When Wade Kimbro decided go through Fraternity Rush 2009, he wasn’t sure if he was making the right decision.

“My dad really encouraged me because he was in a fraternity and he really liked it. But, I still wasn’t really sure,” said Kimbro, mass communication freshman.

“But, once I started hanging out with all the guys, I knew it was exactly what I wanted to do.”

In the first-rounds, the rushees attended a variety of events hosted by the five fraternities.

The Beggars threw a crawfish boil, Sigma Phi Epsilon hosted a pig roast and Alpha Delta Gamma had a barbeque.

At the ADG event, the fraternity men also taught the rushees how to play “delt ball,” which Kimbro said is similar to “crush the carrier.”

“The first rounds were a lot of fun,” said Kimbro. “It was fun just hanging around and getting to know everyone a little better.”

During the second rounds, the fraternities gave personal invites to certain rushers to attend their second round events.

“I only went to one second round, but according to my friends, they were all pretty similar,” said Kimbro.

“I attended the ADG second round event at The Court of Two Sisters (a downtown New Orleans restaurant),” he said.   

Kimbro met several alumni, who he said made his rush experience more memorable.
“Alumni told us a bunch of hilarious stories about their rush and fraternity experiences,” said Kimbro. “Hanging out with all the alumni was cool because it was like they were 20 years old in older bodies.”

After second rounds, the fraternities gave bids to the guys they wanted to join their fraternities.

Kimbro, who also received a bid from Sigma Phi Epsilon, accepted a bid from ADG.
Meeting all the ADG alumni added to Kimbro’s decision, but his connection with the current ADG members made his decision even easier.

“As soon as I met them, they treated me like I was a member already,” said Kimbro.

In his overall experience, Kimbro said that he “had a lot of fun, got to meet a bunch of great people and got a lot of free stuff.”

While the new pledges are excited to join their fraternities, many fraternity members hoped for a bigger rush attendance.

“We had a lower turn out than hoped we had hoped for, but other than that we had quality guys who came. We hoped to get more (pledges) but the way the Greek system is going the numbers are dropping,” said Sigma Phi Epsilon member Hayden Lindsey, psychology/pre-med senior.

Sixty-five rushees attended this year’s fraternity events.

The fraternities gave out 52 bids this year and welcomed 42 pledges.

Sigma Phi Epsilon received the most new members with 11 pledges, said Inter-Fraternity Council adviser Tom Kupferer. Phi Kappa Psi got 10 pledges, Beggars got eight pledges, Sigma Alpha Kappa got seven pledges and ADG got six pledges, said Kupferer.

Kieu Tran can be reached at [email protected].