Fraternities and sororities exist for high school students as well as college students. Like their college counterparts, most have Greek letter names. Although there were countless local high school fraternities and sororities with only one or two chapters, many secondary fraternities founded in the nineteenth, and twentieth, century in the United States grew into national organizations with a highly evolved governing structure and regularly chartered chapters in multiple regions. Many of the local chapters of these national fraternities were not tied to individual high schools but were instead area based, often drawing membership from multiple high schools in a given area. Finally, in 1988, West Philadelphia High School became home of ATOPHI Fraternity, a local high school fraternity that was not tied to or affiliated with a local college or national fraternity although inspired by the Black Greek-lettered fraternities and sororities. With the help of 4-5 others, Tony Dphax King lead the organization as president as well as introduced the fraternity to Temple University in 1990 - its first university chapt which included Orloff Phillips from Bethlehem, Pa. and eight others.
History
High school fraternities and sororities were inspired by and modeled after Greek-letter organizations which became prevalent in North Americancolleges and universities during the nineteenth century. In some respects, these fraternities and sororities are designed to better prepare individuals for college-level fraternities. The first known high school fraternity was Torch and Dagger in Council Bluffs, Iowa, founded in 1859. This organization existed with lapses from 1861 to 1866 and again from 1880 to 1893. In 1900 it was renamed Omega Eta Tau and began expanding nationally. Gamma Sigma was organized in October 1869 at Brockport Normal School. Gamma Sigma also became the first International High School Fraternity when it chartered a chapter in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada in late 1927- the Alpha Zeta chapter. LaSalle Sr. High School in Niagara Falls New York was also home to multiple fraternities and sororities, dating back to the 1950s. Alpha Zeta came into existence at the Union Classical Institute in Schenectady, New York on December 8, 1869, Alpha Phi followed one year later at the Colgate Academy and Pi Phi was founded in 1878 at Rochester Free Academy. Pi Phi spread to more than 110 chapters before lapsing into solely alumni chapters in the 1980s. Phi Sigma Chi, founded on November 28, 1900, in Zanesville, OH, may have chartered the most chapters of any high school fraternity: 117. Most of the American secondary fraternities that were successful in the twentieth century had national governing bodies, produced regular publications and convened in regular national conventions. They also each possessed a secret ritual and handshake and a Greek-letter name which, like college fraternities was usually derived from the abbreviation of a secret Greek motto. These groups were identified by a coat-of-arms and members wore distinctive fraternity badges or pins. In the 1900s, some state governments banned fraternities and sororities in public schools, driving them underground, or out of existence. California, for example, passed a law banning them in 1906.
