John Petrie Recruits

APO has been and continues to be such an wonderful part of my life and a true learning experience for me. Among all the happy memories I have collected thus far, I still find myself particularly fond of memories made during my pledging process. It was during those weeks where I forged truly unbelievable friendships and stuck my feet into the world of service here at Penn State. As my pledge semester ended, I felt strongly about putting my positive experience to good use and wanted nothing more than to have a role in making the process as enjoyable for others as it had been for me.

             In the Spring 2014, I was fortunate enough to have that chance by being elected as one of three recruitment chairs. Nate, Iman, and myself were able to take part in and nurture the very early stages of this process for all of the new potential pledges and hopefully have helped some of them decide that APO was the right place for them. It was an incredible feeling knowing that I had the ability to share something that made me so happy with new people and watch as they began to harbor the same feelings.

            For myself, the most exciting memories were during the first and second Meet and Greets where I was able to see all the brothers and pledges talking and getting along so nicely. It was at that moment that I realized what an absolutely fantastic pledge class I had the pleasure of working with and how thankful I was to able guide them on their way, even if it were only for a short time.

            Through the next few years, there will undoubtedly be many more amazing pledge classes but I think this one will always be special to me. The recruitment position has made me understand APO better than ever and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with Nate and Iman as recruitment chairs.

LFS,

John

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