Sunday Morning/Afternoon

My Sunday morning started off with leaving Mobile, AL at 5:30 am CDT to head up to Auburn, AL (which was 3 1/2 hours away) because the president of the Auburn chapter offered to take me golfing, so of course I would get up that early! He was super kind enough to take me to a Robert Trent Jones Trail Course, which is super nice. The course just outside of Auburn was called Grand National. There are two big courses at Grand National and we played on the Links Course. The other course, the Lake Course, was the host to the Barbasol Championship for the PGA Tour over the last couple of years. The Links Course was pretty challenging on a few holes but was in beautiful shape with a beautiful view of Lake Saugahatchee throughout the different holes. It was a real treat getting to play there and the president at Auburn was a great host throughout the entire round!

Auburn University

When I first arrived on campus, I was in a culture shock times 10! Coming from small town Tell City to small campus of Franklin College to a big college town like Auburn with 30,000 students was shocking. I drove around the campus and looked at the massive academic buildings and of course their massive football stadium. I had the opportunity to walk around campus when I went to meet with the Interfraternity Council advisor and it was the longest walk I have ever done on a college campus. Being in a suit while it was 95 degrees was not the best situation for me! When I was walking back to the Lambda Chi house, I was bombarded by a bunch of students trying to get new students to join their organization…yay for orientation (I didn’t get any free stuff…), so I finally I put in my ear phones and kept my head down and trucked on back to the house.

The chapter itself was another experience for me, in a good way! The men were currently at 130 active members (way more than the 20 that were in my chapter). Trying to present my opening presentation and our case study (made by our awesome AD of Education and Harm Reduction) was interesting. I was given a microphone to speak in and used that to facilitate among the room of 130 men. The guys were phenomenal and were always asking me to play cornhole, pool, and go hang out with them. Their house was extremely beautiful as well. In the front room where someone enters the front door is a giant sculpture given to the chapter to celebrate their centennial. There was a plaque with Lambda Chi’s coat of arms on the front and our values on one side and what their chapter values on the other. On the backside of the sculpture was a “brotherhood” section where they had the name of every member who had been initiated at Auburn University (they have initiated 2,919 members to date). On top of all this was an eagle that was created in the state Washington and sent down to the chapter for this. Throughout the house there was touches that were made for the fraternity as a whole. Letters could be seen in the ceiling of the house and on top of the house as well.

One of the things I was able to experience was a big university formal rush…holy crap! It was crazy, 45 potential new members came through the door and had a hour and a half to impress as many of those 130 active members as possible. I was able to talk to a few guys and give my opinion and them to the brothers when asked if I got a chance to talk to them (all 3 of those guys got a bid!) Watching the bid discussion was just as crazy. I heard the normal “oh his handshake sucked” but they would not vote on the potential until they heard well-detailed reasons about their values or what they could do right for the fraternity, which was awesome to hear. I was actually sad to leave this chapter and the members last night but a majority came up to me and said “hope to see ya soon!”. Hearing this and building those relationships is one of the most important reasons why I took this job.

Food

I would say unfortunately I didn’t get to go out to eat because I ate at the house…but I am glad I did! Their cook, Chef Rob, was the man! All of his meals that his staff and he made were some of the best homemade food, I have ever had (aside from my mom’s meals)! I was able to talk to him and asked him why he was a cook for a fraternity. He went on to explain to me that the chapter members made him feel like he was family. They always do their best for him and his staff and that’s why he always enjoys coming to work.

Thank you for checking in! I will have another one posted about my next visit on Saturday! Now onto Huntingdon College in Montgomery, AL!

Jimmy Phillips