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thejambar.com thursday, december 4, 2008 3

Greek life. The mere men-tion of the term conjures up im-ages from movies like AnimalHouse, Old School, and Ac-cepted. While there is sometruth to the old stereotypes of redplastic cups and all-night parties,theres more to Youngstown StateUniversitys 100-year history offraternities than this.

Dennis LaRue, copy editorand staff writer for the BusinessJournal, said Greek organizationsdominated the universitys socialscene during the 1960s.

They pretty much ran the ex-tracurricular activities on campus,outside of sports. They ran home-coming, orientation, all the mainsocial events If you wantedto have any sort of social life atYSU, you joined a fraternity or asorority, LaRue said.

He said academic organiza-tions have grown in the yearssince he attended YSU.

You look at the Greek organi-zations now, and Im pretty surethe academic groups outunumberthe social groups by two to one,maybe even three to one, hesaid.

Alumni participation in Greekorganizations is a little mixed.LaRue said most of his class-mates are still active with theirfraternity brothers and sororitysisters, but they dont try to con-nect with the newer members.Every four or six years, youhave an entirely different studentbody. I cant think of any other

institution which has that kind ofturnover, he said.

Amanda Foster, a worker forthe YSU Pan-Hellenic Counciland member of Alpha Xi Deltasorority, said her sorority encour-ages alumni participation withspecial tailgating parties and thelike. We really dont have thatmany alumni, though. Our chap-ters only been around since 1996or so, she said.

Another problem alumni sup-porters of the Greek life faceis having their organization

changed. Sigma Phi Epsilon, oneof the larger social fraternitiesduring the 1960s, had its charterrevoked in recent years after anincident involving a handgun.Alpha Xi Delta was originally achapter of the Xi Delta Gammaduring the late 1980s. The 15Greek organizations operatingon YSU today are a more evenbalance of academic and socialgroups than they were during the60s. Yet, despite the changes tothe student body and the Greeksystem, the reasons for joiningsuch organizations have stayedfairly consistent

You have a chance to developyour potential, to be a leader, tobe a better student and to devel-op lifelong friendships, LaRuestates.

Foster has considered pursu-ing a career in the Greek life, pos-sibly advising a local chapter orworking with a national ofce. Idenitely hope to stay involvedafter I graduate, she said. Ivemet so many great people andfound all kinds of opportunitiesthat would not have been avail-able if I didnt join my sorority.

Lffsof

thsparty

ABOVE: Members of Kappa SigmaKappa fraternity painting classrooms,on May 9 1952.

ABOVE: Phi Kappa Tau

Homecoming oat.

LEFT: The Sigma Delta Betahomecoming oat.

ABOVE:Members of Alpha Phi Delta fraternity rally outsidetheir fraternity house.

Doug DierkesCOLUMNIST

ABOVE: The original YU mascot, Pete the Penguin,going for a walk.

penguinpower

At 3 a.m., theres a goodchance that the average collegestudent is asleep or out party-ing.

Frank Marzullo was givingthe weather. The YoungstownState University alumnus, how-ever, describes the time as wellspent.

Waking up at 3 a.m. to

give the weather and then takeclasses part time was probablythe most difcult but rewardingpart of my college experience,Marzullo said.

Marzullo, a 2003 YSU grad-uate, spent seven years work-ing at the NBC station WFMJ21 in Youngstown before mov-ing in August 2007 for his cur-rent employment at WXIX TVFox19 in Cincinnati.

After transferring from theOhio University during hissophomore year, Marzullo rstgot started in Youngstown aftersending out resume tapes to dif-ferent stations.

The rst station to contacthim was WFMJ 21, and Mar-zullo started working as theweekday morning and noon

weather forecaster in January2001.

Marzullo said he was try-ing to juggle classes while alsomaintaining his position at thestation. It took me ve yearsinstead of the normal four toget through college since I wasworking so early and takingclasses.

I also had a tough time inSpanish class. I had to takeit three times before passingwhich made my graduationdate even longer and in thesummer instead of the spring,Marzullo said.

The YSU events Marzullosaid he remembers most are theHomecoming festivities, theForte on the Fifty and the Sum-

mer Festival of the Arts.I remember the arts aspect

of YSU. I liked the McDonoughMuseum the best. I went thereto look at the student art andclear my mind of tornadoes andsuch, he said.

Marzullo said YSU is an ex-cellent school, especially forthose wanting to get back intoeducation. He also said the uni-versity is very supportive andgives a great background forunderstanding. Plus, he said,a penguin mascot is kind of

cool.Marzullo said he really en-

joyed going out into the cityand being with different com-munity organizations duringhis time as weather forecasterin Youngstown.

Now stationed in Cincinnati,Marzullo said he still loves themorning weather hours, buteven after eight years of fore-casting he never became accus-tomed to the early morning.

Im sick of napping all thetime. I get home at 9:15 a.m.,which is nice, but I waste myday sleeping. Thats the onlydrawback with this career, hesaid.

Even though Marzullo saidhe loved Youngstown, he leftthe area to try new things.

Marzullo said he learned thatYoungstown is an area rich inpersonality and full of goodpeople. I surrounded myselfwith close friends and familyduring my stay in Youngstown,and YSU gave me the truedenition of a family-orientedschool community, he said.

Marzullo, also a member ofthe National Weather Associa-tion, said his career involves alot of work and dedication, buthe advises that if anyone pur-sues meteorology, the experi-ence is worth it.

Dont be afraid to take littletown jobs to work your wayup, he said. Dont be afraidto move around and developyour skills.

Sun alwaysshines for alumJeanette DiRubbaREPORTER

Images courtesy of ysu dIgItal archIves.

Images courtesy of ysu dIgItal archIves.

LayOUT by bRIaN CETINa

LEFT: Students took time to paint the rock in 1995.The rock, frst painted in 1965 and located betweenthe amphitheatre and Kilcawley, moved to its currentspot it 1970.

ABOVE: Pete the Penguin in 1995.