I sat around procrastinating for hours on this hack, thinking of what I would write.

Should it be about the time I was waitlisted to Syracuse and almost said no to coming here once accepted? Or about when I almost quit The Daily Orange only to find myself becoming an assistant sports editor?

So I did what a wise man should do and I hit up my brother. Not my actual brother, though. My fraternity brother. After a 30-minute phone call, it was a no-brainer on what to write.

There are a lot of things I’m grateful for in my four years at Syracuse. The Daily Orange sure is one of them. My friends from freshman year that I still talk to are another. But there’s nothing that has helped me grow more as a person than Phi Delta Theta and the hundreds of brothers that have impacted my life so much that I struggle to find the words to explain it.

Courtesy of Charlie DiSturco

I get laughed at all the time from my friends that aren’t in Greek life about why I love it so much. Why I’m always busy with something pertaining to the fraternity. The typical “frat” jokes and all follow suit. But I embrace them all.

I remember when my dad visited for father’s weekend my junior year. It was the first father’s weekend, and the activities were so simple: a meet-and-greet, countless group meals and a visit to the bar with the dads.

But in just two days of seeing me interact with the rest of my fraternity, he saw what I fell in love with. I’m not sure if he even remembers telling me this, but at one point late Saturday night that weekend, before he went back to his hotel room, he turned to me.

“This is a special house,” he said. “You can tell you all really care about each other.”

As I type out that sentence, I still get goosebumps. Because in two weeks, I leave the place that has kept me going in my highest of highs and lowest of lows. The place that has turned me from a once-nervous, self-conscious freshman, to the man I am today. The place that has produced more than 100 brothers in my four years that I’d take a bullet for, no questions asked.

So before I graduate, I want to thank the one thing that has never changed. The place that has been my support system whenever I nearly broke, and has given me the confidence that whatever decision I make will be the right one.

Courtesy of Charlie DiSturco

Here’s to the times of staying up until 4 a.m. just because we wanted to hang out together. The times where I could just walk into the living room throughout the day and relax without any worries in the world. The countless hours of video games and fun activities when sleep wasn’t on our minds. The random spur-of-the-moment, late-night adventures that lasted until sunrise.

Here’s to the times where I needed consoling or advice and I didn’t have to walk more than five feet to find someone willing to help. All the random girl advice that now is so insignificant, but at the time was a huge deal.

Here’s to the seven philanthropies we ran in my three-and-a-half years of being a brother to raise money for ALS. The countless others we participated in for charities across the United States.

I can go on and on about the memories that I’ve made at Phi Delt. I know that I’ll be overcome with nostalgia when August comes and I’m not walking inside 210 Walnut Place to 100 of my best friends. That I’ll wish I could’ve taken a fifth year just so I can savor the memories even more.

Because when I look back at college, there’s one thing I will never forget. The memories from the greatest decision I ever made.

Damn Proud. 1699.

Charlie DiSturco was a senior staff writer for The Daily Orange, where his column will no longer appear. He can be reached at csdistur@syr.edu and on Twitter @charliedisturco.

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Published on April 28, 2019 at 8:52 pm