Delta Lambda Reaches 2,000
Brothers Milestone

Joe O'Shea '04 congratulates his younger brother Jesse O'Shea '07 on his Initiation

This past fall, Pike reached a large milestone as a fraternity. We initiated our 2,000th Brother, Jesse O'Shea '07. As a new initiate, Jesse has already embraced the fraternity by becoming president of his pledge class, participating in Intramual swimming and by being elected Pike's community service chair for the spring 2008 semester.

"It feels great to be part of such a large dynasty chapter. Two thousand is such an outstanding number and it shows how successful this organization is, and has been continually over time. It is nice to be part of such a large family," says Jesse.

However, joining a fraternity wasn't something Jesse particularly saw for himself in the beginning. Deciding to give it a shot, Jesse went into rush with an open mind. Beginning at a few houses, he finally reached Pike and stopped there without question. He was immediately impressed by the professional attitudes of the Brothers and some of the prominent people from the University who were present. "Instead of focusing on partying, Pike actually showed what the fraternity had to offer," said Jesse. "Other fraternities were trying to recruit you but Pike had a more business-like approach."

Since then, his experience as a Brother has been nothing but positive. As a pledge, Jesse learned time-management through a list of goals that the pledges were given to accomplish, from raising money to community service. Ironically, his pledge class was able to complete 2,000 community service hours.
Not the first O'Shea to join this chapter, his older brother Joe O'Shea '04 is a Rhodes Scholar and FSU's current Student Body President. Jesse is in the process of working with his brother to start-up the first student run United Way that will provide volunteer work not only for Pike but for the whole Greek community.

"I am extremely proud of Jesse," said Joe. "He has already made great contributions to the chapter, and I am excited to see him develop with the fraternity over the next few years. His inspirational passion for service to others is something any great fraternity must have."

Jesse is very active in community service and helping others. Not only is he a Service Scholar but also a part of the Social Justice Living and Learning community at FSU and a member of the Center for Civic Education and Service which provides a database of volunteer opportunities available. As community service chair, Jesse's goals are to help Pike branch out and become more active in the community as well as becoming involved with more causes.
"Pike is not like any other party fraternity," says Jesse. "They are really part of the community. It has been an outstanding opportunity."

[Article contributed by Chris Koch '01 and Kerry Sweeney ]