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Fresno State's student-run newspaper

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Fresno State's student-run newspaper

The Collegian
From left to right: Cathleen Fagundes, Bailey Rodriguez and Devin Blagg (Courtesy of Kappa Alpha Theta).

Greeks celebrate 3.14 GPAs on Pi Day

By Jessica Johnson
Mar 14, 2017

About 467 members of Fresno State fraternities and sororities were invited on Tuesday to celebrate their 3.14 GPAs and above, on national Pi Day.

Pi Day is celebrated on March 14 in honor of the rounded-up ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, 3.14, which has been calculated to more than 1 trillion digits beyond the decimal point. Pi Day is celebrated by making puns, baking and eating pie, participating in pie-eating contests and much more.

The Greek chapters on campus honored their academic achievements Tuesday for Pi Day by offering free peach, apple and cherry pie.

Devin Blagg, liberal studies major, member of Kappa Alpha Theta and Panhellenic vice president of scholarship, said it is important for the Greek community to support and encourage those in that community who have high scholastic achievements.

“I think there is a misconception that, maybe, Greek students are not scholastic achievers,” Blagg said.

She said one thing people may not know is that the Greek community on campus has a higher cumulative GPA than the general student population.

“I think it’s important to reward students that are taking the time to push themselves in academics and being involved on campus,” Blagg said.

Various Greek organizations on campus, Blagg said, promote high academic achievements on campus by having mandated study hours, rewards, scholarship banquets and financial scholarships.

Blagg said she hopes such events that celebrate academic achievements will encourage members to perform well in school and gain an academic support system within their chapters.

Ahson Haider, sociology and pre-optometry major and member of Alpha Sigma Phi, said that before joining his fraternity, he had a lot of time on his hands and his grades were “average.”

“Once I joined this organization, it got me really involved in other things such as philanthropies — it kept me really busy,” Haider said. “Because I was super busy, my grades actually improved because I didn’t have as much time to waste.”

Haider said that joining a Greek organization has allowed him to learn time management skills, which can improve grades.

“It makes me feel like I’m on the right track,” Haider said, referring to the feeling he gets when his academic achievements are being recognized.

Haider said that because midterm season is here and “everyone is struggling to get by,” that encouraging events like Tuesday’s Pi Day help him see the light at the end of the tunnel.

He said, “It makes me feel pretty proud of myself — it allows me to strive for excellence.”

Jacob Perry, biology major, secretary of Alpha Sigma Phi and scholarship chair for the Interfraternity Council said the emphasis of academics in the Greek community is important because it fights the stereotype of “Greek people, in general, aren’t that smart.”

“This event shows that we do excel academically,” Perry said. “We had [467] Greek people get above a 3.14, so I thought that was really incredible.”

He added that 467 members is more than one-third of the university’s Greek community.

Perry, who is also a Smittmap Scholarship recipient, said he has always had a high emphasis on doing well academically.

“It’s important to me, that I have to succeed,” he said “I just have that drive to.”

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