Two weeks after leaving Montreal for a new life in Florida, James Levi (Florida Atlantic, 2026) found himself sitting at a Shabbat dinner as a freshman at Florida Atlantic University, surrounded by people he barely knew.

He was still adjusting to everything: a new school, a new country, a new campus, a new culture. Greek life was unfamiliar. AEPi was completely unknown. The idea that the room he was sitting in would help shape the next four years of his life — and the person he would become — was impossible to know in that moment.

But sometimes, the most important turns in life begin quietly.

Brother Levi had gone to that Shabbat because his parents encouraged him to. He sat down, began talking with an older Phi Alpha AEPi brother and listened as people explained what the fraternity was, what it meant, and how it could become a home on campus.

A few days later, he decided to rush. He was late in the process, so late that by the time he signed his bid, it was Friday afternoon, just before inductions. He still wasn’t entirely sure but looking back now, he is.

“I’m so glad that I took that journey,” Levi said.

What began as an uncertain decision became one of the defining choices of his college career. It gave him a brotherhood, a purpose and, eventually, a platform to lead a remarkable chapter transformation.

James did not arrive at AEPi expecting to become the face of Phi Alpha chapter’s ascension. Like many new members, he first had to find his place. But once he found it, he began building.

As a sophomore, he became the chapter’s External Philanthropy Chair, a role that connected him not only to his brothers, but to the broader fraternity and sorority community at FAU. He learned how other organizations operated, how campus philanthropy worked and how to motivate people to show up for something larger than themselves. “That was probably the beginning of where I understood the whole Greek community,” Levi said. It was where he began to understand “what it means to give back to the community” and how to help brothers see why their presence mattered.

That role taught him the public side of leadership: how to communicate, how to inspire and how to help people feel connected to a mission.

His next role taught him the internal side. As chapter exchequer, Levi was responsible for the chapter’s finances and operations. It was detailed, demanding work, and it placed him at the center of almost every part of the fraternity. Brothers came to him with constant questions: How do I pay dues? When are payments due? Can I use a payment plan? Can I pay by Zelle, check or another method?

For many leaders, that flood of questions would have simply been part of the job. For James, it became a problem to solve. “So, my idea was to automate these answers by having AI answer these questions,” he said.

A computer science student with a deep interest in artificial intelligence, Brother Levi built a custom AI-powered platform for his chapter. It was more than a chatbot. It recognized brothers individually, understood their roles in the fraternity and personalized responses based on chapter information James had entered into the system.

It could answer operational questions. It could remind members about finances. It could even add humor and personal touches based on a brother’s position or background. The result was immediate. The chapter became more organized. Payment plan adoption increased. James had more time to support the executive board and strengthen programming.

In a way, the platform reflected James himself: thoughtful, technical, practical and deeply invested in helping the chapter function better so the brotherhood could become stronger.

By the time he became chapter president, he had already seen the fraternity from several angles. He understood the relationships. He understood the numbers. He understood the pressure points. Most importantly, he understood the potential. He did not want Phi Alpha to be defined by old stereotypes or low expectations.

“We’re not a frat. We are a fraternity,” Levi said. “It’s not just about the partying… it’s really about becoming the person that you want to be.” That idea became the emotional center of his leadership.

For James, being president was not about finding himself under pressure. It was about creating himself, intentionally, deliberately and with the knowledge that others were watching. He wanted to become the kind of leader who could carry responsibility without losing sight of the people around him.

That meant pushing the chapter toward stronger professional development, deeper academic commitment, greater campus involvement and more visible Jewish pride. It also meant changing the way brothers thought about participation.

Instead of relying on fines or threats to fill a room, James wanted to build a culture of respect. He understood that people do not become invested because they are punished for showing up. They become invested because they believe in what is happening. They come because they feel valued. They come because their leaders are there first.

“The leader is never in back telling people to move forward,” Levi said. “You have to be in front and have people follow you.”

So, he led from the front. He showed up to events. He sent videos to brothers. He invited them into the experience instead of shaming them for missing it. He tried to make the chapter feel less like an obligation and more like an opportunity.

Slowly, the culture shifted.

Brothers began showing up not because they had to, but because they wanted to. The room filled differently. The energy changed. The chapter started to believe in itself.

That belief became most visible through Phi Alpha’s work with the Gift of Life Marrow Registry. The chapter made Gift of Life a major philanthropic focus, and the brothers threw themselves into the cause. They hosted events, raised money, swabbed students and brought the campus into a mission with life-or-death meaning.

Through their efforts, the chapter raised approximately $40,000 and collected hundreds of swabs. Then came the news that made all of it real: two matches. Two people had found potential lifesaving donors because of the work Phi Alpha had done.

“For us, that was the proof of concept,” Brother Levi said. “We’re having an impact.”

There are moments in fraternity life that become stories, and there are moments that become something more. This was something more. It was the kind of achievement that reminded every brother why service matters, not as a line on an application or an award submission, but as a shared responsibility.

For James, it showed what AEPi could be when its members were united behind a purpose. It showed that a chapter could be social, ambitious, joyful, and deeply serious about repairing the world at the same time.

While Phi Alpha was growing stronger, James was carrying his own extraordinary academic load. He maintained a 3.9 undergraduate GPA while studying computer science and taking graduate-level coursework toward a master’s degree in artificial intelligence. In his graduate work, he earned a perfect 4.0 GPA.

The work was not easy. There were late nights, sometimes studying until 8 a.m., balancing the demands of chapter leadership with mathematics, computing, research, and advanced technical coursework.

His research also earned recognition. At FAU’s annual Research Symposium, Brother Levi won top presentation honors in the medicine category for an AI solution connected to nystagmus, a condition involving involuntary eye movement that can cause symptoms such as vertigo.

And then came one of FAU’s highest honors: the Stan and Renee Wimberly Award, given to one exceptional student among approximately 30,000.

It would have been easy for James to separate those accomplishments from AEPi, to see academics, research, leadership and brotherhood as different parts of life competing for his time.

He does not see it that way.

To Brother Levi, the pressure was part of the formation. The responsibility shaped him. The expectations strengthened him. “The weight doesn’t get lighter,” he said. “You just get stronger.”

That sentence captures much of Levi’s story. He did not wait for life to become easier. He grew until he could carry more. The recognition soon followed, for Levi and for the chapter.

Levi was named FAU Fraternity Scholar of the Year not once, but twice, becoming the first two-time recipient of the award. He also became the first student to win FAU Fraternity Scholar of the Year and FAU Fraternity President of the Year simultaneously.

But the Phi Alpha chapter’s achievements were just as historic.

At FAU’s Standards of Accreditation and Excellence awards, Phi Alpha was named Chapter of the Year across all 28 fraternities and sororities, the first time, according to Brother Levi, that a single organization had been selected for that honor across all four Greek councils.

Phi Alpha also earned Excellence Awards in Brotherhood, Scholarship, Greek Relations, and Community Service. Add in the chapter’s AEPi International Gift of Life recognition and Levi’s individual honors, and the year became something almost unbelievable: 10 major awards in a single year.

At the ceremony, James kept walking to the stage. Again and again. “It was surreal,” he said. “Every time I would go up… people were confused. Even the announcer said, ‘AEPi again?”

But what looked like a sudden breakthrough had been built over months of work: hundreds of pages of documentation, countless events, stronger relationships, late nights, early mornings, brothers showing up and a chapter deciding that excellence was not out of reach. It was not luck. It was culture.

For Phi Alpha, that culture also meant standing proudly as a Jewish fraternity during a difficult time for Jewish students on campus.

Levi understood that Jewish leadership could not exist in isolation. It had to be rooted in community…within AEPi, within Jewish life at FAU and across the broader campus. Under his leadership, the chapter strengthened relationships with Hillel, Chabad, Olami, SSI, Owls for Israel and other organizations.

He and the chapter helped reenergize their connection with Chabad, attended Shabbats, joined Jewish learning opportunities, and participated in major moments of Jewish remembrance and celebration, from October 7th programming to Yom Ha’atzmaut events.

But Levi also believed in building bridges beyond the Jewish community. Through campus relationships, educational trips and advocacy opportunities, he saw the importance of bringing others into conversation, not only to support Jewish students, but to create understanding.

He represented AEPi and FAU in rooms far beyond Boca Raton, including leadership programs, regional retreats, Israel education opportunities, advocacy trips and even the White House.

For a student who had arrived from Canada just a few years earlier, it was almost hard to comprehend.

Still, what mattered most to him was not the prestige of the rooms he entered. It was whom he represented when he entered them.

He represented FAU. He represented Phi Alpha. He represented AEPi. He represented his brothers. And when James talks about what he will remember most, he does not begin with the awards. He begins with the feeling.

“It’s the sense of community,” he said. “I came from Canada not knowing anyone, and within two weeks, you’re surrounded by all this positivity.”

He arrived in a new country, unsure of where he belonged. A brother welcomed him at Shabbat. A bid was signed at the last possible moment. A chapter became a place to lead. And that leadership became a legacy.

James is quick to say that none of it happened alone.

Among the awards, the applications, the philanthropy, the academic recognition and the campus-wide praise, he keeps returning to the same truth: the brotherhood made it possible.

“It wouldn’t have been possible without them,” he said.

That humility matters because it reveals the deeper lesson of his time in AEPi. Leadership is not about standing above a chapter. It is about helping a chapter see what it can become and then standing beside the people willing to build it.

Now, as James prepares to graduate and begin his career in quantitative technology services on banking in the New York City area, he leaves Phi Alpha in a position of strength. The chapter is respected. It is visible. It is known across campus not only for what it won, but for what it represents. Levi hopes the future is even bigger.

“I want AEPi to be the model for FAU, and I want Phi Alpha to be the model chapter for AEPi,” he said. That is an ambitious vision. But after the year Phi Alpha just had, it no longer feels impossible.

James Levi’s AEPi story began with uncertainty, a Canadian sitting at a Shabbat dinner in Florida, unsure if fraternity life was for him. It ends, at least this chapter of it, with a brother who helped raise money, save lives, strengthen Jewish community, elevate academic standards, inspire campus leadership, and guide Phi Alpha into the spotlight.

But in truth, it does not end at all.

Because AEPi has never been about just four years.

It is about becoming.
It is about brotherhood.
It is about carrying the weight until you grow strong enough to lift others with you.

And, for Brother James Levi, it was about taking one uncertain step…and turning it into a legacy.

#ProudtobeaPi

(Editor’s Note: AEPi is celebrating all of our graduating students over the next week or two. Send us pictures from graduation to help us! And, remember, AEPi is not just about your undergraduate years, AEPi is a lifetime commitment! Make sure that we have your updated contact information (email us at [email protected]) so we can keep you in the loop!)