From TriangleLabs
Smile, you’re the president
Posted by Garrett Brown on MAY 7, 2010 at 2:59:59
Holy shit, not another one of these things, I remember thinking as the zillionth flyer was shoved into my hands on Bruinwalk. I was a second-year Mechanical Engineer on the UCLA Triathlon team and my free time was quickly evaporating. Before trashing the flyer, however, I glanced at the rush events... Blowing stuff up with liquid nitrogen? Hell yea!
To summarize the next two years at Triangle, I rushed, I pledged, I joined, I drank a little, danced a lot, worked my ass off and got elected president (somewhat in that order). I was excited, I knew what to expect. Fame, glory, females and a cool gavel all come with being president, right?
While I’m still waiting for some of the above, I have received something that I consider valuable and worth sharing: a lesson in deferred gratification. We live in the ADD generation. I remember calling in Red Hot Chili Peppers to KROQ and waiting a full hour to hear my song. I once drove all the way across town to rent Fight Club; now, the number of instantly-accessible movies on Triangle's modded Xbox puts Netflix's “Watch Instantly” to shame. Leading a fraternity, I've discovered, has been a huge departure from the thrills promised by instant gratification. When ill-timed midterms cut the attendance of a sorority dinner by two thirds, all the preparation, personal invitations and hours spent crawling Culver City for the right shade of the sorority's flower become hard to justify. Your social menagerie doubles when your face is taped to your organization and its social lifeline is transfused into your veins. You are the role model to whom problems, from inconsequential ones to identity concerns, are brought. And you’re expected to smile.
How much faith do I have that my efforts today will make a difference in the character of our men as they enter the high-tech workplace? I start to search for signs of this development. At our dinner table, I high-five a Triangle man for rocking an interview setup by an alumnus at Symantec, the largest maker of security software in the world. Before our general meeting, I join a brother who hates public speaking as he musters the courage to stand in front of sixty attractive, confident sorority women, singing a song and wiggling his butt. Later that night, I see Triangle men celebrating a top-10% grade on a Thermodynamics midterm and, without being asked, leave their own party to escort a guest safely home. In the fierce competition of the workplace, this bundle of true character makes the difference between the silent but efficient engineer and the equally intelligent, personable, emotionally-aware engineer. The bonds I’ve built with these men are permanent. I’ll hear about a patent acceptance or job promotion and join them to celebrate. I’ll be there when they marry. We’ll exchange the Triangle handshake, and I'll smile.