First Look - Fall 2026

And so my question was, what does Chi Alpha mean to me? And I guess I'll start with how I got introduced to Chi Alpha.

It was my sophomore year.

This was around the time I was starting to say yes to Jesus.

And so like any logical person, I was like, well, if I want to get to know this guy Jesus, maybe I'll get to know his friends.

And so I remember I was playing basketball at Cary Street, and I met this guy named Dante, if you guys know him.

Yeah, he's my top three, top three people of all time.

And so I remember I saw, like, a flyer or something for Chi Alpha, and he was in it.

So I went up to him, and I was like, hey, man, like, you know, are you part of this group Chi Alpha? And I expected, like, a nonchalant, like, yeah, man, like, what about it, like, whatever.

But he was super welcoming.

And, you know, I was, like, encouraged to show up.

I think it was the cookout.

That was the first event I came to.

And so I get here, and I remember thinking, like, man, you know, these people, they're not going to be able to understand me.

They're not going to be able to welcome me because I come from, like, maybe a different bit of community.

You know, these people aren't going to understand some of my struggles.

They're not going to understand what I'm going through, whatever.

But I went anyways.

I was like, you know what, screw it.

If I don't like it, I'll leave in 10 minutes.

Grab a hot dog on the way out.

And so I get here and I'm talking to Tristan.

And I was like, I had such a great conversation with him.

And I just like, I felt heard for a second in this community.

and I was like man that was like such a such a positive experience and so you know really just that catapulted from there on you know just coming back for Marcus and Dante small group that was my sophomore year being a hell of a community of men like that just where I could go and be vulnerable and be heard and there's no shame there's no guilt there's nothing like that you know they just they want to hear you they want to love you they just want to reflect the Lord and so I just thought that was, you know, such a transformation in my heart and the way I viewed this community and not only this community, but everyone else on campus.

And so as a result of that, going through a small group, I started saying yes to the Lord more.