Delta Phi Podcast

Dominic DiBaccio shares his experience of joining the Delta Phi fraternity. He discusses the history of the fraternity, the qualities they look for in new members, his reasons for joining, the positions he has held, and some of his favorite memories. He also interviews another brother, Sean Keegan, who talks about his experience and favorite moments in the fraternity. Dominic emphasizes the sense of brotherhood, academic support, and the fun activities they do together. He also mentions his involvement in the executive board and his role in recruitment and rush. Good afternoon everyone, my name is Dominic DiBaccio and today I will be informing you on one of the best decisions I have made, joining a fraternity, specifically the Delta Phi fraternity. I will be describing the many entities of my fraternity in today's episode, such as the history of our frat, what we look for in potential new members, why I joined Delta Phi, the positions I have held and how they work, and even some of my favorite memories in the frat. Later on, we will even hear from one of my brothers in the fraternity about their time in the frat. The purpose of this podcast will be for this to reach new members who are either unsure about Greek life or are interested in joining our fraternity. So to start us off, let's talk about some history. Delta Phi traces its roots back to 1827 when it was founded at Union College in New York by a group of nine individuals who shared a vision of creating a unique organization based on brotherhood and shared values. These nine founders laid the foundation for what would become one of the oldest and most esteemed Greek letters social fraternities in North America. As part of the Union Triad, Delta Phi is proud to be one of the three oldest Greek letter social fraternities founded at Union College. Alongside its sister organizations, Delta Phi has played a significant role in shaping the landscape of Greek life and fostering a tradition of excellence and camaraderie. In 1845, the Delta Phi chapter made its pivotal decision to expand its presence and establish a chapter at Rutgers University. This expansion marked the beginning of Delta Phi's enduring legacy at Rutgers, where it has since become the longest lasting fraternity on campus. Over the years, Delta Phi at Rutgers has continued to uphold the principles and values instilled by its founders, while also adapting to the changing times and evolving needs to its members. The fraternity has remained steadfast in its commitment to fostering brotherhood, promoting academic excellence, and serving the community. Delta Phi's presence at Rutgers has left an indelible mark on the university's Greek-like land state. Contributing to a vibrant and inclusive campus community through its rich history, enduring traditions, and dedication to its members, Delta Phi continues to thrive as a beacon of brotherhood and leadership at Rutgers University. Now that we learned a little bit of back history of my fraternity, let's talk about why I joined this fraternity. Coming into college, I always knew I wanted to be a part of Greek life, to put myself out there and just be a part of something bigger than myself. During the weeks of rush, I'd been to many other organizations, kind of feeling it out, seeing what I liked, seeing what I didn't like. Now, there are plenty of other amazing organizations out there, but something about Delta Phi just stood out from the rest, stood out to me. When I went to other events, I felt welcomed, they were excited for me to be there. I had many conversations with a lot of brothers, different grades, different perspectives, different people, different opinions, which really put a good influence on me. But to get specific, there are many reasons why this place felt like home. I was drawn to the sense of brotherhood they had, seeing a supportive community where they all had meaningful connections. Brotherhood seemed that brothers held themselves towards a higher standard, wanting to be a leader for us potential new members. Not just the e-board members being leaders, it was every single brother that had those leadership qualities. Delta Phi also had a great stream of networking, specifically with alumni, other professionals and other organizations they told me about. Another great reason is it seemed all brothers and I had shared values, wanting to better ourselves and promote positive ideals. But one of the biggest reasons is the academic support I had learned about. They told me Delta Phi had the third highest ranked GPA in all of Greek Life Albuquerque, so I knew besides all the parties and the fun, they made sure that all brothers were keeping up and excelling at their school work. There are a plethora of reasons of why I joined Delta Phi and why it was best for me, but these are just some of the main reasons. Now that you've heard about why I chose Delta Phi during Rush Week, let's kind of talk about well, now that I'm a brother, let's talk about what we look for in new members. Let's say, before we even start that, let's talk about what we look for in new members, what morales we already have. We thrive on, we doubt ourselves on brotherhood, academic excellence, providing for the community and connections we can have for the rest of our lives past college. But in potential new members, we look for people who want to better themselves, find their niche and provide for something bigger than themselves. We want people who want to be leaders, an example for others, and provide some diversity within us. We host plenty of Rush events to try and find the most suitable people for our fraternity. These Rush events are our brother's time to get to know the Rushers and potentially see if they could join our fraternity one day. I must say, Rush Week is definitely one of my favorite weeks, seeing all the new faces, all potential new brothers, it's a very good time. Talking about good times, let's talk about some of my favorite moments now that I'm in the fraternity. I must say, there's been a lot of amazing moments that I've made being a part. Obviously the parties are a ton of fun, but that's not all we're about. We make sure we're all together outside of a party setting whenever we can. To start, we have been on many vacations and a lot of brotherhood events. Talking about vacations, we've been on skiing trips, spring breaking together. Last winter break, we went on Killington together and we skied. This past spring break, we went to Cabo with about 50 brothers. This past spring break, we went to Fort Lauderdale with about 40 of us. Little things like that, no matter where we go, it's just about being together and it kind of shows how tight of a brotherhood we have. Some of the brotherhoods we've done, we went paintballing, go-karting, which is obviously a lot of fun. I mean, I didn't win either go-karting and my aim is not very good at paintball, but that's just not what matters. It's just about being all together and how great of a brotherhood we have. All right, so I mean, enough from me now. Let's get some more opinions, outsider opinions here. We'll get some more experiences and opinions from another brother, the same pledge class as me and one of my housemates, Sean Keegan. Hey Sean, how we doing, man? Hey, thank you for having me. It's great to be here. Yeah, it's great to have you. Today, I'm just going to ask you a couple of questions just to kind of hear about your experience so far. So first, why was Delta Phi the place for you? Yeah, so I wanted to join Delta Phi because I realized right from the rush events that this is the place where I wanted to be and further my connections, make lifelong friends, and I really just fit in like right from the start and I really just thought that this is where I want to be for the rest of my college years. Oh, I mean, yeah, I definitely agree with all of those points. Next, what were some of your favorite moments being in the fraternity? Yeah, so some of my favorite moments have to be the crawfish boil. That was amazing because I never got to experience some good crawfish like they do down in Louisiana. I also am excited for our future pig roast this Saturday to send off our seniors. I know it's going to be a great time. Another thing I would like to add would be, I would say the ski trip was definitely one of my favorite moments. It was a great brotherhood bonding experience and I actually got to learn to ski for once, so it's definitely great. Oh, I mean, yeah, those are definitely all a lot of fun, a lot of fun times. So last question for you, how has being in the fraternity affected your personal growth and academic success? Yeah, so for personal growth reasons, being able to have older brothers support you and kind of nurture you throughout the way, they know what's best for you and they've really helped me become the person I am today. And as for academic success, there are a lot of brothers in the same major as me and it's easy to collaborate and communicate and if I'm stuck on something, they can really help me out. And obviously, upperclassmen really helped me because they've been through it. So yeah, my grades definitely have been very, very good since I started college and I can definitely relate that to Delta Phi. Yeah, I mean, I definitely agree with all those points. Upperclassmen definitely have an influence on us younger guys, I'll say, definitely always support each other. Well, I mean, Sean, thank you for coming out and giving your insight with the frat. So now you've heard about our favorite moments, like why we joined. Let's talk about me personally and positions I've held within the frat. So even as a potential new member, I'd always want to be part of executive board, e-board as we call it. E-board's a group of leaders within the fraternity who want to put us in the best position possible. As an e-board, we make intrusive decisions, make strategic plans to set goals and objectives, plenty of communication and collaborations between each positions, and overall just look to strengthen the state of our fraternity. But back to what I was saying, I'd always know I wanted to hold a position, just be a leader for everyone. I wasn't sure what position I wanted to run for as there's a lot and there are a lot of good options. One thing stood out to me was recruitment and rush. My rush process was very efficient, smooth, I really enjoyed them. And so I decided to run for that because I wanted every new member to kind of experience that great rush process. So obviously there are two different positions. I did rush first just to kind of get my feet wet and kind of start off small, you know. So obviously my first time doing it went extremely well, all events were very organized and all potential new members really enjoyed it and we recruited an amazing new member class. Since I had enjoyed doing this so much, the following semester I decided to do a recruitment position which is like the main position. Also in the rush chair we were kind of hand together to make this a successful process. Once again, a great rush process. We learned from a couple of mistakes in the previous semester and we brought in another great class filled with kids who wanted to be leaders and involved. So after these holding these two positions, being an active member in our eBoard texting chat, it came upon me, maybe I want to run for a bigger position to kind of see what I can handle, see what I'm made of. As I've held these two positions, I was recognized as someone who was on top of their work, a voice for everyone and just a leader overall. With all this recognition, I decided to run for vice president. I talked to former VPs what it entails and if they think I can do it and they said yeah, I think you're a man for the job, I think you would excel at it. So this last fall I decided to run and I did, I won. So obviously I'm vice president right now going into next semester. Obviously it's my first semester holding it, there's obviously some learning curves, but as vice president I hold myself to a high standard as a leader to everyone in the fraternity. My job entails a lot of overseeing and delegating, either having meetings with the dean, having meetings with our eBoard or just having a chapter with the whole fraternity. Being an eBoard kind of teaches you leadership skills, teamwork, time management, communication, personal growth and development. I hope my eBoard experience kind of influences some of our listeners to want to hold the position and even thrive in said position. I must say being an eBoard, it's a great experience, it really teaches you a lot, obviously from my experience. But now that you've heard all of my insight and experiences within the fraternity, as well as my brother Sean, I hope this can influence you to get involved in Greek life, maybe or maybe not my fraternity, but just to get involved somewhere else, an organization that fits you. Hopefully this podcast finds you well and impacts your decision to join Greek life. This is a public service announcement. The Delta Phi Fraternity at Rutgers University is built on brotherhood, leadership and giving back. Our fraternity is dedicated to fostering academic excellence among college men to grow our members professionally and socially while actively contributing to bettering the community around us. As a social fraternity, we understand that some people might assume that all we do is throw parties. However, our fraternity's goal extends beyond partying. We want to develop and hold an environment where people motivate each other, academic and personal development. Although social gatherings are essential to our fraternity culture, we focus on recruiting members who share our commitment to mutual enrichment. We regard each moment we spend together as priceless and unique, and we take pride in relationships and friendships that have developed inside our fraternity. Learn more about our events and how you can get involved by visiting our Instagram page at Delta Phi Rutgers. Are you looking to join the strongest brother on campus? At Delta Phi, it's not just about friendships, it's a family dedicated to personal development and leadership and making a difference. Empowering men, building leaders. Join a brotherhood of excellence.