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Building Balanced Men

SigEp Volunteers and Chapter Officers,

 
Although the academic year is nearly over (April, 2010), the momentum at SigEp is building up. Hopefully, you had a chance to peruse the latest issue of the SigEp Journal which outlines our strategic plan and the focus for the next academic year. You’ll see that the Fraternity’s mission has been refined to “Building Balanced Men.” With these three words, "Building Balanced Men," we capture the essence of SigEp’s value to its members: charting a course for men to live their best lives by embracing our cardinal principles of Virtue, Diligence and Brotherly Love and committing to the practice of Sound Mind and Sound Body.

The men of SigEp can follow this course through every role in their lives. I’ve never been more excited to work at SigEp than right now, when every element of our short- and long-term plan is designed to deliver on this mission.

Why the change?
The mission has been “Building Balanced Leaders for the World’s Communities” since 2001. The previous mission allowed the Fraternity to build a range of local and national programs, which allowed men to enhance leadership abilities and forge a strong brotherhood.

Going forward, we will continue to refine and improve these leader-oriented programs, while we also focus on the holistic elements of balance that create a man’s best life as leader, brother, husband, father, mentor, community servant, and citizen.

With an estimated quarter million members, SigEps live, serve and work around the globe. Every day, they have significant impact in business, government, community service and academia. Our mission is carried out through chapters and by cultivating the connections alumni have with one another.

What’s next?
As a volunteer or undergraduate leader, you will be hearing more from me about how your chapter can challenge itself to take a deeper look at the ways you are building balanced men. For now, get the conversations going. Talk to your chapters and peers about the new mission and consider the new opportunities you might explore. Include the new mission in your chapter and alumni communications. See more on the website and download several new logo treatments you can start using right away.

Three important words: Building Balanced Men. That’s what the experience is all about. How will you do your part to reinforce the mission of Sigma Phi Epsilon?

Fraternally,
Brian C. Warren Jr.
Executive Director
cc:
District Governors
National Board of Directors
Past National Board Members

Balanced Man Program

The Balanced Man represents the ideal SigEp.

 

In striving to attain this ideal, we promote the development of a healthy, sound, body, because the body is the vessel of the mind; and the understanding that the development of the mind reaches its full potential only if the pursuit of knowledge becomes a lifelong quest.

 

In addition to fostering individual scholastic achievement, SigEps learn to work on a team comprised of a large and diverse membership, all the while developing lifelong friendships reflecting who we truly are, an inclusive society of friends.

 

The Balanced Man Program is recognized as a:

 

1. 4 year continuous personal development program
2. Eliminates the pledge program - full member from the first day
3. 4 stages, relevant to each year's needs; increased retention
4. Sound Mind and Sound Body
5. Program has proven to support the chapter towards increased membership and higher GPAs

 

The Balanced Man Program is the Fraternity's award-winning leadership development program. First implemented by Sigma Phi Epsilon in the fall of 1992, the BMP is a self-paced, personal development experience. The premise of the Balanced Man Program is the idea of "Universal respect for self and others." SigEps are encouraged to live a balanced life based on the foundation of the Balanced Man Concept of sound mind and sound body.

 

In standing with the notion of a "Universal respect for self and others," SigEp has eliminated the pledge process completely. The program grants all members the same rights and privileges from day one, which is contrary to the idea of a two-tiered, pledging model. Because we recruit the best men year-round, we can grant them full responsibility as soon as they accept the invitation of membership.

 

The Sigma Phi Epsilon Educational Foundation is committed to helping develop the Balanced Man, from avenues such as funding every chapter with free subscriptions to Men's Journal magazine to providing testicular cancer shower cards. Sigma Phi Epsilon continually exhibits its dedication to helping a man develop not just a sound physical body, but moreover a healthy, lasting vessel for the mind.

 

Throughout the four year, single-tiered member development program, the Balanced Man Program builds a bond of lasting friendship that fosters an environment conducive to leadership and academics. Our brotherhood is built through four challenges that evolve through a member's status in his college career.

 

The Journey of Brotherhood is comprised of five stages:

 

I.      The Sigma Challenge
II.     The Phi Challenge
III.    The Epsilon Challenge
IV.    The Brother Mentor Challenge
V.     The Sigma Phi Epsilon Fellow (the highest undergraduate honor)

 

The goal of the Sigma Challenge is to adjust and assimilate into the Chapter and campus community. In the Phi Challenge, members begin to understand the benefits of fraternalism. The goal of the Epsilon Challenge is to explore the issues a leader faces. Members develop and utilize the skills of a servant leader in the Brother Mentor Challenge.

 

Within the Balanced Man Program, SigEps are exposed to leadership, experiential learning, personal development, mentoring, and other positive activities that focus on a core of universal respect and balanced living. Members track their progress through the Quest workbook, which evolves with a member from the day he joins SigEp to the day he graduates. Member expectations are based on experience level in the academic, campus and personal aspects of their lives and link those to the value and ritual of our fraternity.

 

The cornerstones of the Balanced Man Program center on Mentoring, Community Involvement, Experiential Learning, and Brotherhood, and are not only the foundation for becoming a Balanced Man but also a mature professional.