Settled around a bonfire in the backyard of Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity last weekend, University of Idaho junior Adam Quintana taught visiting high school students Ethan and Brandon what fraternity life at UI was really about.
“It was a good time for them to see that it”s not all about partying,” Quintana said. “We don”t have to party to have fun.”
Alpha Kappa Lambda hosted four visiting students over the weekend of UIdaho Bound. Although Quintana was only able to get to know Ethan and Brandon, he said the other men in his fraternity thought they were all cool future Vandals.
Visiting students have the opportunity to spend one or two nights in a UI fraternity or sorority house during UIdaho Bound. The purpose of this is to give prospective students a taste of what Greek life is like at the university, Quintana said.
UIdaho Bound overlapped with the end of Greek Week, so on Friday many sororities and fraternities brought visiting students to the Memorial Gym to witness the Greek God and Goddess competition. On Saturday students got the chance to participate in Greek Carnival as well.
The men visiting Alpha Kappa Lambda were also brought to multiple socials with Kappa Delta, one of Alpha Kappa Lambda”s partners for Greek Week. Quintana said this gave the students a chance to interact with women in UI”s Greek system.
“We decided to do a barbeque for that night with them, so that they could kind of see, you know like, hang out with girls, see what college is kind of like when you do social events with another house,” he said.
Sophomore Sydney Giacomazzi, vice president for membership recruitment at Alpha Phi, said she noticed that most of the Greek houses interacted often during the weekend.
Alpha Phi hosted 10 women overnight during UIdaho Bound, Giacomazzi said. Along with Greek Week events, the visitors participated in a social with Beta Theta Pi where they met other potential Vandals and learned swing dancing from some of the fraternity men. She said after a while, people from other houses started to join in on the fun.
“Everyone got to like, interact with each other, and it was more than just our house and Beta,” Giacomazzi said. “It ended up being like a whole sort of Greek collage of people.”
Aside from participating in events with Greek life, men and women in UI”s Greek system also strived to get to know the visiting students on a more personal level. Giacomazzi said the first night the women stayed over they put a projector up in their formal area and watched movies with their visitors.
Quintana had the chance to stay overnight at a fraternity when he was a visiting student at what was then known as Vandal Friday. Although he spent both his nights at Alpha Kappa Lambda, he said he spent a few hours at Phi Delta Theta as well. He said he felt comfortable in both houses, and like the men there were interested in him as a person rather than his 4.0 GPA.
When Quintana became an official UI student and decided to rush, he said his experience staying with Alpha Kappa Lambda and Phi Delta Theta influenced his decision about where he wanted to spend his years at the university. Although both fraternities encouraged him to visit other houses, he said he wished he and other visiting students had the chance to become as immersed in life at multiple houses as he did at Alpha Kappa Lambda during his Vandal Friday experience.
Giacomazzi said the time students spend visiting houses overnight can create a bias during recruitment, but that also depends on the tone each house sets for their visitors. She said she thinks most houses understand that UIdaho Bound is not early Greek recruitment.
“Before anything, we want them to go to U of I and go Greek,” Giacomazzi said.
Erin Bamer can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @ErinBamer