Service, professional fraternities teach leadership, friendship

Leadership, opportunities, great friendships and community service.

These are mottos of the various service and professional fraternities at IU, and now is the time to get involved. While the involvement fair has already passed, students can still join.

Alpha Kappa Psi is a business fraternity, with about 80 current members. Their recruitment is mainly focused in the Kelley School of Business, and they target primarily freshmen and sophomores majoring or minoring in business.  

The business fraternity uses the first three weeks of each semester to recruit prospective students, but students can still contact Alpha Kappa Psi to become a member. They also hold call-out events such as guest speakers said Zach Clary, vice president of membership for Alpha Kappa Psi.

“Our main focuses are brotherhood, community service, professional and development,” Clary said. “Our community service has been with Boys & Girls Club, Adopt-A-Highway and the Senior Citizen Center.”

Members strive to find people who want to get involved in the fraternity and give time to the community, Clary said. Alpha Kappa Psi’s mottos states: “The men and women of Alpha Kappa Psi reflect the world’s diversity and are united by a common interest in business and other related fields.”

Another fraternity focuses on community service. The national service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega consists of about 100 members striving to reach their goal of 4,000 hours of service each semester.  

“It’s a great way to meet people and get involved on campus,” said Alpha Phi Omega President Andrew Schwenker. Any male or female student is welcome to join as long as they fulfill the community service requirements.

Battle of the Bands is their big charity event and all of the proceeds will be given to underprivileged children’s groups, said Schwenker. Low-income schools will have the chance to experience the Wonderlab Children’s Museum located in downtown Bloomington.

Some service fraternities are often overlooked because they are much smaller. Gamma Phi Omega, for example, is part of the Multi-Cultural Greek Council with only three active members, but they still have managed to stay focused on their semester goals and events.

“I joined my sorority for the cultural aspect of it all because it’s a lot smaller sisterly bond,” said Jessica Garcia. “Academic excellence is our biggest goal followed by community service and sisterhood.”  

Zeta Phi Beta is another service fraternity active, but consists of only nine members.

“We gear towards quality, not quantity,” said member Chantal Rawlins.  

Zeta Phi Beta volunteers in the community with their big event 12 Days of Christmas Baskets. They also give their time to Middleway House, Community Kitchen and March of Dimes. Rawlins said they have one day out of the week set aside for community service for different kinds of organizations.