Alpha Psi Lambda, A Home Away From Home.
A home away from home… this idea was always so strange to me. How is it possible to find a “home” away from my own family? I grew up in a culture where family means everything and there’s no way to magically get a new mom (or so I thought). It wasn’t until Fall of 2020; I came across an organization known as Alpha Psi Lambda: An organization that embodied all the things that made a family! There on the crest read the words, “together we shall seek the noblest.” This organization was aiming for something good, something pure, something that a true family represents.
One of the things that really caught my attention about APSI was the fact that it was a COED Fraternity. It didn’t care much about gender, but more about the individuals that came together to become a family. The entire idea of Alpha Psi Lambda is to create a sense of belonging for people and stand for something bigger than us! As it states in one of the 8 purposes of Alpha Psi Lambda, “advocate for the needs and concerns of the Hispanic/Latino students.”
A family will be with you in every situation, good or bad. There’s been times where one of us gets a flat tire, doesn’t have a place to stay, or food to eat, and my brothers and sisters go out of their way to help each other out. One of our brothers got stranded in the middle of the night and my brothers and sisters drove 2 hours to go pick him up without any second thoughts. We spend most of our time together, having breakfast early in the morning, movie nights at the theater, planning semester events,and even standing up for what is right in Student Government Meetings. We’ve traveled together to visit other Hermanos and Hermanas from different cities and created long lasting connections with them. No matter where you are in the world, you will always have a family with APSI. Families make sacrifices for the people they love, and APSI isn’t any different. It’s even stated in the motto, “together we shall seek the noblest.” TOGETHER!
Fraternity/sorority life is meant to make men better men, women better women, and people better people. My brothers and sisters that are in Alpha Psi Lambda have taken that mission into their own hands and created a righteous organization. When I think of Alpha Psi Lambda, I think about my home. Alpha Psi Lambda IS my home, and I wouldn’t change that experience for anything else.
danny perez
Danny is a recent Texas A&M International University graduate and a proud member of Alpha Psi Lambda National, inc. He recently interned with AFLV at AFLV West .
Danny's experience is one we hope many members experience themselves and help facilitate in their own chapters. Joining a fraternal organization is a unique experience, and the values we embody help us together as a community. Creating a sense of belonging in our chapters begins from the moment a potential new member engages with us.
As we think about how we, as students and professionals, work to build belonging, we must ask how we nurture those values and create memorable experiences from them. Danny calls back to the motto and purposes of Alpha Psi Lambda that ties his organization together. Many of these values center on belonging and culture that link back to the Hispanic/Latinx roots of the organization. This Hispanic Heritage Month, we hope you consider how culture is celebrated in the belonging you create as a fraternal organization. Ask questions like, how do we make sure our members not only remember what our organizations were founded for? How do we ensure they imbue those values and that culture in everything they do together? While every organization has its own values and traditions, at its core, our experience is often built by how we show up.
We work together, support, and celebrate each other throughout the experience--both in the good and the challenging. Danny's story is an excellent example of how he and other members show up for each other and create belonging and, in turn, a home away from home. It is a great reminder always to consider how we show up for each other, creating that belonging in and out of our chapters, in and out of our fraternal communities.
-Maija Linh Pham, AFLV Connections Editorial Board