The Unofficial FIRST Fraternity
 

While having a mid-morning conversation with Jac (Johca Gaorl), another FIRST alum, he and I decided on a great way to unify all the other FIRST alums out there, active or inactive.

The Unofficial FIRST Fraternity, Delta Omicron Xi!
DOX

There is no pledging, no dues, no work involved except supporting FIRST (either now or in the past)

All we ask is just put the Greek Symbols in your messenger system profile (or your chiefdelphi signature)

I think it's a great way to show your support for FIRST and that you're a college student, since there's no such thing as a high school fraternity.

And yes, it's CO-ED. :)

So here's how to post it if you run microsoft on your computer:
Type DOX (all capital) and set the font to symbol. You should get the Greek symbols Delta (a triangle) Omicron (a circle) Xi (the closest thing we could find to a square).

If you run Wordperfect rather than Microsoft Word, use the font WP Greek Courier and type ) _ = (i know, that looks extraordinarily weird) ...That's close parenthesis, underscore, equal.

If there's fonts I'm missing, and someone has the free time to figure them out, post!

What better fraternity to belong to, than one that supports something you love anyway?

Hey I am all about it! Excellent idea.

Uhh...this is a weird idea......

I know here at Purdue there is a fraternity that is only for Engineers, Scientist, and Architects.

http://expert.ics.purdue.edu/~deltat/

I think there is atleast one person previously from FIRST in this frat, atleast I've seen his car there.

Oh well, just thought I'de point that out.

What, no pledges? But you are missing all the great opportunities:

"Okay, go run headfirst into this pile of plastic bins"

"Balance on this ramp while holding this huge rubber ball eight feet high"

"Do a pull-up on this bar while all the other pledges are trying to pull you down"

:)

Eric.

i like this idea...:D

Maybe I'm just being a stupid high school person, but I really don't get the point. I mean all you do it put the letters in your profile or signature. Its not like most people who read such things don't already know you're involved with FIRST, and the few that don't know won't know what DOX is anyway.

And where did you get DOX from? Its kind of random.

DOX is a triangle circle and a square (well the closest greek symbol there is to a square) i.e. the first logo. It's just an insider joke kind of thing, it's cool :)

Perhaps we'll start a pledge thing at some point, any more ideas?

Oooh... I get it now. Thanks :)

I still don't get the point of the whole fraternity thing though :confused:

It's just the idea that nationally you will be recognized as being a college supporter of FIRST. It's the concept that you will be able to look to your "brothers" for support and recognition, as well as, laughs and time to spend together.

It's just the idea of being together and having fun in the spirit of FIRST outside of the actual FIRST community.

It's doing things like driving 7 hours to a football game at a FIRST alum's college because your school is the opposing team. it's just something fun and unifying.

Wow Band Chick. You're expressing exactly what I've been feeling lately. I'm a freshman in Buffalo - the land of no teams. I'm 7 hours from my family/team and it sux. Thanks for this idea, in some strange way it helps me feel still part of the FIRST community!!

don't forget to put "font=symbol" "/font" (replace the " with opening and closing brackets) around the DOX. :)

But we have that already without needing to put three letters in your profile or signature. That existed before this fraternity so there's really no point.

I half-agree with Sarah... but then again... if you look at the "real" Fraternities and Sororities... they are a bunch of people who pay money to hang out with each other... and then they run around bragging their Fraternities' Greek Letters which means nothing to anybody else, so in real life this isn't anything different from Fraternities, except that they are "official", but I see what Sarah means... Idk.. I kinda like the idea though, cause it's a Fraternity not basing itself around drugs and sex... which many fraternities seem to be for even if they don't say it.

Doesn't this step on the toes of the non-existent FIRST-aholics Anonymous group?

if it is non-existent how would it be stepping on thier toes??

ouch!
 

ouch people, let's calm down here. first of all, this was just one person's idea and i think its a cute one. is it really a problem if we have two or more "unofficial" groups supporting the same organization - FIRST? let's all calm down here. if you want to support the fraternity and are in college, then put the letters up. if not, then don't get mad about it......jeez people. FIRST is nice....let's be gracious.

I'm not trying to be mean or anything, I just don't see the point and was trying to figure out if there was something major I've been missing and apparently there isn't. I could understand if it was a more general fraternity getting people with similar interests together and involved with FIRST, but right now its not doing anything at all. I understand the whole concept of "brotherhood" and camaraderie but FIRST and Chief Delphi and Tigerbolt do that anyway so I just think its kind of redundant.

I think the key word there is "non-existent." Were it still around, yeah, it might be, but given that it isn't as of now, I'd say no.

I think that's the real idea. It's just something fun to do, I suppose. If you don't like it, don't do it. It's that simple.

Agree :-). Everyone have their own opinion about what is cool and what isn't. If forming a Fraternity will make people appeciate FIRST a little bit more, I say go for it!

I for one will stand aside and see how this turns out however. Have fun :-).

Jeff is 100% right, it was just something fun that Jac & I came up with. It wasn't a requirement, I just thought it was a cute concept. Yes, chiefdelphi and tigerbolt DO both do this, it was just ANOTHER step.

Please relax a bit...it wasn't meant to be a serious beginning of a fraturnity or anything.

Join if you want, don't if you don't; it's as simple as that.

My, my, don't knock it before you try it!
 

I think you may have been watching a bit (way) too much TV. Fraternity life at Purdue was probably the best time I have ever had. Most of my best friends were also my brothers from the fraternity. Most people who were not in a Sorority or Fraternity seem to mock it yet they were always first in line to get on the list to come to the parties. As for hazing and pledging, I definitely don't agree with any physical abuse but going through it and getting a bond with your brothers is exactly what makes our US military so effective.:(

I could care less one way or another about a fraternity of FIRSTites (perhaps it's because I feel that the West Coast is quite removed from the rest of FIRST, and esp. those that hang out on CD). I am a bit concerned about the fact that there IS a DOX sorority out there. The first thing that went through my mind when I read this was: What would happen if a real frat/sorority existed and found out about this? They probably wouldn't think anything of it if it's just putting the letters in one's .sig file. What happens if it turns into something more? Just something to think about.

indieFan

I think that maybe both FaH and the Fraternity should exist. The more the merrier as they would say. The more organizations we get promoting FIRST (as long as they work collaboratively together) the more promotions we get out there, and hopefully the more teams and team support we create. BTW I'm the owner of the non-existent FaH. If anyone cares to do anything with the page feel free to email me, otherwise we'll go with the Fraternity. TTYL.

since there will be a regional in rochester NY in 2005, we are HOPEING to see some teams spring up in buffalo

the HS I graduated from: Hutch Tech, would be a natural - its a magnet school for students who plan to be engineers.

Kool idea, joining. . .

I was concerned about this when I first read your post. Fraternities and Sororities can be very protective of their letters. However, I was not able to find a Delta Omicron Xi by doing a google search. Searching for DOX turns up Delta Omicron Chi, but that is different.

So I guess the thing to be carefull of is DOX, but as long as you do it in greek letters, you'd be ok.

how bout a rush party at nats? :cool:

Or we could get a house in New Hampshire right next to Dean. Then he would probaly move out :ahh:

Want any more crazy ideas?

what if they made you part of the hazing process?
every pledge has to best you in a pool fight....

we could make Dean an honorary brother ;) then maybe he'd be more inclined to stay nearby.

a pledging task:

if you can manage to interrupt an awards ceremony by falling off a stack of boxes and have everyone clap harder for you than for the award winners, you succeed.

or, if you can break a table without sitting on it (or realizing that it is previously broken)

or if you can trip over a box on the way to collect your FIRST off-season competition award.

YSara

w00t!

I like this idea of a FIRST fraternity. It's great for those college and beyonders that love FIRST but don't actually belong to a certain team anymore or can't be there to help out their old team because of school and/or work and stuff. Because if you think about it, every team is it's own little club supporting FIRST and each one has a tight bond and has their own inside jokes and everything, but those who aren't on a team don't have that. With the fraternity, you could feel like part of a group again.

Great idea for a fraternity. However it sucks for those of us liek me whoa re in a fraternity know and cant write DOX or wear the letters. Also if you wanted to have a dox shirt you could go to greek101.com and have them made.


And ps people in fraternities dont pay to have friends join one and you'd know.

what the hey - I'm in! :D

sounds cool to me :)

Re: The Unofficial FIRST Fraternity
 

Agreed. I would join but I'm already a Sigma Kappa. Though I think the idea sounds really cool, watch out for Natl & Local groups who may have the same letters and don't forget to keep it really loose. Maybe a meetup or group outing at Nats, but anything more and it gets way more messy than it's worth.

Good luck!

Re: The Unofficial FIRST Fraternity
 

i sent this reply to rpifirst in a private message, but meh, i am going to post this now. who says that you cannot be in more than on fraternity/sorority? My big brother for Mu Upsilon Alpha (my co-ed fraternity) is also a sister of Tau Beta Epsilon (co-ed sorority) and there are no regulations regarding such a thing. maybe someone can prove to me that this is NOT allowed in your fraternity/sorority, and if not, well, then i apologize for cutting you out of the mix, wasn't my intention.

as well, regarding other fraternitys/sororities with the same letters, i have searched and the closest i found was Delta Omicron Chi which is NOT (sorority) the same as Delta Omicron Xi.

I haven't started planning for nationals yet, but i am hoping to have a meet-up the same day as the CD web hug, so stay tuned for news. As well, i'm hoping to have buttons or some paraphenalia that says DOX on it.

Check back closer to regional time, and good luck to all my DOX brothers during build season!

Re: The Unofficial FIRST Fraternity
 

Ok, it's almost that time. Unfortunately, funds do not allow me to make buttons for the people that are a part of DOX. *tear* But, i DO want to have a meet-up. Since I know Anne is planning a College get-together most of us could meet-up there, but I figure I'd kill two birds with one stone and have everyone meet-up for a few minutes after the CD webhug. Just to bring this thread back up from the archive depths let me know what you folks think. Even those of you that like the idea and can't subscribe to be part of Delta Omicron Xi please feel free to show up at this meeting =)

Also, I'm going to be around some east coast off-seasons this year, hopefully sporting one or more of my new shirts (see my new who-am-i) so come say hi! I'll also be at IRI and if I have the funds by then I'm hoping to have something *crosses fingers* to give out to ya'll.

Re: The Unofficial FIRST Fraternity
 

Are Canadian University students allowed to join? :)

Chris

Re: The Unofficial FIRST Fraternity
 

of course! I said college students involved in FIRST, doesn't matter where you live. The British team students and the Brazillians (and anyone else I may leave out) is welcome!

Re: The Unofficial FIRST Fraternity
 

Hey bandchick the letters look really cool. Another really good looking set would be to have the delta be red, the omicron be white ,and the xi be blue. This set with a white outline and a blue shirt would be really cool and allot like the FIRST logo.

Re: The Unofficial FIRST Fraternity
 

i was going to attempt to do something like that, but i ordered those online (from the site you mentioned, thanks!) and i wasn't sure how much more it would cost me to get each letter an individual color, but that's the t-shirt i'm looking at next.

thanks!

Re: The Unofficial FIRST Fraternity
 

I was bored, and thought it would be a good idea to imitate the FIRST logo with the greek letters. The result is my logo. What does everyone think?

In other news, I'm in talks with Kettering admin about establishing the first official Unofficial FIRST chapter of DOX. We're just a group of FIRST alumni and college mentors that love mentoring our respective teams during Build season (Winter break). Does anyone have any (low budget) thoughts/ideas for what we can do on Campus to enhance FIRST?

Re: The Unofficial FIRST Fraternity
 

fantastic idea dan, go you. i think starting an official chapter is a great idea, and when we get one started at kettering we can look to clarkson and rutgers next as they both are really FIRST schools.

my suggestion is to rent out a table in your student centers (and maybe a VCR), put on a tape of a regional/national competition. have silly FIRST logo giveaways, have a random brochure, stuff like that. and if possible, borrow a robot. or build your own. nothing says FIRST and draws attention quite like a 130 lb. robot. just my $0.02

hit me an email (sunflowr212@comcast.net) and let me know some more details about this so i can start planning for one at rutgers, and even better, a national chapter meet-up.

Re: The Unofficial FIRST Fraternity
 

ok, i figure that most of the people interested in this have or will read this thread, so here's where i'm postin' the stuff. i want to have a DOX get-together either the same day or the day after of the college student get-together. tell me which you prefer.

I'm giving out homework as co-founder! bring a list of things you'd like to see happen and progress with this Fraternity. list ways you think the fraternity can grow, be publicized, structured, etc. you don't even have to talk in our "meeting" about them if you want, just toss me a list and i'll review and type everything onto CD when i get home from atlanta.

Also, I want to order shirts. Decide ASAP if you want one. the deadline is Monday April 19th. RIGHT after nationals. If you are going to be at nationals and you want one, tell me. I'm ordering sewn-lettered shirts (see my who am i) AND screenprinted shirts (see swadan's avatar) most likely.

If you want a shirt you need to tell me the following:
sewn on letters (my who am i photo)
*what color t-shirt
*what color letters (you can also choose a pattern from here scroll down under sewn-on letters and look for the patterns link)
*what color border (if any)
*what size
*how many

screen-printed (swadan's avatar - no green bkgd)
*what color t-shirt
*what size
*how many

ok, email! or in person! ready go! SEE YOU IN ATLANTA!

I'm going to cross-post this in the college get-together thread too, so don't waste your time re-reading it!

Re: The Unofficial FIRST Fraternity
 

Sara, Hey how's it going.. I did not realize that you were BandChick when I met you at the NYC regional this year. I do recall that shirt though.. lol

Anywho.. you have any idea's on prices of the shirts if I was interested in one??

Re: The Unofficial FIRST Fraternity
 

hahaha, well, now you know. as far as shirts go i'm going to get a quote online (greek101.com) and from scarlet fever (THE fraternity store on campus) tomorrow. I'm planning on no more than $20 for the sewn-lettered shirts (less if we all get the same colors hopefully) and around $10 for the screen-printed shirts. Though those may even cost a bit more because of the 4 colors (black,red white & blue). I'll update tomorrow after physics and after i grill the salespeople ~.^

Re: The Unofficial FIRST Fraternity
 

ok, here's the story:

i have an approximate count of students involved (and a few seniors that have told me they are interested) and that leaves me at 14, including myself and jac.

EMAIL ME if you are going to nationals. now. like right now. sunflowr212@comcast.net

The meet-up is planned for right after the web hug, as the chaos begins to disperse. i have a small quick activity planned, so i need an approximate headcount (hence the necessary emailing).

If you can't make this meet-up I will be (hopefully) attending the team underground meet-up and will be attending the college student meet-up, so you can talk to me there.

My brain is on chaos mode at the moment, so forgive me if this post seems somewhat stressed and crazy, I just want everything to be organized and ready for Thursday.

Hope to see you all in Atlanta!