Alan white

This past week, I had the honor of sitting down with my biology 101 teacher. He is probably the most passionate, kind, smart, and nutty professor that I have had the honor of having this semester. He is quite the interesting character. He has long hair and an even longer beard. He hasn't gotten a hair cut or shaved for multiple years. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at chapel hill in 1977 with a B.S. in biology, and he got his masters from the same University in 1981. He has taught biology at many universities like ECU, Marshal, USC, and North Dakota. In fact, while at North Dakota, he and other biology professors created animations to help students learn about biology. One of his favorite things to do during the year is his best friend's, who he has known since high school, pumpkin decoration contest. Many of his closest friends come to decorate the pumpkins with him. Although Dr. White loves teaching, he sadly will be leaving USC, retiring, and moving into his home back in Chapel Hill. This home was something that his best friend, the same guy who does the pumpkin contest and his future neighbor, built for him while he was still teaching. He and his wife bought property and decided that they would create their dream home. This home is surrounded by forest and is very biologically friendly. It has green friendly insulation and gets it energy from solar panels on the roof. I am sad that Dr. White is leaving us after this semester, but I wish him luck in his dream home surrounded by his closest friends.

Capstone friends

I know that a lot of the time I am out and about with my other sigma brothers and the older brothers, I haven't forgotten about the people back at capstone. The people that I have met at capstone have known me since day one and they are probably some of my closest friends. I have seen people who go to knowing nothing about someone to then wanting to be room mates next year at the hub. The guy I have gotten closest to the floor is definitely my room mate. His name is Ethan and he is also from Charlotte. He went to the rival high school to mine, South Mecklenburg High School. We met last spring break when I went down to the beach with some other kids from south meck. Next thing you know, we are room mates. It feels great to know that I have so many friends here at capstone.

Away weekend

This past weekend was my first away weekend with my fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon. It feels like just yesterday they were extending my a bid to join the fraternity. The time with these guys has just been flying by, just like the rest of my time here at USC. It was so much fun being able to spend some time alone with my Sigma class and a few of the older guys. Also, a big thank you to Matt Witalis for letting us use his lake house in Georgia for the weekend. The older guys introduced us to a lot of charter secrets, and we got to learn unique chants and greetings specific to our fraternity and to our chapter. Although it was only for two nights, I really feel like I got close to the others in my class. I've never spent so much time with them for so long. No one ever seemed to bicker, or fight either. We were all just a couple guys, hanging out, and having one of the greatest weekends since being here. I can't wait to go on another away weekend in the future. I know that it will be a great time where ever we go.

perks of being in a Fraternity

Originally, I wasn't planning on rushing a fraternity. However, after joining Greek life here at USC I now see that this was the best thing I could have ever done. After joining Sigma Phi Epsilon (SigEp) I have not only become a more responsible student, but I have also become more responsible and healthier physically and emotionally. My fraternity has mandatory study hours and gym hours that are tracked through our phones. These hours have caused me to go to the library, where I have a quite work space that allows me to focus and complete tasks for my classes, and go to the gym, where I can make sure I am always at my peak physical condition. The fraternity also has let me branch out and meet many like minded students. A lot of my fraternity brothers are like me. We share many of the same interests, and share many goals for our futures. One older brothers, Mitch Tanner, who shares me major, exercise science, and my career goal, physical therapy, asked me to help him with his undergraduate research project. It was a great opportunity for me to ask questions on how research works here at the University because that is something that I will be doing once I become an upper classman. My fraternity has helped me not only stay on task with school, but kept me healthy physically and emotionally. Although fraternity life isn't for everyone, it is definitely something that has been beneficial for me.

Sigma SZN

Like I said before, Sig Ep is the best fraternity ever. One of the many things that make my Sig Ep experience so great is all the guys that are in my Sigma class (pledge brothers). It's not often that I grow so close to a group of guys in just a few weeks. The only other time it has ever happened was when I was at camp. My Sigma brothers are some of my best friends here at South Carolina. We study together, go to the gym together, and go out together. What I like so much about our class is that we are all unique and different. None of us are too much like the other, which makes our class very unique. We aren't like other fraternities where all there new members are pretty much the same person. We have business majors, biology majors, computer science majors; we have 21 year olds, sophomores, and freshman; we have guys from the northeast, the Midwest, and the southeast. I am so very proud to call my Sigma class my brothers, and I look forward to spending the next four years of my life with all 20 of them by my side.

When I first came to college, I knew that I would eventually want to join a fraternity here on campus. At first, I wasn't even thinking about rushing until second semester or until my sophomore year. So, when I joined the rush process, I was only trying to meet some of the guys for when I would rush later on. However, I was not expecting the closeness that SigEp offers here on campus. I already knew a brother, Hunter Huckaby, a sophomore from Charlotte, who told me all the great things about SigEp and that I should think about coming out to one of their events. After just my first event, I knew this fraternity was different than the others. The more events I went to the more I wanted to join the fraternity. Eventually, after just one week of meeting the brothers, I knew that I couldn't wait till the spring to join these guys. After accepting my bid to the fraternity my life has only gotten better. All the older guys are very welcoming and friendly. They all are so open and willing share so much about themselves. My sigma brothers are also the nicest, coolest guys I have ever met. Although we have what is considered a small pledge class, 21, I think it's the perfect number. There aren't too many of us where I feel lost, but there are also enough of us where I feel like I am a part of one big family. SigEp was probably one of the greatest decisions I have made while here at USC.

Hurricane season. Deadly for some, rainstorms for others. Florence wasn't much of a threat to the people of Colombia. What many originally thought was going to cause massive flooding and heavy storms, turned out to be just a slight drizzle. Honestly, I was looking forward to sitting outside through a hurricane. I have never been in one before, and I wanted to feel the full force of a hurricane. Although I didn't get to feel 100 mile per hour winds, I did get to spend a lot of time with those who stand on my floor and throughout my building. I went up to floor 14 in capstone the other day to find they had created a wipe out course. People would try to jump from pillow to pillow, crawl over and under tables, and survive deadly water gun attacks as they raced around each corner. A lot of my SigEp fraternity brothers stayed for the hurricane as well. It was nice to meet many of the guys that I get to call my brothers this week. I also spent a lot of time I also took some time Saturday to talk with friends from other schools. While our game day was cancelled, it was nice to see how those around us celebrated their Saturdays. Although hurricane Florence was kind of a let down for those of us here in Colombia, it was fun to have some time off school for me to be able to relax and get to know those around me. I'm very happy with my choice to stay in capstone and for my choice of spending the next four years her at the original USC.