THON organization pairings are some of the most sacred bonds in Happy Valley. Typically when you think of a THON pair, you probably think of a fraternity and a sorority coupled together. But that’s not always the case.

For Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, their perfect match came in the form of Eclipse, a special interest organization (read: specifically dedicated to THON) that started last year. This is the first year the two organizations have been paired together.

Looking for a change in how they do things normally, Tau Kappa Epsilon THON Chair Jon McCoubrie wanted to restructure how things are done at the fraternity. There were plenty of potential partners.

“There were a couple of options, but it was pretty late in the ball game when we were looking for partnerships, so we ending up going with Eclipse,” McCoubrie said.

Tau Kappa Epsilon has mostly partnered with sororities in the past, like many fraternities. But after the closure of the fraternity house for the duration of the 2017-2018 school year, older members like McCoubrie were in the market to switch things up for this year. It seems as though the process of partnering with an THON org has been an easier transition than they thought.

“I feel like it’s a good [pairing]. They’ve really helped us in different ways than a sorority would,” McCoubrie said. “They operate a lot like how we operate, so the communication was there. It was different and new, but it’s worked out great.”

Overall it seems that it’s been a successful partnership for Tau Kappa Epsilon and one that might start a wave of other fraternities partnering with new groups.

“I think it worked out great, it was a great decision. We didn’t have a house this year which was one of the reasons why we didn’t want a sorority, so partnering with a non-Greek organization we could do stuff differently,” McCoubrie said. “I think it’s worked out for the best.”