The Lifetime Experience? (1st Piece in a Series)

Like many of you, I was recruited into this fraternity under the premise that it was a "Lifetime Experience." Our member development manual is even titled "The Lifetime Responsibility of Brotherhood." We can call it what we want, but the reality is that for the vast majority of our brothers, Sigma Phi Epsilon is merely a 4 year experience that ends with graduation and the transition into the "real world".

Why is this the case? I would throw a number of reasons out there, but to this brother it seems that we again have failed to "walk the walk" as we have done with so many issues. We talk a great game when it comes to the importance of volunteers in the big picture of Sig Ep, but we have done little to promote the experience of volunteering on the both the national and local level. We have no known organizational strategy when it comes to recruiting, developing and retaining volunteer talent. We should be promoting and enforcing the role of the volunteer at every level, in recruitment, in our rituals, in member development, and after graduation. We should do everything we can to make alumni involvment (as a contributor to the Foundation and/or as a volunteer) a natural progression in the lifespan of a Sig Ep. We should take every effort to make sure that your post graduate obligations are as ingrained in the hard wiring of our undergraduate brothers as getting a job, etc.

Our ambitions, as a fraternity, are huge. We aspire to be the best. Our staff is small, our RDs usually only travel for a year and visit their chapters 2 or 3 times in a given year. Our volunteers are there year round. They are the living and breathing embodiments of the fratertnal experience. As you can see by reading this blog, the battle for relevancy is one of the biggest we face. We need to embrace, not scare away, the best and the brightest talent out there. We need those people we are losing to other organizations like Big Brothers, the Special Olympics, Habitat for Humanity, The Boy Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCA, Little League, etc. We need to make our organization work for them. Not the other way around.

Right now, the vast majority of people out there see us as a bunch of spoiled college kids who drink too much. The only way we can change this perception is through the good work of brothers and friends who find the time to help our undergraduate bretheren. We are always in need of smart and successful people with big hearts. We need a bold and comprehensive strategy to go get them. To make the fraternity relevant to them so they make it relevant to others. In this author's opinion, this is not only a way that we can continue to lead the way for others, it is imperative to our continued existence.

I will leave you with this quandry. How do you convince someone that volunteering for Sig Ep is as rewarding or more rewarding (or relevant) than volunteering for the local chapter of the Special Olympics? Us "college types" have it all compared people who have to fight for their lives every single day of their existence. A minute of your time is worth millions to them. Don't they deserve a little sunlight? I won't suggest an answer, but it is something I wrestle with on a daily basis. We need to be able to show why we are just as relevant as these incredibly worthy groups.

To Be Continued...