Page 4 - Phi Dleta Theta MIT - Winter 2018-19
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get to know our new pledges:

        13 PROMISING MEN ACCEPT BIDS TO BECOME BROTHERS AT PHI DELTA THETA

                            RITAANK TIWARI                       GRIFFIN LEONARD   a concentration in Mandarin. In my free time,
                            CLASS OF ’22                         CLASS OF ’22     I enjoy playing soccer, learning new languages,
                            Hometown: Los                        Hometown:        reading any interesting book I can find, and
                            Gatos, California                    Hermosa Beach,   meeting awesome people at MIT. Over these
                               My parents are                    California       next four years, I look forward to taking advan-
                            both from India and                     I spent most of   tage of everything that MIT has to offer, and
                            immigrated here for                  my life in Southern   bonding with my fellow Phikeia and the broth-
                            higher  education.                   California. I plan to   ers of Phi Delta Theta.
                            I have one older                     study some combi-
                            brother who is cur-                 nation of computer
        rently studying computer science at UC—Berke-  science and brain and cognitive science. I am   KEITH MURRAY
        ley. I am humbled to have the opportunity to   on the water polo team and was also on the    CLASS OF ’22
        study at MIT, and will make the most of it. I   swim team in high school.                    Hometown:
        am a member of the MIT varsity fencing team,   During Campus Preview Weekend I stayed        Indiana, about 30
        and am currently running for freshman class   in Theta Tau, so I spent a lot of time exploring   minutes outside
        council. I look to the future with excitement   different fraternities and when I arrived at MIT,   of Louisville,
        and optimism.                        I was pretty sure I wanted to join a fraternity. I      Kentucky
                                             learned about Phi Delts through the brothers on            Growing   up,
                                             the water polo team. During rush I met more of          my family always
                            DIEGO ESCOBEDO   the brothers, and I really loved Phi Delt’s sense       pushed me to re-
                            CLASS OF ’22     of community and how welcoming all the broth-  ceive a world-class education, and thus, I was
                            Hometown:        ers were. I ultimately pledged Phi Delt because   driven to come to MIT. Many people from my
                            “...Well, it’s   it is a very diverse group of people committed to   area didn’t tend to value education as highly
                            complicated.”    improving themselves and others.     as I did, so for the majority of my high school
                               Cambridge  is                                      experience, I went to a small boarding school
                            now  the seventh                                      in northern Indiana. At this boarding school, my
                            city I’ve lived in, so               ALEX HOMMA       drive for education began to follow me outside
                            when I have to tell                  CLASS OF ’22     of the classroom and into my daily life. Outside
                           people where I’m                      Hometown: San    of classes at MIT, I am a member of the varsity
        from, it’s a struggle. San Francisco, São Paulo,         Antonio, Texas   heavyweight crew team, the MIT Digital Hu-
        and Mexico City have been the most recent lo-            and Monterrey,   manities Laboratory, and the MIT Paul Revere
        cations. Having lived almost all my life in warm         Mexico           Army ROTC battalion.
        climates, Massachusetts’ bitter winters were                In both places,   When it came time for rush, I didn’t know if
        a factor I put in the “negatives” column while           I grew up surround-  I wanted to join a fraternity, but if I did, I knew
        considering schools. Ultimately, MIT’s strength          ed by a melting   I wanted that fraternity to have the same com-
        across a variety of departments, the focus on           pot of diverse cul-  mitment to excellence and education I have.
        undergraduate research, and the vibrant, tight-  ture—from languages I could not understand,   Phi  Delta Theta soon  became  the  obvious
        knit community more than made up for other   to celebrations and holidays from every part of   choice, and I haven’t had a dull moment since
        extraneous factors.                  the world. Throughout my childhood, the inter-  pledging. I look forward to becoming more in-
           I am currently planning on majoring in 6-3,   actions I had with people of all backgrounds   volved at MIT, and more specifically, becoming
        and minoring in 15-2 and 17. I have a passion   fostered a curiosity in me that led me to learn   more involved in Phi Delta Theta.
        for data, numbers, and information—hopefully   everything I could about other cultures. As a re-
        combining those areas of study will allow me   sult, when I looked into which college I wanted
        to do something that will make an impact on   to attend, I knew that I wanted a place that was   FAUSTO URIBE
        the world.                           not only academically elite, but also full of peo-      CLASS OF ’22
           Joining the frat was not an easy choice; my   ple from diverse backgrounds, whose personal   Hometown:
        only exposure to fraternities had been through   experiences could teach me  something new   Mexico City; San
        the stereotypes presented in movies and TV   and help me grow as a person.                   Antonio, Texas
        shows. However, after CPW and rush, I realized   This desire led me to MIT and, more spe-       I am mostly in-
        that frats at MIT are nothing like what is present-  cifically, Phi Delta Theta. Aside from the diversity   terested in comput-
        ed in popular culture. Everyone is smart, driven,   of Phi Delts, I value how joining a fraternity has   er science—though
        and passionate, while still knowing how to have   provided me with an amazing support system   I have no specific
        a good time. I am having the best time of my   for all aspects of life, and made meeting and   area of interest yet. I
        life. I am learning new concepts and ideas ev-  networking with exceptional people so much   am originally from Mexico City, but moved to
        ery single day at a breakneck pace, while main-  easier.                  San Antonio, Texas, when I was 12 years old.
        taining a minimal level of stress, thanks to the   Outside of the fraternity, I am involved in   Growing up, I was passionate about math but
        support system provided by administration, my   the MIT Consulting Group and the Society of   also interested  in  creative  fields.  This  caused
        friends, and Phi Delts.              Hispanic Professional Engineers. I enjoy eco-  me to delve into several areas such as visual ef-
           The brothers here have made me feel so   nomics and business related fields, so I am   fects and music production, before finally stum-
        welcome, and I’m proud to be a Phikeia.  planning on majoring in 6-14 and 15-3, with   (continued on next page)

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