Brother Mert Karagoz, Greek Week Chair (Left), Brother Rubin Waranch (Right) hold three of Eta Phi’s awards
The event is held to officially end Greek Week each Spring, as well as to highlight the accomplishments of Fraternity & Sorority members on campus.
The week began with the Brothers of the Eta Phi chapter partnering with our local Push America service site, The Maiden Choice School, to make sure that the building and school grounds themselves were as positively impacted as the students that our Brothers visit weekly to work with in the classroom. As if the strong participation of our chapter in this first event wasn’t enough of an indication that our boys could take home the coveted Greek Week trophy for the first time, the performance that Eta Phi put on at the Greek Factor talent show the next night surely was.
Not only did our performance take home first place in the Dance category, it also placed us in the Top Three overall performances of the evening. Along with high attendance rates at UMBC’s Take Back the Night event, true athleticism at the Greek Games, and contributions by Brother Mert Karagoz (our Greek Week Coordinator and Master of Keys) to keep our spirits high at every moment, it was evident that Eta Phi was in for a record-setting night at the end-of-the-week Greek Ball.
After the announcement by Susan Dumont, coordinator for Fraternities & Sororities at UMBC, that Eta Phi would receive its first ever Greek Week Champion trophy, there was certainly a feeling in the air that this was only the beginning of what was to come. Eta Phi was also honored to receive the Service Award for commitment to building community partnerships and volunteerism (namely, with the Maiden Choice School), as well as the Spirit Award for promotion of Greek unity and Greek values on campus.
With three trophies in hand, Archon Rubin Waranch was then given the greatest honor of the evening – Greek Man of the Year. There were none in the room that night that deserved this award more than Rubin, as he truly understands what it means to be a leader and always strives to “redefine fraternity” through his actions (I may be slightly biased since Rubin is my Little, but his strength of character is unmatched by any other on our campus).
Our chapter is now at the level where the strength of brotherhood is unmatched by any since our local founders from 1991-1997. In the words of Brother Waranch, always looking at how we can continue to improve in the face of so much success “We’re going for the big one next year. Chapter of the Year.” With other members of Eta Phi currently campaigning for Student Government President, Treasurer, and Senator, we can only hope to continue our commitment to leadership in the coming years.