Sorry – meant to post earlier but spent most of the day getting the Gamma Phi Beta house where I am the House Corporation Board president ready for move-in.
So, about 2-3 weeks passed after my son returned from his fraternity rush weekend. He had hoped to do one more fraternity rush weekend but sadly he had to have his wisdom teeth pulled and the only slot available coincided with activities he was dying to do with BOBBY JONES, TITLEIST and PING.
So once he felt better after the wisdom teeth extraction, he got busy texting and facebooking and setting up dates to meet up with other fraternity guys once we moved him in on campus. We made all the moving preps which seemed to mainly encompass clothes shopping. I always got a kick out of the detailed outfits the girls planned for recruitment attire but OMG, my son is such a clothes hound, it seemed like we did more clothes shopping than dorm room shopping! We had to get just the right blazer, slacks, shorts, ties, shirts, loafers, game day loafers, sandals, shorts, fishing shirts, tees etc. A few days before we were to depart, my son got a letter in the mail saying he was a finalist for the CLEVELAND scholarship and he was invited to a dinner at the CLEVELAND fraternity house the Tuesday after move-in. The three winners would be announced at this dinner. My son really liked the CLEVELAND brothers he had met and talked to so far, so this was well-received news.
Finally, last Saturday, we made the five hour trek to college and got my son moved in. My husband and I were very impressed when two NIKE brothers showed up and helped us with some of the many car-to-3rd floor dorm room trips we had to make. We could see how my sons interacted with them and how at ease he seemed to be. Plus these guys were very easy going and friendly, respectful and funny. As soon as they left, we both said to our son – why don’t you just accept the NIKE bid? You seem like such a great fit! (HAHA – us parents know everything, right!?)
But our son was eager to connect more with PING, TAYLORMADE, BOBBY JONES, CALLAWAY, MIZUNO, BRIDGESTONE and TITLEIST and see if he could also fit in with them. He kept us posted each day about what he was doing and sadly for him because he had such high hopes, CALLAWAY and BOBBY JONES dropped from his radar screen because they were reportedly on social probation. And while he still liked TAYLORMADE and BRIDGESTONE, he liked NIKE and PING just a bit better – he said he felt more at home with the latter two. He was also having fun hanging with the brothers of TITLEIST, but finally decided that the feelings he first had at Orientation were accurate – they seemed to party a lot. So TITLEIST was out of the picture now too. After the scholarship dinner at CLEVELAND (he did not win, but - as he remarked – it was honor to be considered), he said they guys were really cool there and he liked them and their house. But he was just feeling like time was winding down to when he would have to make a decision – early signing day was fast approaching. I was very impressed at how he made his decision – while he never got an early bid from PING, he felt like he might if he went thru formal recruitment. But he had the bid in hand from NIKE and it had been one of his very favorites all along, he figured that a possible bid from PING would not really change things. So he called to tell us he was going to accept his bid from NIKE! My husband and I were thrilled!
We can now announce that our son is a very happy and proud new member of NIKE….
......also known as……
ALPHA TAU OMEGA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PS He is at Mississippi State!