by Jason Allen Let’s recap the definition of Social Excellence (n): A state of perpetual generosity, curiosity, positivity, and openness to limitless possibility. A desire to intentionally connect with others. The ability to engage in deep, meaningful conversation. Acting in a responsible and respectable manner with high expectations of others. Being authentic and living everyday Read More
by Matt Mattson There are hundreds – probably thousands – of strangers on your campus. They’re just walking around. You don’t know them. They don’t know you. How are you supposed to magically “recruit” them? I mean, really. How overwhelming! I get it. I’ve been thinking about recruitment for years, and I often forget how Read More
by Matt Mattson Hi there, fraternity recruitment chairs! You’re about to start another semester and you’re wondering what is the one thing you can do to make an impact on your chapter’s recruitment success. I got you. First of all, I’ll warn you. This might be a sensitive subject with some of your brothers, so Read More
by Erin Chatten Can you guess what time of the year it is? Exams? Nope! Holiday season? Guess again! Officer transition? Graduation? Finals? Close… but no again! We may think this insane time of the year is the time spent to shop for others, engage in holiday traditions with our friends and family, cram for Read More
by Austin Netherton With the recent string of negative events in the fraternal community, I have become fixated on asking myself, “Why and how does this continue to happen?” Fraternities are governed by strict rules and values, right? These values have been ringing in the ears of young men for decades as a guiding light Read More
[Presented at #AFAAM 2017 by Jessica Gendron Williams, Jason Allen, KJ McNamara, and Matt Mattson] Today’s college students might be the most edited, filtered, self-conscious and insecure population of their age range to date. And that’s not their fault. This generation, like those before them, are a product of their times. Social media, the previous Read More
by Jason Allen In 2012, Phired Up won the AFA Award for Excellence in Educational Programming for our innovative Be The Person Program (BTP). That program partnered with Mike Dilbeck and the RESPONSE ABILITY Project, and it focused on bystander intervention, values alignment, Social Excellence, leading community change, and determining one’s connection and mattering to Read More
by Dr. Colleen Coffey-Melchiorre The world will amaze you if you let it. I consider myself somewhat of a social anthropologist. That’s a fancy way of saying I am a people watcher. I observe folks all around me – in airports, on campuses, at school pick-up, in the yoga studio, in line at Starbucks, or Read More
by Tyler Blaker I’d like to share a story with you… It’s the beginning of my sophomore year and classes start tomorrow. I’d like to hang out with some brothers on syllabus eve, and maybe go get a bite to eat. I go through the list of brothers I would want to hang out with Read More
by Austin Netherton For many undergraduate fraternity men, the overwhelming and hurried occasion we call “Rush” is in wrapping up on campuses across North-America. I often hear from chapter leaders that this time period is recognized as the time when the most (and potentially only) effort is made by a chapter to recruit potential new Read More