We never had those groups at my high school (too many white folks, I guess), but I'm sure anybody from Houston can attest that they are pretty much everywhere.
Preps, Mademoiselles, Esquires, Gents, Ladies of Distinction.... I'm sure I'm missing some but I'm not that familiar with them. Why do I even know the ones that I do?
BECAUSE THEY COME TO COLLEGE STEPSHOWS AND TEAR IT UP. Y'all, some of these HS boys put college fraternities to shame when it comes to stepping. I don't know what they do as far as work in the community or anything like that, so I don't want to make assumptions. But what I do know is that a whole lot of them have aspirations to go on to college - I know a lot of people on my campus who used to be Gents, Esquires, etc. so I know that a large number of them are education-minded. And yeah, pledging is very much above ground. It's just a weird phenomenon to me since we never had anything like it. The joys of a white school, I guess.