Latino "griegos" growing

More than 30,000 people are members of Hispanic fraternities and sororities, triple the number of the early 1990s, according to the National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations and written in an article on North Jersey.com.

This is important, according to the article, as the feeling of alienation is one of the factors, in the low numbers of Hispanics who attend and stay in college. A 2004 study by the Pew Hispanic Center found that Hispanic undergraduates are half as likely to graduate with a degree as white undergraduates.

As a member of the fraternity profiled in the article, Lambda Theta Phi, and the first in my family to graduate from college, the feeling of unity and inclusion was also huge for me. So was the service aspect of the fraternity (no, not all party all the time).

The cultural challenge, however, was in convincing mami and papi that joining a fraternity, even though it was a Latino fraternity, was a good idea. Their idea of a fraternity is what they've seen on TV and they reminded me of the movie Animal House. I did convince them of the benefit and today are proud of me and my fraternity brothers who have gone on to successful and professional careers.