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“You can never go home again.”

Before I pledged APhiO, I only hung out with friends from high school and went back to Sacra­mento every week­end. The fra­ter­nity gave me some of my clos­est friends and a chance to find myself and grow as a per­son. It made Davis “home” for me.

It was incred­i­bly hard to let go, and I don’t think I would have been able to if I hadn’t moved to Min­nesota right after grad­u­at­ing. When I came back to Cal­i­for­nia, I was on the fringes, but really only hung out with old peo­ple out­side of offi­cial events. I’ve changed, and so has the chap­ter. New faces, new peo­ple step­ping up to get things done, and new ideas about how do get those things done. Iota Phi is not the place where I grew up anymore.

But Ini­ti­a­tion is still the same. I still get the awe­some sense of tra­di­tion and pur­pose every time I hear the Oath of Pledge­ship. There may have been some ren­o­va­tions done, but under­neath, the foun­da­tion is as solid as ever. Con­grat­u­la­tions, Luong class! I hope that you’ll soon feel the same sense of “home” that Alpha Phi Omega has given me.

Tags: Alpha Phi Omega, Friends