Lambda Alpha Epsilon
If someone came up to me before arriving at Longwood and told me that I would join a fraternity on campus, I would have laughed in their face. Before coming to this school, I always held fraternities and sororities to negative connotations. I saw them as a way to “buy your friends” and get free invitations to parties with alcohol rather than seeing them as a way to establish networking and interacting with people that are studying the same major. Lambda Alpha Epsilon, the academic criminal justice fraternity, did exactly that. I must admit that I was a little hesitant to start the recruitment process, (especially when I heard that each new member had to conduct thirty brother interviews and take weekly quizzes) but with some friendly pressure from my Honors mentor and my roomate, I managed to get out of my comfort zone and start the process. It was definitely a struggle for me to work up the courage to go up to thirty strangers and ask them random questions, but I found that the more interviews I did, the more positive interactions and confidence boosters I received. All of the brothers were very friendly towards new members, and were genuinely interested in getting to know all of the new initiates. I also found out that I was invited to more social events, and even offered chances to visit different agency buildings and police departments next semester. Joining Lambda Alpha Epsilon was by far one of the best decisions I made at Longwood University, and allowed me to make friends that I know I will keep in touch with even when we all achieve our desired careers.
Attached below is a photo of all of the new members that were initiated into Lambda Alpha Epsilon this past year.