By: Riley Harker/
Zeta Chi began its pledging process along with the other Greek Life organizations at Howard Payne University on Sept. 19.
Greek organizations at HPU provide students with opportunities to come together as a team, share experiences, and grow as students and believers in Christ.
Zeta Chi, a previous Greek organization at HPU, had been inactive for several years due to past concerns regarding its pledging process.
Emmanuel Young, a sophomore allied health major from Kilgore and current president of Zeta Chi, said that he felt called to restart the organization.
“Transferring over from DEO was about building it (Zeta Chi) from the ground up, basically,” said Young. “It was hard in the beginning, because of how fast everything was happening, so we talked to Kailee Torgerson after chapel and just said, ‘Hey, we’re in. Let’s do this.’”
Young was also interested in reshaping the tarnished image that people previously had of Zeta Chi and creating a new face for the program.
He said he hopes to reshape the tarnished image that some previously had of Zeta Chi and create a new Christ-centered identity for the group.
“We added some things, changed a couple of titles, and rephrased the purpose, making it more Christ-centered,” said Young. “But it’s just using what was there, which has been the hard part because they got banned for dances and not doing the best things.”
He added that changing that image has been challenging but believes the group has a strong foundation of members to begin with.
As part of the pledging process, Zeta Chi is doing a study through the book of Galatians and its six chapters.
“This is super cool because pledging goes on for six weeks,” Young said.
With pledging underway, Young said he looks forward to a meaningful pledging process and hopes to transform Zeta Chi into a Christ-centered organization.
Staff Writer, Riley Harker