“Wow, this is your frat house?”
Many parents heard this exclamation earlier this month as they toured Theta Chi’s fraternity house during Mother and Father Day.
Terron Chever, a new member of Theta Chi, said many parents were surprised by the size – and cleanliness – of the three-bedroom house on Morris Street. About 60 parents attended the event that started with a banquet in the University Student Commons and concluded with the house tour.
Ron Ortega, the fraternity’s vice president, said the banquet included an introduction from the fraternity’s president Sean Hu, a description of the pledging process and two slideshows.
“It’s like the best of both worlds. You have your fraternity family and your real family.”
-Terron Chever, Theta Chi
The presentations, Ortega said, showed the parents how much the fraternity had accomplished, adding that the parents were very impressed and left more secure in their sons’ involvement in the fraternity.
His mother, Annette Ortega, who attended Mother and Father Day, said she enjoyed meeting the brothers and other parents while learning more about the fraternity.
“I’ve been totally impressed with fraternity life,” she said.
Like many parents, Ortega’s mother said she thought that fraternity life was all about partying and drinking. However, through her son and the day’s presentations she learned more about the fraternity’s commitment to community service and its focus on grades. Now she said she gained more respect for fraternity life.
Ms. Ortega said the parents were treated very well during the day and they felt special because of the attention and the hard work the members put into the day.
“We wanted a song or something, but maybe next year,” she said.
For Chever, a junior humanities and sciences student, the best part of the day was having his mother there to share it.
“It’s like the best of both worlds,” Chever said, “You have your fraternity family and your real family.”
Still, Chever said the event conflicted with the Greek Games, which was also Sunday afternoon, so some of the brothers left Mother and Father Day to participate in the games.
“Unfortunately I didn’t get to make it to the Greek Games,” Chever said. “But I definitely missed it for a good cause.”