1. What is the Peterson Award and how did your chapter win the honor?
The Peterson Significant Chapter Award is the highest honor that Sigma Chi awards to its undergraduate chapters. It recognizes excellence in overall chapter operations and programming. Our chapter has been striving to win a Peterson Award for the past few years but have fallen just short. Through better programming events, more brotherhood participation and planning for Derby Days and increased emphasis on our ritual we were awarded a Peterson Significant Chapter Blue award for 2019.
2. What is the President’s Cup and how did you win the honor?
The Presidents Cup is given by the University of Maryland’s Department of Fraternity and Sorority Life and it recognizes the most outstanding Chapter in each of the four councils. This year Sigma Chi was awarded Presidents Cup champions for the first time since 2015. We achieved this honor through increasing our chapter GPA to 3.23 (5th on campus), increasing participation at expectation events (alcohol education, anti-hazing), increasing our Derby Days outreach, etc. In our Presidents Cup presentation we highlighted how we live through our values as Sigma Chis and how these values are reflected in our chapter operations and performance.
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| Past Consul Griffin Cicci (left) and current Consul Jonathan Romano (right) with the President’s Cup. | Executive Board members and Chapter Advisor Travis Roberts with the President’s Cup. |
3. Can you give an overview of the state of the undergraduate chapter to share with your alumni brothers?
The undergraduate chapter is positioned to continue its success for the future. As a chapter with 104 actives, we had the 5th highest GPA on campus last spring, raised the most money on campus through Derby Days (>$45,000), initiated our largest pledge class since our 2009 re-installation and won both the Presidents Cup and Peterson Award for the second time in four years. We as an executive board and as a chapter take great pride in these achievements but we realize our work is not done. We want to not only be recognized as the best chapter on our campus again next year, but also among the upper echelon Sigma Chi chapters internationally.
4. Why did you join Sigma Chi?
I joined Sigma Chi because I wanted to be apart of a brotherhood with strong values. During rush, I came across many good places but when visiting Sigma Chi I saw how the brother interacted with one another and with us as potential members and I was instantly sold. The brothers did an exceptional job of making us feel welcome and I remember being surprised at how much the older senior members cared about us potential members.
5. What are the top things you gained from your Sigma Chi membership?
Sigma Chi has given so much to me in the short year that I have been a member. Aside from giving me lifelong friends, I was able to improve myself as both a man and a leader. I struggled with my academics freshman year but after joining Sigma Chi I was inspired by how much the brothers cared about their academics. With the help of my magister Jamie Burk and Nikhil Deepak as well as scholarship chairs, myself and several of my pledge brothers were able to raise our GPAs and be recognized on the Dean’s list in following semesters.
6. If you could give a newly recruited brother one piece of advice, what would it be?
The one piece of advice that I always give to newly initiated brothers is to get involved. Obviously executive board is the goal but we have so many smaller positions that also are integral to the success of Sigma Chi. It is so amazing to see how the work you do in your position can impact the chapter and your brothers experiences as Sigma Chis.
