James Weber
Sphinx Club Paper
04/07/03
Being a Sphinx Club Rhynie
It is fairly safe to say that this semester has been the most challenging and rewarding semesters since I became a member of the Wabash Community. I am a strong believer in the adage: “Everything happens for a reason.” And it is no different than pledging the Sphinx Club. Despite the fact that there have been times where I have felt overwhelmed, or that I could handle what was being asked of me; I have noticed that over the course of these weeks I have been able to reach down deep in myself and find a way, no matter what. These feelings were also complicated by the fact that I was not only the only member of my house who was pledging, but I was also the first person to pledge the Sphinx Club in roughly a decade.
As I stated earlier, this semester has taught myself a lot about myself. Being that I was the only member from my house, and that there was no one even in my house in the Sphinx Club, I had to learn on my own. I’m not going to lie it was tough at first. Those first few weeks were extremely difficult because I wanted to do everything right and not screw up. I felt that if I did screw up, then I would be letting everyone down, including most of all members and my pb’s, and this was the last thing that I wanted to do. However, as pledgeship moved on and on I began to get into the routine of what I had to do. I have to thank my pb’s for helping me out when I had seemingly dumb questions or needed something repeated to make sure I understood what was going on.
Due to my own ignorance about the inside working of the Club, I had no idea how much Rhynies were required to do research on the history of Wabash. However, the research and papers served a great purpose in further enriching my knowledge of Wabash. To me, the papers weren’t even work. It was great to learn about Byron Trippet, whom before I had known only as a past president of Wabash, and the name attached to the new Center of Inquiry building, or how our school colors were attained. Before doing research on the track team, I didn’t know that they had an undefeated season, or that Coach Johnson was an All-American in both Track and Field in College.
This experience has taught me the value of dedication more than anything else. There were times where I felt so overwhelmed that I didn’t think I could do it. But every time those thoughts crept into my head, I would always tell myself that I made a commitment to other people and I would not only be letting them down if I quit, but I would only be hurting myself. This experience has changed me for the rest of my life. I now have a second group of pledge brothers who I can rely on and who truly will be my friends forever. No one ever told me that it was going to be easy, and that was partly what made me want to be a Rhynie. I wanted to see how I could challenge myself and see how far I could push myself, and I’m glad to have been accepted to be a Rhynie in the Sphinx Club.