Lambda Beta Chapter History
By: the Brothers of Lambda Beta Chapter
In the year 1999, there were very few organizations that catered to Latino/Hispanic male students in Sam Houston State University . Five individuals wanted to bring something different to campus. At first, there were plans to create a car appreciation club but that changed to a more culturally oriented cause. Twenty-three members were recruited by the name of H.E.R.M.A.N.O.S. (Himself Exemplifying Respect, Maturity, and Nobility on Society). A few months later, the university recognized them as an organization of fifteen members. These men, in the fall of 1999, found the most honorable Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity Inc. and applied to become part of the brotherhood. They worked hard with only seven members that had the appropriate GPA at that time. These men got the news that they received colony status to start the education process. During that time, they spent countless hours traveling to Houston , Prairie View, and College Station . They began as a line of seven, but ended as a ship of six on the twenty-seventh day of March of the year 2000. That is when Sigma Lambda Beta-SHSU colony was born. These are the six men that started it all:
• Ricardo Valdez • Christian Hurtado • Edward Piña • Esteban Pecina • José Martínez • Reynaldo Salas
The colony was strengthening itself by helping out the town of Huntsville with many community service projects, letting others know that Sigma Lambda Beta had come to campus with a myriad of inter-organization get-togethers, and recruiting and initiating admirable men of good virtues into the organization. In order to have chapter status, a colony had to have at least ten initiated men. On the day of February 23, 2002 during the weekend of Battle of the Betas, the SHSU colony had just finished winning third place when news that their chapter status application had been approved. This is the next celebrated day in the Lambda Beta Chapter history; this is the day the SHSU colony was turned into the Lambda Beta Chapter of Sam Houston State University. These are the honorable Brothers that were active at the time:
• Ricardo Valdez • Nicolás López • Edward Piña • Andres Torres • Reynaldo Salas • Javier Pérez • Javier Gonzales • Guillermo Ramírez • Abiel Martínez • Kurt Shipley • Daniel González
After that day, the newly found chapter continued to strive for success. Out of the many males in Huntsville , only a select few were initiated to be brothers of the most honorable Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity, Inc.-Lambda Beta Chapter. Up to this day, only seventeen additional men of excellent standards have been initiated to this chapter. Of course, this is still not the end of the Lambda Beta Chapter for there is much more to come…