Disclaimer: I don’t give a damn if you think this is too emotional coming from a man in a fraternity.

To the family I didn't meet until college,

My time here is starting to wind down slowly and the small thought at the back of mind is becoming louder and louder reminding me that within the next year or two you won’t all be a day to day factor in my life and honestly it terrifies me beyond measure. It terrifies me because you all have woven yourself into the fibers of my heart, carved out a section for yourselves and the memories that we share in my character and you’ve all helped mold me into the person I am today and I can’t thank you all enough before our time together in college draws to a close.

I walked onto this campus my freshman year with no ties and little expectations about who I would meet and even less expectations about anyone on this campus having a lasting impact on my character and other aspects of my life. But you all surprised me, you didn’t enter my life until my second semester of college when I finally worked up the courage to approach you about becoming a part of your family and little did I know that I was about to enter into a process and an organization that would play such an immense role in reenforcing the values that I believe in, holding me accountable when I don’t hold myself to those standards to the best of my ability and in turn making me the best man that I can possibly be each day with new experiences and new challenges that we face together as a brotherhood.

I’m not going to pretend that we all get along every minute of everyday because we all know that’s complete bullshit. Yes, we’re a brotherhood and many people that have no clue about what our organization is about assume that we’re all the closest of friends 24/7 but we all know that’s a lie. We fight, we argue and there may be some days when I don’t even want to talk to a few of you but at the end of the day we all know that any of us would be there for a brother in need whether he realized he needs our help or not and I’ve seen notion reaffirmed time and time again as a brother of this fraternity. This is what we’re about, being a family with a bond so close that we have no problem calling each other out when we’re straying away from the values, standards and obligations that we all committed ourselves to when we were initiated into this organization. We are here to help each other grow into better men and better brothers. I’ve realized over my semesters as a brother in this family that it’s ok to be angry with each other every now and then because that frustration comes from the growing pains of pushing each other forward to become better men, something that our organizations prides itself on.

No matter how much shit Greek Life gets nationally or how many people talk badly about us on campus which boils down to them being jealous about the tight bond we share as members of this family; they’ll never be able to convince me that you all are not the best fraternity in my eyes because they don’t know you. They don’t know who you all are, they don’t know where you’ve been, the profound moments that have made you who you are and who you want to become. They don’t know the obligations we took and again ultimately they will never understand the bond that we share as brothers.

This bond that we share is close not just because we share the same values and have been through the same ceremonies but because we’ve also been through so much together and I’ve seen you all grow into the men you are today and I couldn’t be more proud to have played a part in helping making each of you into the men you have become and the character you will continue to develop throughout your whole life and I’m thankful that you’ve each had that same impression on my life. As my time here winds down I can’t thank you all enough for the memories we’ve made together, you’ll never know just how much they impacted me wether they were laughing together or arguing together; they all taught me valuable lessons on how to conduct myself and how to motivate others in my life. I can’t wait to see where you all go and where our chapter continues to go when we’ve all graduated and have started our post-grad lives and I’m assured that I’ll still be in contact because this isn’t, “for a day, or an hour, or a college term only, but for life.”

AEKDB boys,

Brooks