fair last week, I hope you had the opportunity to sign up for a club that interests you. Clubs provide leadership skills, valuable networking, and, most importantly, a release from all the work at Rensselaer. Over the next few weeks, there will be a plethora of networking events to attend. You will have the opportunity to make many new friends and strengthen the relationships you have already made. I am, of course, speaking about greek recruitment.
Greek life can provide invaluable skills to anyone seeking a job or higher education. Within the house you choose, you will be encouraged to hold leadership positions and manage a number of peers. You will learn, through experience, how to motivate people to accomplish a goal using only incentives. This is a valuable skill, as throughout your career at Rensselaer you will be faced with many situations and class groups where you will not have the ability to change your teammates. Jim Collins wrote a book entitled “Good to Great,” wherein he describes how companies got, and I quote, “the right people on the bus.” This is a great book for any aspiring manager or student in a leadership role, but in my opinion, most situations do not always allow you to choose the right people for a project, and thus, you must learn how to get the best out of the people you have. At any greek organization, you face this challenge on a daily basis, gaining experience that will benefit you for life.
With the advent of the Internet in the ’70s and ’80s, we gained the ability to network with various people and resources across the country and world. I would argue, however, that the networking process begins with face-to-face interactions. Greek life provides a wealth of very successful alumni and peers that will facilitate your networking outside of RPI. The connections you make within a greek organization are far-reaching and can lead to better job placement. The statistics also show that the retention rate is higher than those of non-greeks.
Toga … Toga … Toga … ! It’s time to get a wakeup call. While greek life is often portrayed poorly in the movies and media, these stereotypes show little resemblance to greek life at RPI. The greek organizations at RPI are striving to become a standard of excellence for those at other college campuses nationwide. You will see, during recruitment, that all the events are well-planned and executed. The skills you will learn for event planning and management will equip you for a very successful career at RPI and beyond.
I encourage you to attend many recruitment events from a diverse range of houses. You will experience all greek life has to offer and you may find a house that suits your personalities and interests well. Keep an open mind and enjoy all the events that recruitment has to offer!
