Shawn Collins pledged a fraternity in fall 1988 and kept a diary of his experiences.
I graduated from the University of Maryland on May 20, 1993, and for the last two years of college, I lived in the Pi Kappa Alpha house at 4340 Knox Road. The house was far from perfect, but it was home, and I was sad to move out and on to the real world. And…
Springtime in college meant fraternities pairing up with sororities for Greek Week, an annual, week-long tradition filled with parties, philanthropy, and various competitions. In spring 1991, at the University of Maryland, Pi Kappa Alpha (ΠKA) asked Kappa Alpha Theta (KAΘ) to partner, and then my pledge brother Joe Incaprera and I ran as co-Greek Week…
It was just weeks after I became a pledge when I saw a sign at the frat house about a pledge camping trip. I’d never gone camping before, so I was pretty excited. Each pledge had to bring a case of beer for the weekend. We drove from the University of Maryland out to western…
I don’t think I had a camera in college. If I did, it was rarely used, because I didn’t have the money to get film processed. So, most of the pictures I have from those five years are the fraternity and sorority event photos. I have a whole photo album of these types of pictures,…
I paid my way through college with a combination of a Stafford Loan and working menial jobs. But often, there were shortfalls, and I couldn’t afford some expenses that would come up, like food. Fortunately, when I was a fraternity pledge in the first semester of my freshman year, I was sent to cover for…