Last to Pledge

Alpha Phi Omega Pledge Invitation

This morning my mom handed me a bunch of old paperwork from my undergrad days at Georgia Tech. It was full of schedule requests, class schedules and fee requests. I even found a scrap of paper that had my username and password to the lumbering mainframe computer system. I still remember being fascinated with the online community available to me on those monochromatic green monitors! My track through Ma Tech had me showing up as an undeclared with my dad pressing me to go EE, but alas my brain wasn’t good with circuitry. While it was pretty good with programming I ended up taking the easy ride out in the College of Archi-Torture and promptly ran off to join the circus that is the world of filmmaking.

But this morning I spied something amidst the pile of paperwork that made my heart stop for a second… it was an invitation to pledge the Georgia Tech chapter of Alpha Phi Omega!! Here’s the full text of the invitation:

Alpha Phi Omega
Gamma Zeta Chapter – Georgia Institute of Technology
P.O. Box 32714, Atlanta, Georgia 30332

April 2, 1986

Dear Student,

You are cordially invited to Alpha Phi Omega’s Spring Rush. Alpha Phi Omega is a co-ed National Service Fraternity based on the principles of leadership, friendship, and service. Our activities include sponsoring the Ugly Man On Campus Contest, sponsoring an Inner city Boy Scout Troop, running Student Credit Card Days, and several other service and social events on campus and in the city. If you are interested in developing leadership skills, making new friends, and helping others, Alpha Phi Omega could be the group for you to get involved in.

We will be having the following Rush activities:

Ice Cream Social – Thur. April 10, Brittain Tea Room, 7:00 P.M.
If you live on West Campus there will be several APO Brothers at the Commons Area at 6:45 to meet you and walk over to the Ice Cream Social with you.

Movie Night – Fri . April 11, meet at the Student Center 2nd floor main entrance at 6:30 P.M.

Beach Party – Sat. April 12, Area I Courtyard (East Campus between Glenn, Towers, and Harrison). The party starts at 5:00 P.M.

Please feel free to come to any of these events to learn more about our organization.

Yours In Service,

Rebecca Tanner
V.P. of Membership, Gamma Zeta Chapter
Alpha Phi Omega

P.S. On Sunday April 13, we will be having a Rush Service Project. We will be making telephone calls for the Georgia Tech Foundation from 6 to 9 P.M. Meet at the APO room at 5:30 P.M.

Excellent in Leadership, Friendship and Service

Holy Crap. After all these long years of having felt like an outsider to the fraternity scene I suddenly realized that I could have been one of them! Now I will admit to using the term “frat boy” in a derogatory fashion from time to time, but during my time at Tech I knew several quite outstanding fraternity brothers and have known many more over the years who are all super people (this is me buttering all of my greek friends up for the next paragraph).

So what I’m wondering here is if there’s any way for me to respond to this invitation now, practically 28 years later. I think that I have a lot to bring to the table: I’m good at hanging onto ancient documents, I host several well-regarded events every year, I own my own vehicle, I’m proficient in Microsoft Word and I still have my login for OSCAR and FELIX.

If any of you would be so kind as to forward this to the fine folks at Alpha Phi Omega I would be appreciative. I would also be interested to know any tips you might provide on how things have changed on campus, as I have seen the movie Old School and am aware that I’ll have some catching up to do.

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