Originally published via Daily Press.

This school year marks a new chapter in the stories of four of Christopher Newport University’s sororities and fraternities.

Members of fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon and sororities Phi Mu, Alpha Sigma Alpha and Alpha Phi move into their brand new chapter houses this weekend, the first official homes for Greek life on CNU’s campus.

Construction on the $19.3 million project started last April, a quick turnaround for an undertaking that’s been envisioned for closer to a decade.

Most of the occupants of the houses, which hold around 24 students, are upperclassmen, and the organizations average around 100 members. Each building has living areas, a kitchen, a laundry room and a chapter room for meetings. The four houses flank a large green space near the tennis courts.

The addition to campus, Vice President of Student Affairs Kevin Hughes said, is a big deal.

“It’s an opportunity for them to live together and kind of strengthen their brother- and sisterhood, and bring in some of their other brothers and sisters into the chapter,” Hughes said. “The chapter room is a space that is their programming space, nobody else on campus can use it, which is a really nice benefit for them.”

The houses are all similar but have their own unique touches; Sigma Phi Epsilon’s front door is painted a specific shade of red to match the rest of its chapters across the country.

Six more houses will come in line eventually, according to CNU’s capital projects plans in a June report. The current occupants were chosen after an extensive vetting process.

The hope is that by having dedicated spaces for some of the Greek life, their impact will be felt across campus.

“I think what it does is it brings people together in a way that they can see how they can contribute as a subset of the community to the larger community,” Hughes said. “And that’s really important for us, because we put a lot of emphasis on, ‘You have an obligation as a student here to give back to the community,’ so the expectation for all of these folks is, ‘You’re a critical mass. How are you going to use this space, this lawn, to create a sense of community within the community, not just for Greeks but also for the larger campus?'”

Student body president and member Michael Bamisile, ’17, was helping with move-in day Saturday morning. He said he also sees the organization as enhancing all of student life, not just the other men he considers brothers.

“It was a goal for us since I first came in to get this house,” he said. “We’ve been working very, very hard, and it goes back to the idea of serving. Serving is a thing that our fraternity very much focuses on, and to see us get rewarded for that, it’s a wonderful feeling. It just pushes us to continue working hard and to serve the CNU community.”

Sigma Phi Epsilon member Billy Pell, ’17, said he felt the impact of joining the fraternity the spring of his freshman year.

“I decided that I wanted to join Greek life because I wanted to improve myself academically — I didn’t really have a good start my first semester,” Pell, a senior, said. “I wanted to build my professional resume and just wanted to have a group of guys who would push me to be the best person I could be. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I’m so grateful.

“I’m at where I am today because of Sigma Phi Epsilon. The amount of leadership opportunities and academic opportunities are absolutely incredible. It’s like you have all these guys who want to see you succeed and are cheering for you.”

Jane Hammond covers education for the Daily Press. She graduated with a journalism degree from Mercer University’s Center for Collaborative Journalism in May 2015. She previously worked for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The (Macon) Telegraph, AL.com/The Huntsville Times and Georgia Public Broadcasting.