Shawn Collins pledged a fraternity in fall 1988 and kept a diary of his experiences.
I was overwhelmed when I became a Pi Kappa Alpha pledge at the University of Maryland in September 1988. Just a few months removed from high school, I was suddenly operating in an adult world. One of the many decisions I had to make early on was choosing a Big Brother in the fraternity. I…
I always enjoyed writing, and the first time I saw my name in print was for my elementary school newspaper. It was just a photocopied publication of maybe six pages, but I loved being a part of it. When middle school came around, we didn’t have a paper, but we did in high school, and…
I was at the University of Maryland for five years and one summer session, but I only went to four away weekends while I was there. During my final semester, in 1993, the fraternity’s finances were a bit unstable, and we didn’t have one. We went to Williamsburg, VA, for two or maybe three of…
The first time I can remember waiting out for tickets was probably early 1987 for the Genesis “Invisible Touch” tour that came through Maryland in May 1987. I was jammed in my friend Matt’s VW bus with a handful of Pi Kappa Alpha brothers. Matt and I were still in high school. It was freezing…
All these years, I thought I graduated with a 2.7. That is a lousy GPA as it is, but I was stunned when I came across my college transcript and saw that I had a cumulative GPA of 2.412 on 126 credits. My semester GPA ranged from 1.0 as a first-semester freshman and fraternity pledge…
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…