I’ve always liked meeting different people. It’s more of an intense curiosity than extroversion, meeting people, that is, and I’ve consistently found myself communicating with people in different countries, of various backgrounds, with diverse stories.

In high school, my need for a mixture of people and opportunities led me to B’nai Brith Youth Organization (BBYO), an international youth organization with chapters across the United States, Canada, Israel, France, and numerous other countries. BBYO provided an outlet for me to attend and lead conventions across Florida, participate in trips to other countries and host community service events. Through BBYO, I lobbied in the White House, created holiday gift baskets for nursing homes, watched concerts and made some of my best friends. In fact, sometimes I run into other BBYO alumni and we exchange stories and chants that we learned throughout our high school years. But mostly, BBYO taught me how easy it was to make an impact, how important it was to give back to both the local and international community.

When I arrived at UF, I wanted not only friends to laugh with, to share secrets with, but friends who were in my same classes, and valued the community like I did. And I struggled to find that community Freshman year, rushing sororities in search of the bond I had with my BBYO sisters, testing out engineering clubs (yes, I once majored in engineering a long, long time ago) and playing my flute in random bands. Everything offered a little bit of what I was looking for—I found a community at Chabad (the Jewish student center on UF’s campus), a musical outlet in band, an academic outlet in my dorm common area and a social outlet during tailgates.

But it wasn’t until I rushed the co-ed professional business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi my Sophomore Year that I discovered the complete picture. Alpha Kappa Psi didn’t just give me the friends, the study partners, and people to tailgate with. It gave me professional skills—resume critiques, interview knowledge, public speaking skills, and networks I would never have gained just from sitting in class. It provided activities beyond partying, eating, and football games, showed me a different side of Gainesville. Within Alpha Kappa Psi, I have dressed up for fancy dinners, volunteered at Habitat for Humanity, Aces in Motion, and St. Francis House, connected with people in companies like Amazon, Comcast, and Accenture, slept on a beach, and had the opportunity to travel to Washington D.C., Chicago, New Orleans, and Atlanta.

As I said in the beginning, I love meeting different people. Alpha Kappa Psi is the oldest and largest professional business fraternity in the world, with a vast alumni network and endless opportunities. Its mission is to become the premier developer of principled business leaders, through the core values of brotherhood, service, integrity, unity, and knowledge. Our brotherhood stretches across the world, with over 240,000 members at 265 college campuses. Although Alpha Kappa Psi is a business fraternity, it is open to all majors. There are people with majors ranging from Finance to Biology to Psychology to Economics, and people on the Pre-Law, Pre-Med, and Pre-Dental tracks.

If you are interested in learning more, feel free to check out our Facebook Page. We are currently hosting our rush process through the beginning of January, and I added a picture of our event schedule below. I’d love to see you there!