Mr. Darren Chan

Every college student finds him or herself having to balance the demands of schoolwork with extra-curricular activities.  A normal student may find himself skipping a club meeting or a bible study session to study for a midterm or write a paper, but I feel that in the fraternity, members hold each other to a higher standard – as actives, we are expected to make the grade in school as well as fulfill our obligations to the fraternity.  Lambdas are superbly loyal, sometimes even to a fault – we miss class, and sometimes slip on our grades while caught up in service to the fraternity.  Some people might say that it is impossible to be a good Lambda and a good student at the same time, but I don’t believe this to be true.  Throughout the years, there have been superb actives who went on to be superb professionals in their fields.  Being successful in juggling these activities is possible, but it takes the same discipline to do so that one needs all throughout pledging.

 Like many new actives, immediately after I crossed I found myself going to every fraternity event, participating in every activity both mandatory and optional.  Even when I had nothing to do, I would be with my pledge bros or other actives.  School was placed on the backburner, as I no longer held the mentality I had during pledging – that I needed to excel at school as well as service.  The temptation to be idle was great, and that winter quarter I ended up posting the lowest GPA of my UCLA career, including the first recorded C that I had ever had in my life.  My parents assumed that my falling grades were a result of the fraternity, but after that quarter I became determined to be an exceptional active as well as an exceptional student.  I ended that spring quarter with a 3.0, but I was still not satisfied .

As I rolled into my first year as an active and my third year as a UCLA student, I felt intense pressure to succeed in school as well as a strong responsibility as an active.  After picking up a little bro in the fall, I did not miss a single pledge-related event, nor did I miss a single class throughout that fall.  First year actives bear little leadership responsibility in the fraternity, but they do much of the work, and I found it extremely stressful to balance 18 units with the rest of my responsibilities.  In order to focus, I began to cut out many of the excesses in my life – being lethargic, playing video games, watching television – while still having the fun and memorable moments that all first year actives should enjoy.  That year, I completed the majority of my coursework for the English minor, crossed a little bro and a little sis, fulfilled my role as AGC representative, and boosted my grade point average.

As a second year active and fourth year, I now know that my role in the fraternity has changed.  My class and I are no longer the workhorses of the fraternity, but now we hold many of the leadership positions and have seen five classes cross after us.  I believe I have settled in my role as an older active, and have focused my attention on the younger classes, not in pledging them but teaching them and cultivating their maturity as they become older actives.  My coursework has also improved greatly, as I have posted only one grade lower than an A minus in my past ten classes taken, and I have not retaken or dropped a class since my pledge year in Fall of 2004.  This past winter I helped cross the final class of my Lambda career, Alpha Sigma, and made the Dean’s Honor Roll with a 4.0 and 18 units.  With my last installs and graduation on the horizon, I hope to impart the same lessons I have learned in the fraternity to those around me – I see younger actives around me slacking the same way that I have, but I also see those who dedicate themselves fully to both Lambdas and their coursework.  I feel fortunate that I can leave UCLA with a bright future to look forward to, but also keep with me the memories of those I suffered with, worked with, and laughed with – the brothers of Lambda Phi Epsilon.

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