The Fraternity Man
Adrian Haro-Sierrra’s Rise in Northridge
Adrian Haro-Sierra (right) discussing a topic with Jaciel Gonzalez in Phi Sigma Kappa. (Chris Riscen | Scene Magazine)
Willits, Calif. is a long way from Northridge for Adrian Haro-Sierra. A 22 year-old who needed a way to get involved in the Northridge community and did so by joining the fraternity Phi Sigma Kappa at California State University, Northridge in the Fall of 2020. Since then, Haro-Sierra has become a leader.
“Leading by example and having all my brothers. That’s one thing I pride myself on, you know. None of us are your typical knucklehead fraternity guy and we are all smart and level headed. We’ve had the highest GPA for a few semesters going straight,” Haro-Sierra said.
He is involved in multiple communities in Northridge, but he takes most of his pride in his fraternity. This is the community that formed him at CSUN and he wants to show people what Phi Sigma Kappa is all about.
During the pandemic, Haro-Sierra needed to find a sense of community and Phi Sigma Kappa, answered his call.
“On virtual I actually found the fraternity because I had advertised myself I guess on a new incoming Freshman page … I put myself out there because I needed roommates … and that’s how I had one guy reach out to me … and then eventually we started talking more and he told me about the fraternity he was in and I looked into it.” This is what led Haro-Sierra to eventually join the fraternity in the Fall semester of 2020 and gave him a community to be part of.
Adrian Haro-Sierra is from a small town of Willits, about eight hours away in Northern California. Haro-Sierra transferred to CSUN in the Fall of 2020 and went out of his comfort zone in doing so.
“I chose to transfer to CSUN because essentially I wanted to get out of the small town environment. I really wanted to branch out, get out of my comfort zone, try something that I will never get a chance at again because college is a good opportunity to just get out of your home and try something new, and Cal State Northridge I felt was not too into the city … but at the same time, it was part of Los Angeles so I could still get that city feeling from moving out here, so that's why I chose CSUN,” Haro-Sierra said. He took a chance on this opportunity however, 2020 was the year the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Haro-Sierra brought up how he handled the pandemic and said, “It sucks because I actually had transferred to CSUN and I had plans to move out, but with the whole COVID thing I never actually moved out because classes transitioned to online … so I stayed home for the first year and a half almost because I transferred when the pandemic started.”
One of the fraternity brothers that met him before joining was Jaciel Gonzalez, who eventually turned into his big brother in Phi Sigma Kappa.
“At first I thought Adrian was kind of different considering the fact that he’s from Northern California you know he’s not from the valley. But after getting to know him I realized how he is like the same person in terms of what he believes in and how he was raised. Although he does have differences in his hometown, he is a lot closer to people. He knows how to be diverse and get to know different people very well and I think that always stood out to me,” Gonzalez said. He was one of the Phi Sigma Kappa brothers Haro-Sierra met and has seen him grow in his time in the fraternity.
The pandemic caused Haro-Sierra to wait for some time to meet his fraternity brothers in person. Being virtual, he stayed in Willits while the brothers were meeting virtually. When he met some of the brothers for the first time they were memories he will never forget.
“Adrian is the type of guy who no matter what you are going through or what you need, even if he has school, family, work on his plate, he will always set time aside to help you out.”
“It was crazy. So I remember driving out here for eight hours for the process just to meet the guys and introduce me to the school and you know it was amazing to be open in their arms like one of the brothers he let me stay at his house, and keep in mind he has a girlfriend and a baby there so you know to let someone you never even met stay at a house with his child is really eye-opening to see how deep this was and it was just amazing to meet all the brothers and an amazing experience I will never forget it,” Haro Sierra explained.
Haro-Sierra even mentioned that he never thought he would be in a fraternity at all before transferring to CSUN. “Honestly looking back there’s no way I would look back and be like ‘yo when I go to college I am going to join a fraternity’. Never in my mind and now I am sitting here president and never thought I would be in a fraternity. But I think it has a lot of bad stigmas tied to it. That was my persona of it, before until you actually get to meet some of the guys and realize it’s not what the TV and movies make it out to be and it’s a lot bigger and deeper in what everybody thinks or sees,” Haro-Sierra said. Phi Sigma Kappa influenced him enough to join and is now currently the president and leader of the fraternity.
There were steps Haro-Sierra took to become president of a Greek community here at CSUN. Before he became president, he went from being the new kid on the block, to becoming part of the executive board of the fraternity as treasurer, and was one of the main enforcers in getting a house for Phi Sigma Kappa.
Haro-Sierra said, “Because I knew the atmosphere and everything would change once we got a house and you know there were a lot of guys looking for a house and it was a tricky situation of how close and waiting for the right opportunity and finally the right one came and we jumped on it as fast as we could and luckily here we are.” Haro-Sierra’s leadership in house hunting showed what he is capable of in the fraternity.
Haro-Sierra expressed, “When I finally moved in it was surreal you know it was sort of like a moment like I don’t know. Realization of where I was in life and not living with my parents anymore, living eight hours away from home, new journey, and it was just surreal just surreal. I couldn't believe it and to this day, I still think about ‘damn I am not home anymore.’ I am on my own out here.” Even though Haro-Sierra wanted to move to Northridge, he was on his own and had no family around him besides his fraternity brothers.
This leadership in this process showed that Haro-Sierra was capable of becoming a leader of a community at CSUN. He became the President of Phi Sigma Kappa because of what he has shown as a leader.
Christian Gonzalez is a newer brother of the fraternity and is actually Jaciel Gonzalez’s brother. Gonzalez gave his opinion on why Haro-Sierra is a great leader.
Adrian Haro-Sierra (right) hanging out with Andrew Concepcion, Jose Garcia, Brian Zuniga, Francisco Jacobo, and Franklin Solis-Rivas in the backyard. (Chris Riscen | Scene Magazine)
“For me what makes Adrian a great leader is willing to not just lead, but like always be in that situation where he has to say the first thing or have the last say, or make a big decision, but also listen to other people’s opinions, decisions, and kind of watch other people make the first move,” Gonzalez said. This is Haro-Sierra’s first semester as President and he is already showing his impact as a leader of the fraternity to a new member like Gonzalez. Gonzalez is comfortable with Haro-Sierra as a leader, but also brought up why you want a guy like him by your side.
Gonzalez said, “I feel like Adrian is the type of guy who no matter what you are going through, or kind of what you need even if he has school, family, work on his plate he will always set time aside to help you out.” He made a big rise from being new to being the President that is personable with everyone in the fraternity.
“Oh it’s big. You know when he first joined he was with only six people and he didn’t really know everyone, but we kind of pressured him to branch out and get to know everyone and that’s when he started to ask everyone ‘who are you?’, ‘where are you from?’, ‘what’s your major?, and like look at him now … It's been crazy how he’s grown as a person, but also his mentality and how he sees everything inside the fraternity” Gonzalez said.
Being involved in the Greek life community at CSUN opened up new doors for him to continue to fully embrace the community of CSUN and Northridge. Since he moved here, he got a job and became an University Ambassador and gives tours of the campus.
“One day I was walking around campus and I was like you know I really need to join another club this semester and then low and behold there was little signs on campus with a QR code saying ‘University Ambassadors fill out to join’ … it was fun it still is fun and is another community I am really proud to be a part of,” Haro-Sierra said. This is making him become more involved in this community he just moved to in October of 2021. Haro-Sierra is embracing his community for the lost time he had during the pandemic.
“I feel an urge or more like a need to reach out more because I did miss out on a lot and apart from that like I said I don’t have the connections I did back home. Here when I moved I just had my fraternity brothers. So just reaching out, joining clubs is what I have been trying to do,” Haro-Sierra said.
Haro-Sierra is a member of this community at CSUN and while living in Northridge, he is taking full advantage of his time here as he continues to grow.
