After over five months of establishing an image, one of the newest additions to Greek Life has felt success amidst the obstacles of being a new fraternity. The Texas A&M University- Commerce branch of Phi Iota Alpha Fraternity, Inc. has set its foundation on campus as a predominantly Latino fraternity promoting Pan-Americanism and cultural awareness.
A&M-Commerce Phiota President Edgar Ceron said the first months have not all been easy.
“At the beginning it was tough because people thought we were going to die out,” he said.
Fundraising chair, Hugo Macias, agreed but gave insight for the future.
“Of course as a new fraternity, we’re trying to establish ourselves, raise funds as much as we can, and we’re trying to kind of get a feel for it,” Macias said. “I feel like if we plan it with enough time, being a new organization, everything will just fall into place.”
The fraternity has a primary goal to promote cultural awareness.
“We want to bring cultural awareness because we feel sometimes that not a lot of people know about different cultures,” Macias explained. “So our mission and our objective is to promote Pan-Americanism, which is the unification of basically the whole western hemisphere, and make sure that everybody understands different cultures, understands the way of life of other people. “
Macias said that he and his brothers feel they have succeeded in this avenue.
In their five-months of existence on campus, the A&M-Commerce Phiotas have held 10 events, Phiota Week and made weekly trips to the Sulphur Springs Boys and Girls Club.
Ceron said Phiota Week was a good event for the fraternity.
“It was a great success,” he said. “We had at least one event each day of the week, and we had a good turnout. It was a productive week, and it was a good way to let the university know that we are here for good.”
The A&M-Commerce Phiotas also seek to portray a good image in Greek Life, according to Macias.
“We’re trying to portray as much as possible what Greek life is about” Macias said. “I believe that if we keep doing what we do, everybody will tack on, and everybody will like what we’re doing.
With two of the members of the original A&M-Commerce Phiotas graduating, the fraternity hopes to gain more members and more hands to help serve.
“We want to grow, ” Ceron said. “We want to have a good amount of members next semester. That will help us bring better events to the community. The more hands that we have, the better. We want to be able to collaborate more with other Greek organizations, and we want to help the University grow as well.”
In an effort to showcase cultural awareness, the A&M-Commerce Phiotas also seek to have a diverse group of brothers.
“We take anybody because we want to be as diverse as possible,” Macias said. “We’re here to diversify, to showcase different cultures.”