What started as a project for an entrepreneur class senior year turned into a website to connect Greek life across the country: IGreekU.

Quinnipiac students Jenna Kuhn and Marc Vandal and now-alumnus Michael Fitch, Ryan Unger and Phillip Papas, came together one year ago and generated the idea of creating a central website for Greek life as their company for the class. They wanted to differentiate themselves from the typical Facebook group that many fraternities and sororities use and make one big website where everyone can connect.

Through the website people will be able to share and connect their thoughts, upload photos, post files and discuss different events.The website will have three different feeds: one for each person’s individual chapter, one for the entire Greek life at Quinnipiac and one for each chapter to connect across the country.

“We are all very excited about this,” Kuhn said. “We can’t wait to be able to show this to the public and get more people involved because we think it’s really going to revolutionize the way that Greek life is and hopefully bring it together into a more close-knit community.”

As freshmen in the spring of 2008, Fitch, Unger and Papas all joined Tau Kappa Epsilon here on campus where they became good friends. Once hearing about this project in class their senior year, they did one-on-one interviews for more group members. In the end, they chose Kuhn and Vandal to be an additional part of their team. As they worked on the project, they made progress and found in May that they had a very important decision to make.

After coming second in the class competition for company, they thought about making their website a reality and applying their business to the real world.

“That was a tough decision to make especially when you are graduating, are you going to put the time and effort into doing that at the same time as having a job,” Fitch recalled. But with the support of their friends and professors they went forward in continuing the website.

After graduating, Fitch worked on the website daily for about six months in order to prepare to launch.

“Starting your own business doesn’t come as easily or as fast as you think or may want it to,” he said. “So it took a lot of time before it would be ready.”

At home, Papas has taken a leadership role for the store, creating boxes and boxes of products for merchandise that has been handed out to begin to promote the website and sell once the website begins. They have Frisbees, stadium cups, coozies and pens all marked with the website logo. Additionally they have utilized social media such as Facebook and Twitter to promote their website.

In the next few weeks the creators hope to have members of Quinnipiac Greek life using the website so that by May, universities all over can utilize the website. They want to use Quinnipiac as a trial-run to see what features are liked and disliked and what people use the most.

“My ultimate vision is that hopefully by next fall, the beginning of next semester, to have multiple universities using our site,” Fitch said.

The creators understand that there are parts that they are going to need to make changes to, but they need feedback in order to do so. Kuhn is a member of Alpha Delta Pi at Quinnipiac and says that she really hopes to make use of this website in her own chapter.

Students around campus have shown their excitement for the launch of the website as well. New to Alpha Chi Omega, Kiera Murphy shared her thoughts about the site.

“It really can tie together the common bond that these organizations across the country have with one another,” Murphy said.

The creators have high hopes for the website and are anxious to see if their company will prosper.

“My hope for the company in the next year is for it to start changing the way Greek life is done on not just a person-to-person level, but on a digital level as well,” Unger said.

Sorority and Fraternity members here at Quinnipiac will be able to start using this website in the next couple of weeks.