Waking up in the morning, getting ready for that dreadful 8 a.m., but I think I'll stay in bed for a little while longer to catch up on my social media. Scrolling through twitter, a tweet from TFM states that another fraternity is getting shut down at a college campus. Later hearing about all the criticisms of Greeks as a whole. Whether it is Will Ferrell talking about how disappointed he is and believes that fraternities should be banned all together or any media only showing the negative aspects. The media has been extremely cynical towards many chapters over the past few weeks by only showing the "bad" of any given situation.
What happened to the praise for the philanthropic events that Greeks have contributed to? What happened to the success that Greeks have been known for with higher GPAs than the college as a whole?
This past week was Greek Week 2015 at Iowa State. Competitions and community service overwhelmed everyone's lives for the past days. From the inbox consuming emails to go donate blood to the non-stop "woo girls" at Vespers, I am insanely proud to say that I am Greek. We learned why the four pillars of any Greek community are so important. Leadership, scholarship, service, and brotherhood/sisterhood are what have shaped our small community into a huge success. When has any of these four pedestals been shown in any type of media?
A recurring event during Greek Week is Polar Bear Plunge; raising money towards the Special Olympics of Iowa. People may think at the time that they are just raising money to help their pairing win, but looking past the competitive side, Greeks completed something truly amazing this past week that deserves to be recognized.
$186,475 dollars was raised by the ISU Greek Community towards the Special Olympics of Iowa, the largest single donation to the cause in history. Where is the praise for this incredible action by greeks?
But wait, thats not all. Blood Drive. Iowa State Blood Drive serves as the second largest blood drive in the nation. How much of the donors are part of the Greek community? 70%.
The amount of good from Greeks is unbelievable to me, sitting through Vespers (Greek Grammy's) and hearing of all the accomplishments of our fellow Greeks proves that there is so much more to being Greek than what is being shown in media.
It's time that Greeks gain back the respect that we all know we deserve. The media can say what they want, but they can't take away the true and sincere accomplishments of this one-of-a-kind community.