The ISU greek community has worked the last three weeks to make new members feel welcome at school with BANG – Being A New Greek.

“BANG was an opportunity to unite the new members from each fraternity and sorority and let them get a feel of what it means to be greek at Iowa State,” said Andrew Wrightsman, Interfraternity Council president.

BANG replaces the New Member Forum, a one-night educational seminar sponsored by the greek community before this fall.

BANG offers new greeks a chance to interact in groups and participate in activities and games, said Wrightsman, senior in management information systems.

The benefits and main objectives for BANG were to let new members talk about issues in the greek system, such as greek stereotypes and leadership opportunities, he said.

“The decisions [of new members] will affect our overall image, and this will help our recruitment process in the coming years,” Wrightsman said.

Bryan Rooney, Interfraternity Council vice-president of programming and new member education, said he sees BANG as a new beginning for new-member education.

“We have built a new foundation [through BANG] for new-member education at Iowa State,” said Rooney, junior in hotel, restaurant and institution management.

Interacting with other members instead of only listening to speakers helped out a lot, Rooney said.

Dan McCarney, ISU football coach, was the key speaker at the wrap-up of BANG Tuesday night.

Rooney said McCarney was chosen to speak for a number of reasons.

“He is a strong, positive figure in the ISU community,” Rooney said.

“The way he has brought the team together through hard work and communication is a good parallel on what we want to instill into our greek community.”

Wrightsman and Rooney both said the overall feedback from old and new members in the greek community was positive.

BANG will be held again next year, Wrightsman said, because it gave 68 team leaders, the members in charge, the chance to have fun and facilitate the event.

“I think it is important to share with the ISU students that the greek community is really trying to continue to become the best we can be,” Wrightsman said.

“We are recognized nationwide for our diversity, creative programming, strong chapters and our ability to make changes for the betterment of our members.”