By Tyler Margaretten
During my rush process, one brother told me that I’d make my best friends in AKPsi. I’d glean professional skill sets, prepare for the adult world, make memories, and develop a family.
I wondered about that last line. I knew I’d get new ‘brothers,’ but how deep did that bond go? How much would my Tulane career be affected by the people and organization I’m seeking to join? Well, anonymous reader, AKPsi makes all the difference.
After joining AKPsi, campus shrunk in only the way our fraternity can do for a student. The friendships we cultivated as a pledge class and as a brotherhood spilled over into every life and I saw AKPsi in everything I did. Going to see a local TED Talk? My brothers are speaking. Want to see a live band on the weekend? My brothers are performing. Is it your first day at the new internship? My brothers are in management. While being surrounded by AKPsi, my brothers truly became my family – a home away from home. A way to see New Orleans in a sense that yes, we all did belong there.
This is the most evident during the big/little part of the fraternity. Every pledge gets a “big” to guide them through the pledge process, and though you only have one “big,” you can take multiple “littles.” This makes a weird, but amazing family within a brotherhood and mine can’t be better. One of my favorite memories is when I had family dinner at my house for Thanksgiving. No, my parents didn’t come – this was for my AKPsi family. Everyone brought a dish, and my little even commandeered my kitchen for eight hours to make homemade gumbo. We had to push all the furniture out of the way for everyone to fit in my small house. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and I spent it with my favorite people.
When you’re new to Tulane and new to New Orleans, life isn’t always the easiest thing in the world. Luckily for me, the last few years I’ve surrounded myself with a new family. My fam has been the best part of my AKPsi experience and Tulane would be very different without them.
About the Author:
Tyler Margaretten is a rising senior at Tulane University from Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, double majoring in Finance and Entrepreneurial Management. He has been a member of the Pi Chi Chapter for five semesters and has held the position of Social Chair on the Officer Board. On campus, Tyler is a proud brother of Alpha Kappa Psi, an intern and tour guide for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, Vice President for Finance for the Undergraduate Student Government, Director of Site Operations for Crawfest, a member of the Model UN team, and does research on foreign IPOs in the US for the business school. He loves eating and swimming, especially at the same time.
