It is my pleasure to
be given this opportunity to write about how membership in Lambda Chi Alpha
continues well beyond the college years. You are to be commended for your
choice to continue your educational pursuits. I know that this is an exciting
time in your life with boundless new horizons and challenges. I am sure you
look forward to your future with great excitement.
In order to provide
you an idea of how membership in Lambda Chi Alpha benefits its members after
college, I first want to step back in time and provide you a summary of my
experience with this fraternity from the point that I was first contacted by
Lambda Chi Alpha. I graduated from Robert E. Lee High School here
in Montgomery in 1991. I found a mailing I received from Lambda Chi to be
interesting and decided to get in touch with the chapter. I quickly found a
friend who had just graduated with me, who was also going to attend AUM, and
who had also received the same mailing. We attended a recruitment barbecue –
I found that the members of the chapter were very nice to me and I quickly
felt comfortable among them. Later in
the summer, after attending a number of chapter activities, I received a bid.
I became an
associate member of Lambda Chi Alpha in September of 1991, along with 17 other
young men. I was given a quality "big brother" who did a great job
educating me about fraternal life. I quickly became interested in the
leadership opportunities within the chapter and, while still an associate
member, was elected as secretary of the chapter. I learned that another friend
who had "pledged" another fraternity was only treasurer of his
"pledge class." I wanted to impress the upperclassmen in the
chapter, with whom I really looked up to, and I put a lot of effort into
performing well as secretary. I was soon after approved for initiation by a
chapter vote and I was initiated into Lambda Chi Alpha in February of 1992.
The initiation
ritual really energized me. It was such a great experience that I wanted to
immediately go out and find others to initiate so that they could get the same
thrill. I assisted our chapter's recruitment efforts as best I could from that
day forward. Later that year, I was elected as the chapter's vice-president.
My opportunities in the chapter had really helped me develop better leadership
and social skills. I had the opportunity to meet several other students
through sorority swaps and other fraternity and campus events. As a result of
these things, and with the encouragement and support of my fraternity
brothers, I decided to get more involved in other campus organizations, such
as the student government. I first served in the student government as a
senator, and then I decided to run in a campus-wide election for student
government treasurer. I was elected as treasurer of the student government and
president of the fraternity at approximately the same time.
My time was
definitely getting crunched, but because of some of the skills I had developed
through membership in Lambda Chi, I was able to manage my time effectively and
maintain my leadership positions in the fraternity and on campus, while at the
same time holding down a part-time job and maintaining a 3.0 GPA. I later made
an unsuccessful attempt to get elected as student government president, but my
brothers supported me fully through the election. During the course of that
year, I also took advantage of some opportunities to get involved with our
international fraternity by applying for and later getting appointed as the
student representative for more than 20 Lambda Chi chapters in the southeast.
During this entire time as an active member, my chapter was being supported by
very helpful alumni volunteers. The contacts I made with our alumni members
helped me tremendously with networking opportunities later down the road.
After receiving my
degree from AUM, I decided that I was going to pursue a law degree. I
contacted a Lambda Chi alumnus who was an attorney, and whom I had gotten to
know while in undergraduate school at AUM, and he wrote a letter of
recommendation for me to include with my law school application. With the help
of his recommendation, I was later accepted to law school at Alabama. Upon
arriving at law school, I found at least six other Lambda Chis who were
attending law school who were from different chapters all across the
southeast. Since we all had Lambda Chi to bond us, we created our own support
and study group. Upon completion of law school, we all went our separate ways,
but we continue to maintain contact.
Today, I am back
home in Montgomery. After law school, I was admitted to the state bar and now
work as an attorney for our state government. Many of the things I learned
from my experiences through the fraternity continue to assist me in life.
However, as my life changes, one thing remains constant - my membership in
Lambda Chi. My experience as a member lives on as I have made countless
friends through the fraternity and we continue to support one another.
Approximately one year ago, I was chosen to serve as president of our
chapter's alumni association. I am proud of the fact that I have had the
chance to interact with the large majority of the close to 300 members our chapter has
initiated through the years. I continue to work with our active chapter's
members to make sure that my fraternity's young members will have the same
wonderful fraternal experience that I had, and continue to have. I have also
married and now have a young son, a toddler, whom I very much hope will choose
Lambda Chi Alpha as his fraternity when he enters college.
I share this story
with you to let you know that from the time you choose to enter our bond,
there will be countless opportunities for you, as there were for me, to better
your skills, and to prepare yourself for life. The main goal of Lambda Chi
Alpha is to prepare young men for the world they enter after college. It
certainly done that for me, and for that, I will always be indebted. To repay
that debt I'll continue to support Lambda Chi Alpha, to the best of my
ability, for the remainder of my life.
Sincerely,
Brian Hale, Phi-Kappa 151
Alumni Association President
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