EDGE Success Results in Spring Events Being Postponed

EDGE Gets Postponed for Spring

Brothers

To assure we continue to provide our high level of programming while responding to changing economic conditions, we are postponing the remaining four regional EDGE experiences this spring. I will work with volunteers, regional directors, and your chapter to potentially provide the same level of dynamic programming in more local presentations this spring.

To ensure your chapter is able to participate in an EDGE, please consider the following options:

1. Defer to next fall for an EDGE weekend experience with new members of other chapters.

2. Modified local chapter specific EDGE with local volunteers hosted on a college campus, high school, alumnus’ home, etc. (materials and program input/guidance provided)

EDGE continues to prove its positive effect on helping new members realize the importance of living their best lives and will continue to be a central entry to the SigEp Leadership Continuum.

I appreciate your continued commitment to improve the lives of our members. I am sorry for any inconvenience of the scheduling changes and I will work with you to accommodate your needs.

Fraternally,

Ryan Blanck

Spring 2009

Date	City	State	Location	Length	Participant Arrival Time	Registration Deadline
Feb. 13	Brookston	Indiana	Camp Tecumseh YMCA	2 day	6:00 PM	CLOSED
Feb. 20	Oracle	Arizona	YMCA Triangle Y Ranch	3 day	6:00 PM	CLOSED
Feb. 28	Miami	Florida	University Center at University of Miami	1 day	9:30 AM	CLOSED
Mar. 6	Little Rock	Akansas	C.A. Vines Arkansas 4-H Center	3 day	6:00 PM	CLOSED
Apr. 17	Green Lane	Pennsylvania	Camp Green Lane	2 day	6:00 PM	POSTPONED
Apr. 17	Running Springs	Southern California	Pali Mountain Camp & Conf. Center	2 day	6:00 PM	POSTPONED
Apr. 24	Sausalito	Northern California	YMCA Point Bonita	2 day	6:00 PM	April 2
May 2	Worthington	Ohio	Adventure Center	1 day	9:30 AM	POSTPONED

Another opinion on EDGE

We have another point of view on the question of whether EDGE is worthwhile. In the interest of equal coverage we are treating it as a guest post as well...

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I have to disagree almost entirely with the previous post in regards to EDGE being a waste of money.

First of all, the numbers that were used in the article do not support the conclusions that were reached. The article mentions that the foundation spends $375,000 on the EDGE program and that our overall retention rate is at 49%. While these numbers are likely true, it is flawed to then draw the conclusion that half of the people that attend EDGE do not stay members of the fraternity.

The article states that all first year members are supposed to attend EDGE and then extends the words "supposed to" to suggest that all first year members do actually attend EDGE. I have either been a facilitator or been in charge of 10 of the EDGE programs that have taken place around the country. It would be great to have every new member from every chapter in a region in which EDGE is being held in attendance. However, I have never seen this happen. There is no correlation present to suggest that half of those that attend EDGE drop out of the fraternity. I haven't seen any data that compiles a ratio of number of people that attend EDGE to graduation rates. Until such numbers are compiled, I think it is nothing more than inaccurate guessing to reach the conclusion that half of the new members that attend EDGE drop the fraternity and are therefore contributing to a $191,250 "waste."

The article is correct in stating that the overall budget for EDGE is more than the combined totals for the other elements of the leadership continuum. The article fails to mention that the EDGE program is the only one of the four leadership continuum programs that is free to all first year students that attend. The programming of the Carlson Leadership Academies is primarily driven toward members on the executive committees of their chapters. Conclave can be attended by any undergrad who wants to attend and is able to pay the price of attendance. Fewer that 20 students are able to attend the Tregos Quest to Greece Program. Whereas price tags and perhaps intellectual and leadership elitism are, or can be, obstacles to attending the three other areas of the Leadership Challenge, the EDGE program is free and available for every undergrad member of the fraternity to attend at least once within their years as a college student. I am proud to see something offered from a national perspective that is free and available for all undergraduates to participate in.

The article is also correct in mentioning that part of the EDGE programming focuses on alcohol education. This is achieved through a program called Choices. The program doesn't tell our brothers not to drink, as this is an immediate turn off for most college students. Rather, it focuses on having a discussion among fraternity brothers about the consequences when smart choices are not made. It is a program of education and smart decision making, not of prohibition.

The question is asked as to how the EDGE fits into the overall mission of Building Balanced Leaders for the World's Communities. The programming that goes on during EDGE is not all about alcohol and drug abuse, even though alcohol and drug abuse education are essential to the development of balanced leaders. In fact, those topics are only 1/5 of the overall topics that are covered by facilitators and volunteers from across the country. Other topics that are discussed in detail are Leadership Challenge, SigEp Values, Personal Strategic Planning, and Understanding SigEp.

Among other things, these sessions give undergraduate members an opportunity to discuss the characteristics and traits of persons willingly followed, understand SMART goals and develop their own SMART goals, develop a personal strategic map that allows them to detail where they want to be in the next four years and beyond, focus and discuss the areas of personal strategic planning, list and discuss the core values of Sigma Phi Epsilon, and have discussions with their brothers on how SigEp's core values are relevant to and can be used to foster and support the development of their own personal strategic plan.

As for the white water rafting, high ropes courses, and other events, there is no doubt that these events are fun and enjoyable. The challenge courses are usually comprised of a debrief session that allows for discussions to occur on teamwork and communication. It has been really neat to see the undergraduates take the skills learned in a situation that seems as simple as trying to get their entire team across a tight-wire that is surrounded with "lava" and apply that to tasks that they do in their own chapter such as working on a philanthropy together, or maybe building a homecoming float. Not all of the events have a debrief session that focuses on leadership or teamwork. Some of the events that take place, be it playing basketball, football, water rafting or whatever, are done purely for fun. This is a great opportunity for the men to get to know people from other chapters and to begin to experience brotherhood beyond their local chapter. And from a facilitator's perspective, it is a great chance to break up the other sessions with something more fun and active for the guys. Plus, there is a lot of value in getting together this many brothers to have fun and enjoy themselves in a manner that doesn't involve alcohol.

The article also makes the statement that the "real agenda is to reach new members before the bad habits of their chapters are deeply ingrained in them." If this statement were true, it would mean two things: 1.) A lot of our chapters are "bad" and that only "bad" chapters are encouraged to attend EDGE and 2.) Having an "agenda" to dissipate or change bad habits is bad in itself. The first item can't be true. Many of the best chapters across the country attend the EDGE programs every year. And for that matter, I don't think we have that many "bad" chapters ingraining "bad" habits. Certainly there are some out there, and I don't think that is up for debate. But even if one of the agenda items of the EDGE program was to correct things that are counter to the principles of our fraternity, would that be a bad agenda? I don't think it would. I think it would be an agenda that is in align with what the educational foundation and headquarters should be doing.

Additionally, the article mentions that the money that is used for EDGE should be directed toward Recruitment and Member Development. Whether money from the Educational Foundation can be used for recruitment is a topic that I'm not entirely familiar with. My thoughts are that there are legal obstacles in place that would prevent tax deductible money being used in that fashion. I can, however, say that EDGE is member development. As I mentioned before, the men that attend are getting training in the areas of leadership development, values, and personal strategic planning. If that isn't member development, then I don't know what is.

Lastly, the article mentions that more time and money spent on development of members would lead to more men becoming members of the Board of Governors and thus donating more money each year. There's no doubt that more men joining the fraternity could lead to more members becoming Board of Governor Donors, and that would be a wonderful thing.

As a Board of Governor's member myself, I will conclude with saying that I am very proud of the EDGE programs across the country and that I am as equally happy and willing to continue donating to the Educational Foundation for my money to be spent on programs such as EDGE.

-kt

Over the EDGE - Guest Post

We have a guest poster today who has some things to say about the EDGE program and how it is run. He has asked to remain private for now, but he is a person who is "in a position to know" as the news media would say.

The Summer ‘08 Journal has solidified my previous inclinations that EDGE is a waste of money. The Foundation has continually supported this failure, which the fraternity touts as its basic building block in the Leadership Continuum, with over half the funding for the entire program. Last year, they supported this program to the tune of $375,000. The other 3 steps of the Continuum (CLA, Ruck, and Quest to Greece) totaled a Foundation expense of $290,843 combined.

As of Oct 31, 2007 SigEp’s overall retention rate was 49%. Because all first year members (and Chaplains) are supposed to attend EDGE, if the Foundation spends $375,000 a year on these men, we are throwing away at least $191,250 each year. The Foundation won’t be called in front of Congress anytime soon to testify about excess returns on their investment.

EDGE’s goal is to provide “an opportunity to show members that certain things like abusing alcohol and using illegal drugs have no place in a well-balanced life full of ambitions and goals.” While I hope this goal is being realized with at least a few new members, I wish the Foundation would stop using our money to educate men we will never see again. People donate to SigEp because they believe in the experience and impact it can have on brothers for the rest of their lives. I’m sure they’d be very happy to know that their $1,000 check paid for a few soon to be non-members three day, all-inclusive stay at a campground that includes white-water rafting and a high-ropes course.

SigEp’s overall mission is to Build Balanced Leaders for the World’s Communities. How does a one, two, or even three-day EDGE program fit into this mission? New members participate in high-ropes courses that are quite fun. They listen to speakers who have overcome past substance abuse issues, which are interesting and inspiring. However, two months down the road at 10 pm during the first formal, are these new members thinking about the high-ropes course or the addict’s success story? No, they’re concerned with having a good time with their new brothers, which unfortunately in most cases involves drinking copious amounts of alcohol or consuming drugs.

The dirty secret is that EDGE is a program that hides its true agenda behind the false pretense of alcohol and drug abuse education. Its real agenda is to reach new members before the bad habits of their chapters are deeply ingrained in them. This goal is repeatedly discussed in Richmond. The Staff wanted a way to reach all the new members and impress upon them the view that Headquarters is your fun friend. This isn’t completely unreasonable because, admittedly, some chapters’ views of Richmond are incomprehensible and lack substance, but to disguise this agenda under the packaging of alcohol and drug abuse education for the sole reason of using the Foundation’s Tax Deductible contributions is appalling.

I’m struggling to find the benefits of EDGE beyond a few fun days and a sly Press Release. This program needs to be reformed in order to better utilize the money that is blindly given to the Foundation. Drug and Alcohol education is available at every college campus for free. SigEp should team up locally with each of the Universities to take advantage of this service. This way we wouldn’t be wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars and could still reap the benefits of saying we educated our men on the pitfalls of substance abuse. Meanwhile, the money spent on EDGE should be directed toward Recruitment and Member Development. It’s obvious that we have huge problems with both of these sections of our fraternity as evidenced by our 49% retention ratio. If the Foundation spent more of it’s time and money educating our brothers on recruiting quality men and developing them properly, we could increase our retention ratio to well over the 60% goal. This would equate to at minimum an extra 500 members graduating as SigEp’s each year in which the Foundation could call upon for donations. If a quarter of these brothers became Board of Governors members, the Foundation would receive an extra $112,500 in gifts each year. That’s a much better return on investment than losing over $190,000 each year.