Alex Hassan

“I love working with people. I love the idea of bettering a person’s experience within an industry. Also the idea of just being social. I don’t want to sit behind a desk for ten to fifteen years. I want to go out and do my own thing.”

-Alex Hassan, Sophomore, Hospitality Management Major

I happened upon the subject while I was walking through the Oak Grove while I was walking back from a class in Stright Hall. It was fairly warm that day, my heart rejoiced not just for the weather- but for seeing that there were more people out and about than there had been over the past few weeks.

As I was passing through, I happened to glance towards my left to see a group of college students gathered around a table. Many of them were covered in shaving cream. It looked like someone had taken dozens of cans of it and lathered it all over them. I continued observing and noticed that other students were coming up to the table and were paying cash. That’s when I made the connection that people were paying this group of students money in return for a chance to pie them in the face. Approaching them, I debated over whether I should pay a dollar to pie them, or see if I could get an interview instead.

When I reached the table, one of the kids asked me, “Would you like to pay a dollar for Suicide Awareness Week? You get to pie someone in the face in return!”

The fact that it was for Suicide Awareness tugged on my heartstrings. I decided to see if I could make a deal with them. “I’ll make a better offer,” I told them. “I’ll pay you a dollar, if I can interview one of you guys for my blog.”

“What’s your blog?” one of the students- a girl with blond hair- asked me.

“The Faces of I.U.P.,” I told them. Quickly I added, “It is okay if you guys never heard about it, it’s a more recent development.”

“Oh no!” another of the students said. “We heard about you!”

That of course sent a wave pride washing through me. As humble as I could manage though, I said, 

“Cool. So yeah, I’ll contribute a dollar if I can get a quick interview one of you.” To be honest, I would have given them a dollar anyway. Suicide is actually something pretty close to me. Still if I could get an interview out of it, I figured why not?

That was when one of the guys raised his hand and stepped forward. His hair was coated in shaving cream as if he had personally taken some and ran it through his hair himself. It dribbled down the sides of his face and some of it had fallen on his shoulders. “I’ll do it,” he volunteered.

“Awesome!” I exclaimed appreciatively.  

We stepped off to the side so as to keep from getting in the way of the rest of the group and the people who were paying to pie them. Unfortunately we couldn’t talk too awful long. Still, I figured I would make the most of it.  

“What is your name?” I asked him, holding my phone close to him as you would a microphone, making sure I could get in decent audio.

“Alex Hassan,” he told me.

“What is your major?”

“Hospitality Management.”

“Cool. Where are you from?”

“Outside of Philadelphia.”

His response got me wondering. I personally come from an area that is so remote that I know few people ever heard about it. I usually have to say the name of the closest city in order to give people and idea. Wondering if Alex was in the same boat as I- I decided to see if I could find out more about the location. “Are you in one of those places that are so rural that you just say Philadelphia to give people an idea?”

He shook his head. “Nah. It’s pretty urban where I am. I live around at least fifteen to sixteen towns in my area. I live around one of the biggest malls. I’d say it was pretty urban.”

“Cool,” I said. Satisfied, I went on and asked, “What year are you?”

“I’ll be a junior next semester, so right now I’m a second semester sophomore.”

“How did you come here to I.U.P.?” I asked him.

“One of my best friends- he was originally a student here. He told me I should come out and visit one time. My first choice was Johnsontown in Providence, Rhode Island. It was a culinary school. I came and spent a weekend here, and I fell in love with it. The rest is history.”

I glanced in the direction of the table and saw that someone had just finished getting pied. I couldn’t withhold my curiosity any further. I went on and asked him, “So you’re out here taking part in this event with other students. Who is sponsoring this event?”

“Sigma Pi,” Alex told me.

“I take it you guys are a fraternity?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“What kind of fraternity is it? Is it a mixed fraternity or is it gender-specific?”

“No, it’s open to anyone we can get,” he informed me. “It’s a great fraternity.”

“What is this fraternity’s focus? What does it stand for?”

“Our focus is to try and develop good characters in young men. Basically it’s not all just about fun and games. It’s also about giving back to the community, and the idea of giving back in general.”

I nodded and then asked, “You guys are having people pay to pie you in the face-?”

“Yeah,” he cut me off. “It’s for Suicide Prevention Awareness. For the dollar that you donate, you get to pie Sigma Pi. It’s great because if there’s people who have any grudges, here’s a way at going at it.”  

(I’m not sure if he intended the pun or the word play, but inwardly I appreciated the cheesiness of it.)

 “Is Suicide Prevention something you personally care about?” I asked him.

“Absolutely. I think it’s something that goes unnoticed. I know that in a lot of high schools and middle schools, there’s a lot of bullying and it goes unnoticed by teachers in my opinion. I think that this is great because it’s getting word out there that something you say can be life-changing and life-losing.”

“Did you personally know anyone who committed suicide?”

“Personally, no. It’s unfortunate though to see it on the news. That’s why we do it. It’s really the idea of letting people know that there are people who give. That really there are those who care about certain people and even people in general. Nobody wants to see a young kid lose their life when it could have been prevented.”

I nodded in appreciation. I would have liked to have stayed on the topic further, but I realized that our time was limited. I wanted to know a couple of more things about his story. So I reluctantly went on and asked him, “How did you get into Hospitality Management?”

“I love working with people. I love the idea of bettering a person’s experience within an industry. Also the idea of just being social. I don’t want to sit behind a desk for ten to fifteen years. I want to go out and do my own thing.”

“Once you get your degree, what do you plan on doing with it?”

“Working my way up to becoming the general manager of a hotel,” he told me without pause. “I would like to move someplace down south or abroad. In Costa Rica I did a small internship there, and I fell in love with it.”

I thought that was pretty neat. “You’ve been to Costa Rica? What was that like?”

“It was a huge culture change,” he told me. “A lot of people are more naturally friendly down in Costa Rica. You can walk up to anybody and they’re very open towards people from the U.S. It’s a whole different kind of culture.”

“How did you get involved in that program?”

“I took a gap year after high school. I actually did a lot of things. I went dog-sledding in Minnesota, I got my EMT certification in New Hampshire. I went to New Orleans and helped build a house for 

Habitat for Humanity. I did all that and Costa Rica.”

“What’s EMT stand for?” I asked.

“Emergency Medical Technician,” Alex informed me. “They’re people who work in ambulances.”

“You’ve actually helped with that?” I asked in amazement.

“I did. But I don’t anymore. I don’t take blood so well, I get kind of queasy.”

“That’s understandable,” I agreed with a chuckle.

“Yeah, but it’s not real professional,” he added.

“How did you get involved in this fraternity?” I asked.

“A lot of my buddies were in Sigma Pi. When I was a freshmen I would hang out with these guys. I became friends with them. I didn’t even rush or pledge with them my first time. It came down to when I said to myself, ‘Why not rush?’ So now here I am.”

“Do you like it?” I know that many would argue that that’s a stupid question. Still, we may or may not be involved in things we don’t like and wish we could get out of.

“I love it!” he told me without skipping a beat. “Absolutely love it. I love being a part of a fraternity because there’s a community about it. Even without the Greek life.”

“Do you think people tend to judge fraternities?”

“Absolutely! I mean, take the movies for example. The movies kind of blow it out of proportion. 

They like to portray us all as a rowdy bunch who don’t get good grades. It’s much more than that. People don’t really want to open their eyes and try it tend to be more critical about it.”

“So do you think people should be at least a little more open-minded towards it? Even if it’s not something that they’re into?”

“I think they shouldn’t be as judgmental. That’s the main thing I know some people who walk around campus and when they see those Greek letters, they immediately make associations between us and this thing and that thing. I think it’s more ignored than embraced. In the end though we know what it is, and they don’t.”

“Did you feel pressured to join at all?” I asked.

“Absolutely not, I did this on my own. It took me a year before I decided to rush. It’s not for 

everyone though. Just try it before you judge it.”

Screaming erupted around then, and we both turned to see that someone had fallen victim to the shaving-cream pie. Alex turned to me and said, “Afraid I need to go. I think it’s my turn.”

“It’s all good,” I said in reassurance. “I feel I have enough. I’ll just grab your picture.”

“Here,” he told me, “let me get pied first and then you can take it.”

I thought that it would be pretty neat. I had yet to put up a picture of someone whose face was covered in something. I stood off to the side and waited. I put my belongings back in my bag and pulled out my Tablet so I could grab his picture afterward. More shouting took place as someone smothered the pie all over his face and even the top of his head. He joined me once more and I grabbed his picture. It took everything I could to stifle my laughter, but I couldn’t help but grin broadly at the sight before me.

Once I had taken his picture, Alex and I shook hands. “Thanks so much for doing this for me,” I said gratefully.

“Not a problem,” he told me. “Glad to help.”

Now that I am here on this blog, I would like to say that I personally don’t have an opinion on fraternities and sororities. I like to keep an open mind, and embrace the fact that just like any other group- they can do either good or bad things. The good including raising money for Suicide Awareness. I appreciate that there are people of like-mind such as Alex who take time out of their lives to raise money for a noble cause such as that.

Unfortunately I have come to the end of this post. Hopefully I’ll be able to find another face of I.U.P. to interview and post about before the end of this weekend. If not though, I just want to wish everyone a safe and happy weekend. For those of you celebrating any form of holiday this year- I wish you all an awesome one. Until next time, catch you all later!