Vincents Podcast

In this podcast episode, Vincent Palmieri discusses his experience with the Delta Phi fraternity at Rutgers. He talks about why he chose Delta Phi over other frats, the importance of Rush in building a successful fraternity, and some of his favorite memories and events with the fraternity. He also interviews a fellow member, Mark Perez, who shares his favorite memory and how Delta Phi has impacted him. The episode emphasizes the values of brotherhood, leadership, and community involvement in Delta Phi. Hi everyone, I'm Vincent Palmieri and welcome back to my podcast. Today's episode goes into detail about the values, traditions, and the way Delta Phi fraternities ran here at Rutgers. Delta Phi was founded in 1827 and at Rutgers it was founded in 1845, which is actually the oldest frat at Rutgers. Throughout this episode I'm going to cover many different topics, like the reasons why I decided to join a fraternity at all, but especially Delta Phi. I'm also going to explain the process of Rush from the standpoint of a brother and as a Rush. Later in the episode I'm going to be bringing on a special guest to interview for you guys to give a different perspective and share some of our favorite memories throughout our time at Delta Phi together. I'm really excited for this episode and I think you guys are going to be really enjoying it. So let's get into it. To start off, I want to get into why I chose Delta Phi out of every other frat at Rutgers. Going into college I had a handful of friends, but over time I realized I wanted to be a part of Greek life and get integrated into the community of those types of people. I feel like there are a lot of stigmas about frat maturities that you see in movies, TV shows, or hear rumors or stories about from growing up. But getting a first-hand experience as to see what Greek life is like at Rutgers made me understand those stereotypes aren't always true. There are over 20 different fraternities at Rutgers, which left me with a lot of different options to choose from. I did have some friends that are older than me that gave me kind of a guidance to get to the right direction of the frat they think would be best fit for me, but at the end of the day I had to see them for myself to make a decision. I rushed around and went to a lot of different events that some of the frats had and talked to their brothers and saw what kind of people they were there. After going to all these events I came to the conclusion that Delta Phi was the best home for me. Not only were my conversations with the brothers most natural, I also felt a sense of camaraderie that the brothers had there. Although there was one specific moment that set D Phi apart from everything else. At one of the end of the events, one of the brothers, Algen, who was a senior at the time, got up and gave a speech to everyone that was there. The previous semester he was president, which reflected his importance and high regard to the fraternity in my opinion, but the way he spoke was just so moving and made me want to run through a wall honestly. He talked a lot about the brotherhood at D Phi and how that stands far apart from other frats or ruckers. How we're not just paying for friends or just a drinking club. These are people that you can rely on when you need help. People to talk to if you're going through something. People to study with. People to go to the gym with. People who will probably end up at your wedding someday. He showed such a genuine care for D Phi and everybody in it, it made me feel like he was the place for me. And after that moment, I just knew it was D Phi or nowhere for me. After moving forward with the process of Rush, I eventually got a bid and accepted it and started my process as a pledge. This experience also made me realize how important Rush is to a fraternity, which is also something I want to get into as the next part of our episode. In my opinion, Rush is the biggest factor when it comes to having a successful fraternity. The people you choose to bring into your fraternity and what those people do for the fraternity represent the fraternity as a whole. Are philanthropy events, parties, brotherhood events, and academics all important? Yes. But the quality of the people in the fraternity is what makes up the entire identity of the organization as a whole. You don't want to just have people that aren't similar to you and everyone else in the fraternity or just having someone who's rude, mean, not loyal, or any other type of bad trait to have. You know what I mean? Like if you don't want to be friends with them, like you wouldn't want to have them in your fraternity. With that being said, I wanted to be a part of the group that helps find the next group of kids to enter the fraternity. So when I became a brother, I also became a part of the Rush committee, which basically just helps the actual Rush and recruitment chairs with their job during Rush week, the weeks leading up to it, and the weeks following it. During this time, I got to see what it was like on the other side of the Rush process and being a brother now, you know, and I got to experience what goes on, you know, behind the scenes and the preparation that goes into all this stuff. After being a part of the Rush committee my first two semesters as a brother, I got elected to be Rush chair for the next semester, which actually was this past semester, and got re-elected to be Rush chair the following semester, which is going to be next fall. I had a great time running the entire Rush process this past semester, and I really liked making decisions for what needs to be done, as well as the kids I liked and didn't like. Even though there were more smaller things than I thought that had to be done, like hanging up the Rush banner, picking up all the food, reaching out to every kid after every single event, all those things were stuff I took pride in doing, and I got to do the way I wanted to do. I'm really excited for the fall, and how fall Rush compares to spring Rush. Alright, so now I kind of want to get into some of my favorite memories while being in the frat. So, obviously, throughout the semesters I've had so many fun memories while being in DeFi. Obviously Rush is a big part of that, but there are so many more. Our brotherhood events like go-karting, paintballing, pig rows, Yankee games, and alumni events were all really great experiences. The overall energy and electricity that we brought made it like nothing I've ever seen before. Most people will probably have never seen this many people all together going somewhere at the same time before, and it's just unreal that that many people can all come together like that. Our parties, obviously, have also been really fun with all the different types of setups, themes, whether it's our Halloween or Christmas parties, game day dages, or especially our phone days at the end of the year. Let's not forget about that strike week last year, definitely a week that none of us at Rutgers will ever forget. Even the smaller day-to-day type of things that hold a place in my heart, going to the gym, going to eat, studying, or even just hanging out at the dorms or our house with my Fudge brothers, are also some of the most fun times I've ever had while being at Rutgers. The fact that after getting to know these guys for only a year or two, I consider them my family is just crazy to me. I trust so many of them with everything, and I feel like I can go to them for almost anything I need or any type of advice I need. With that being said, let's get into this interview with one of my members of my Fudge class, who's actually my roommate from last year, Mark Perez. Hi, Mark. How you doing, man? How you doing, Vincent? Thank you for having me on the podcast today. All right, so the first question is, I was going over it, but what is your favorite memory in this frat, or some of your favorite memories? If I had to choose one, it would definitely be hard, but I would say last spring around 2023, we had a crawfish boil where all the brothers came out, and it was a great weather. We were playing some die, and we just made a crawfish boil. The food was delicious. Good vibes all around. Yeah, that was definitely a good one. I was kind of talking about that earlier with the pig roast we're about to have. The next question is going to be, how has Delta Phi impacted you or even changed you as a person? Definitely since I've joined since last year, I would say I've definitely changed as a person, definitely my mentality, but one of the big impacts that it had on me is one of the other brothers that joined. He is a day trader, and he took the time to teach me, and he's been my mentor, so I've been training off him, and hopefully I can make it into an actual career in the future. Yeah, no, it's definitely huge, especially in the future and stuff like that. And then the last question I have is, why did you choose D5 over the other frats? So I basically, I rushed around a lot of other frats. I wanted to keep my options open, but when I came to the house, obviously it was a big house, the biggest house I've ever been to, but I just saw all the brothers connecting with each other, and it just seemed like a bond that I didn't see before. I definitely wanted a piece of that action, just getting a piece of all that, and connecting with everyone. It just, I wanted that for my future. I wanted to make those connections, and lifelong connections. Yeah, no, I remember talking about that at the dorms after we went to the events just when we were little freshmen last year. I appreciate you coming on, man. I hope you have a good one. Thank you for having me on the podcast. This is a public service announcement. The Delta Phi fraternity at Rutgers is built on a 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 may assume that all we do is throw parties. However, our fraternity's goal is to extend beyond partying. We want to develop and hold an environment where people motivate each other and each other's academic and personal development. Although social gatherings are essential to our fraternity's culture, we focus on recruiting members who share our commitment to mutual enrichment. We regard each moment that we spend together as a priceless and unique, and we take a great pride in relationships and friendships that have developed inside our fraternity. Learn more about our events and see where you can get involved by visiting our Instagram page at Delta Phi Rutgers. Are you looking to join the strongest brotherhood on campus? At Delta Phi, it's not just about friendships. It's a family dedicated to personal development, leadership, and making a difference, empowering men, building leaders. Join our brotherhood of excellence. That about wraps up our episode for this week, guys. I hope you had a great time listening to everything in our interview. Be sure to be tuned in to next week's episode and feel free to hear more.