Day of Observation

Since living at the Alpha Tau Omega house, I have seen the good and the bad of everything. But because I did not want to judge my observations solely on those experiences, I sat down for a good twenty to thirty minutes outside of the house and some thoughts and observations came to mind. First, I thought about how the university has been asked by the donors of the William T. Young Library to tear our house down to allow there to be beautiful green space surrounding the multimillion dollar building. The Alpha Tau Omega house has been at 341 Hilltop Avenue since the 1950’s. The house has seen many changes to its surroundings, from a neighborhood and a pond, to present with a parking structure and K-lair. There is a lot of history within the walls of the ATO house and it is spoken through the alumni. It just seems unfair for the same alumni to not come back to this house. Although I will agree that there comes a time to move on, but there is also a right way to do that. Furthermore, many of the fraternity houses are either being moved or have already been moved further away from the students and classrooms. Our location makes us unique as an organization. For some people, we are the first building they see in the morning and those can really be lasting memories. Along with looking at the house and the library, I noticed the wide variety of students that attend this fine university. Some of which are walking with friends maybe from school or maybe new friends they just met, but on the other hand, you have the kids who walk alone, in solitude, maybe enjoying the sweet sounds from their IPod. Realizing the differences in students walking to class made me realize why organizations, such as the Greeks, can be such a positive in a young person’s life. I personally wanted to meet new people and be able to start new relationships. I knew that I would always have my friends from high school but being able to meet an assortment of characters and personalities has been somewhat of a blessing in some cases. On the other hand, I realize that sometimes the Greek system is not exactly what people are looking for in their college experience, but that does not mean they cannot have the same experience I do. Usually my day consists of rushing out the front door to get to class, but having the time to sit back and take in some of the things that college gives us was surprisingly relaxing and gave me the opportunity to see how far I have come in only a year and almost a half.