The future is never an easy thing to predict, for anyone, let alone a chapter that is built to continuously change. Every year, we have men pass through our chapter into the “real world” and out of their college years, just as we bring new outstanding young men into our brotherhood. These young men came to college seeking an education, to learn, grow, and find their way through college and prepare themselves for graduation. Few of these men grew up with a hatred for the disease that is Multiple Sclerosis. Some have never even heard of it. And yet, within days, weeks, or months, their passion to end this terrible disease burns as bright as any other man within our fraternity. Watching these young men become exposed to friends, family, and members of the community we encounter who are currently battling MS, or know someone who has, is a spectacle I wish everyone supporting us could see. At first, most of them don’t know how to react. There’s a mixture of sadness, fear, and confusion. But then, as they get to talking, interacting, and learning about the stories of these people, their emotions turn to passion of which I have rarely seen in men in their late teens and early twenties. And like the flip of a switch, they have no greater desire than to join us on our journey, and be part of our driving force to find a way to end MS.
To be a graduating senior of this chapter, I feel a sense of reassurance, calmness, and joy when I see this transformation. It gives me faith in knowing that our organization has done its job, and has broadened the horizons of these young men we’ve come to know and love. While this battle that our chapter takes so personally only started three years ago, seeing the passion and drive of our younger members is a reassurance that they will continue to share their experiences and stories with every member that comes through Alpha Tau Omega at Grand Valley State University. They’ll meet the incredible men and women from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society of Michigan who have taken us into their organization like members of their own families, and made our journey far more meaningful than we ever imagined three years ago.
While this will be the last Walk Hard that I experience as an undergraduate student, I speak for far more than just myself when I say we move on confidently, and know that our mission to see the end of MS will be aided by our members, somewhere along the path of this chapter. Just like days on the trail, somewhere down the path, whether 5 miles away or somewhere much further than that day’s horizon, an end to MS is slowly approaching. And when it does, we will all have something to truly celebrate.