I'll begin this article with one word: Stereotypes. Stereotypes are, for the most part, when people (including sometimes, admittedly, myself) make snap judgments about a certain person or groups of people. These are based strictly off of the things we've heard about a group/classification of people or things. Unfortunately, more often than not, these types of "things we hear" are often negative. However, does that mean that people should automatically assume everyone they see that falls into one of these categories fulfills these stereotypes, without giving themselves a chance to see who the person truly is? I would suppose that the aim of this article then, would be to give perspective. I would like for people to at least make an effort to try and formulate their own opinions of a person based on that person's actions, not from what they've heard.

That being said, I am writing this article about one of my best friends, and one of the people I have always known I could look up to and go to for help. That person is my older brother, who until recently was an Executive member of the Zeta Phi Chapter of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity at Colorado State University. Prior to his graduation last spring, he and a group of other members who were graduating were transferred to alumni status. Before he joined Pi Kapp in the Fall of 2012, I can certainly say that my knowledge of fraternity life extended no further than what I had heard from people or seen in movies; stereotypes of drinking, sex, parties, basically what many would consider the "fun" parts of college. My lack of knowledge about what fraternities really do caused me to make snap judgements then about various "frat boys" I would see on campus without saying much more "Wow, look at that douchebag." While I am not proud to admit this, it is the honest truth. However, over the past 3 years of being educated through my older brother as to what fraternities truly do for other people, and through actually meeting and spending time around his fraternity brothers, I have been able to make my own opinions as opposed to simply making judgements based on what others have said. Now, this does not mean that all fraternities are without stereotypes. In fact, as quoted from my brother "Even I can heavily fulfill stereotypes and openly admit that there are a lot of fraternities that DO fit into the stereotypes you hear. I don't ever want to advocate for people to ignore all stereotypes and appreciate fraternities as a whole, I just want to encourage people to try and ignore stereotypes and judge based on their own observations. I'd hate to see guys be scared of joining and miss out on a great opportunity just because of what they've heard about another fraternity across the campus who were a bunch of degenerates." Through doing exactly that, I have been able to formulate my own judgements and opinions about his fraternity (and in some part, many fraternities as a result), which I can honestly say are extremely different than the opinions I initially held before spending time around his chapter. Quite frankly, based on my experiences with meeting and spending small amounts of time around my older brother's fraternity, I have found that every single guy I myself have met from the Zeta Phi chapter has been one of the most friendly, polite, and overall genuinely nicest people I have ever had the good fortune of meeting. Have I met every member? Certainly not. I want to clarify again that the ones I have met though have held no small part in changing my initial opinions about fraternity members.

I would like to spend the second half of this article speaking about some of the things that Pi Kapp (specifically, the Zeta Phi chapter at CSU) does in terms of philanthropy and helping others. I wish to clarify that, while I am speaking exclusively about this specific chapter, I am quite sure that Pi Kappa Phi as a national fraternity is involved in the same type of philanthropy. Prior to learning for myself what they do and have done for others, I honestly had no idea that fraternities and sororities were so heavily involved in various philanthropic activities to increase awareness and overall try and help give someone a better life. Many of Pi Kapp's members at CSU regularly volunteer their time on a weekly basis at Fort Collins Respite Care (similar to a daycare for children with disabilities) simply to spend time with the kids there and brighten their day by giving them someone to talk to and spend time with as well as by taking them to do activities such as bowling. They also will sporadically get together with other associations to participate in things like themed dances put together for people under the care of these associations. One of the most (to my knowledge) prestigious opportunities a Pi Kapp can have is to participate in the annual Journey of Hope bike trek across the United States in which 3 routes of 35 Pi Kappa Phi members from all over the country bike across the U.S. in an attempt to raise public awareness and spread a message of acceptance and understanding of people with disabilities. Recently, I spoke with one of my brothers roommates and good friends who was fortunate enough to participate in JOH during the summer of 2014 and through his explanations and stories, it was extremely evident that he had such a deep passion for the event and all that it stands for. In fact, he regularly spoke of how depressed he was for the first few months after he returned from the bike trek simply because he had become so accustomed to meeting with various associations and camps across the country who would tell him that their favorite part of the year was when "the Pi Kapps rode through town." Even if he was too humble to admit it, his passion and Pi Kapp's overall desire to raise awareness and understanding of people with disabilities greatly touched and continues to affect so many lives of people with and without disabilities around the country. One of my favorite stories he told was about a young girl with a disability who he had spent some time with during one of their scheduled stops, following the story with "that little girl made me want to have a daughter." While these are just a few examples of what the Zeta Phi chapter and Pi Kappa Phi as a whole does for others, it is incredibly evident that my initial judgements of fraternities was entirely wrong.

My hope for this article was never to simply glorify one specific fraternity or give them positive publicity. I simply viewed it as an outlet for me to express how and why people should not simply make judgements of others (fraternity members in particular) based solely on what they have heard from others, but rather to formulate their own opinions based on what they observe for themselves. The fact of the matter is, I am immensely proud every single time I get to talk about my older brother to other people and speak about the things he and his fraternity brothers have done for others and how they continue to positively affect so many lives through their philanthropic endeavors and through simply being exceptionally polite and kind people to myself and many of the people around them that I have observed for myself. All of this is why I can honestly say that my older brother is my hero.