December Pearl

the PEARL DECEMBER 2013

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03 CHAPTER SIZE INCREASES AFTER LAUNCH OF SUMMIT

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“Delta Sig changed my life” Undergrad Reaps Tangible Benefits from Leadership Institute

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or most Delta Sig undergraduates, the opportunity to attend the Leadership Institute is, at the very least, a life-changing experience. For undergrad Dallas Webb (IUPUI ’11), this capstone leadership development program was more than just a positive personal experience—it was an investment in the future of Delta Sig. Boasting upwards of 50 brothers profoundly impacted every year, the Leadership Institute of Delta Sigma Phi is the best individually-focused program the Fraternity has to offer.

Typically you’ll find undergraduates, HQ staff and volunteer facilitators at Camp Tecumseh in Brookston, IN, but in 2013—much like in 2001 at Washington DC— the Institute was held at a locale closer to the site of the National Convention.

“I heard that it was the most intense leadership programming, that it really impacted people. I went into it open minded, but I didn’t really know what to expect,” Webb said in an interview with The Pearl.

When he finished his first day in the sweltering heat, Webb said his transformation had only just begun.

“It kind of seemed a little boring at first,” he said after Day 1. “It was like, ‘alright, I’m doing this; it’s kind of fun meeting new people.’”

Attendees of the institute are broken into smaller groups, and each of these groups is headed up by two men: one-to-two volunteer facilitators and, when necessary, a Headquarters staff member.

Webb’s facilitator, Ben Hopper, Kansas State ‘09,

enjoyed seeing Dallas break out after the first day.

“In the beginning, Dallas was relatively quiet,” Hopper said, “but had a confidence about him.”

As the week progressed, he opened up and shared about his leadership style and experiences. He realized that strong leaders share an inspired vision and that they encourage the hearts of others.

The first few days of LI are more conference and lecture oriented. Before the group activities lend themselves to understanding and personal development, attendees must first build up a foundation of knowledge.

By the time outdoor activities rolled around, he was loving it.

“Then,” Webb said, “over time, everything that we kept doing, it kept bringing up good points that I never thought about before. It started helping me define myself as a person and as a leader.”

Looking back, Webb said: “it broke me down, for sure, and toward the end it built me back up stronger than I ever was before.”

The impact of his training was immediately tangible.

“He left LI with honed skills and a desire to make his chapter and community better,” Hopper said. “At Convention, he shared a story of a pop tab project that his chapter was sponsoring to raise money for a charity.”

“I was moved by their efforts and sent him a bag of tops,” Hopper said.

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Leadership Institute Prepares Young Alumnus for Success W

hen Justin Zuiker stepped into the Theta Rho house at Oregon, he didn’t know where his time there would take him.

“When I was going through recruitment, the thing that stood out for Delta Sig was the balance of scholarship, leadership and service,” Zuiker, Oregon ’99, said. “It was a group of dozens of guys I was going to be able to be lifelong friends with and they were going to help me get better grades, be more active in the community, and be a leader in the chapter, university and society in general.”

One thing Zuiker didn’t realize until post-graduation was that Delta Sig afforded him real life experiences in the confines of the undergraduate world.

Zuiker, who majored in business, said he read countless books about how you can lead a group (in theory).

However, he believes his actual experience within Delta Sig helped prepare him for life after college.

During his time as an undergraduate, Zuiker participated in an event called “Young at Heart,” a senior citizens’ prom.

“I figured if you can convince 50 guys to give up Valentine’s Day to go to an senior citizens’ home, those are some leadership skills right there,” he said. “I got first hand experience with business skills, but I got to do it with my best friends.”

Zuiker reflected a lot on his time as an undergraduate, the strong bonds he developed, and the memories he made living with his best friends, his brothers.

“You got to have all of these great real world experiences, but you aren’t working for a business; you are doing it with your best buds,” he said.

Zuiker’s first “real world” job was with the March of Dimes. He said they asked him during his interview if he was able to do things such as plan events.

“My answer was yes; I planned all of these events as a leader within the Fraternity. All of my Delta Sig experience helped build my resume to get my first job,” he said.

Recently Zuiker began working at Regis University, a private, Jesuit Catholic University, as the assistant director of major gifts.

“I’m relying on the generosity of others, of people I’ve never even met, to make donations so those donors can help people they’ve never met and probably never will meet to better their lives somehow,” he said.

Zuiker’s job is to connect donors and students with a cause to which they can both relate. For him and Delta Sigma Phi, that cause is the Leadership Institute.

“What made me want to donate was my experience with the Leadership Institute,” Zuiker said. “I attended in 2001 and that [experience] was priceless, just the things they taught us.”

When I thought about how much fun I had, how much I learned, and the impact it had on the rest of my undergrad experience [I knew I wanted to give back],” Zuiker said.

Oregon was brand new when Zuiker attended LI. “The Leadership Institute gave us more energy and new ideas and the motivation we needed,” he said.

Undergraduate Reflects on Time at LI CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Webb posted a picture of the tabs (and an accompanying note from Brother Hopper) to his facebook page, with the caption: “Thank you Ben Hopper for sending close to 400 soda tabs! Each tab is donated to Riley Children’s Hospital, recycled, and sold for cash. The money they make off of these tabs go to the sick children to help pay for their expenses. Who knew a little side conversation we had about saving soda tabs would lead to a package in the mail that 02

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will help potentially save lives.”

Within two weeks, Webb was surprised by several more full bags of tabs in the mail, courtesy of Ken Willard (Purdue ’99), another LI facilitator, and alumnus John Zehner (Purdue ’87).

Facilitator Ben Hopper said that Webb’s “ability to enable others to act is strong. Their efforts are making a huge difference. After LI, Dallas is a better leader—one that will do great things.”

Summit Impact: Chapters Improving Thanks to Recruitment Training

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n 2008 Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity instituted the inaugural Summit. Originally envisioned as a recruitment conference for Delta Sig undergrads, the Summit remains true to her original mission today, having reached more than 1,000 Delta Sigs since 2008.

Nationally, the Fraternity has seen an uptick in membership numbers ever since. Here we feature two chapters in particular that made tremendous strides thanks to the National Fraternity’s Summit programming.

Epsilon Iota (University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse) The Epsilon Iota chapter at the UW-LaCrosse used the lessons they learned at the Summit to turn around a precarious local situation. Having just served their university-imposed academic probation, the chapter was floating around the 20-member mark when Cameron Carey (UWLaCrosse ’12) joined in 2011.

“The problem I think with our chapter at the time was there were maybe 20 actives on the sheet, but there was maybe only five actually being active,” Carey said.

Five of the eight members of Carey’s new member class were elected to the Executive Board, with no experience.

Carey and chapter brother Jacob Meiller (’11) attended the 2013 Summit. Neither knew what to expect before they arrived in Atlanta, but Carey—now the chapter president—knew what he wanted to get out of it.

“I really wanted to learn new strategies on how to not only improve the chapter in terms of recruitment but also improve how our members recruited,” Carey said.

Carey and Meiller both agreed that Summit was a vital component in the chapter’s turnaround.

“I do not believe that our chapter would have been successful if we hadn’t used the information we got from Summit. Our chapter had really been struggling with recruitment the past couple of years, mainly because we didn’t know how to get organized or even recruit in general,” Meiller said.

After completing the spring semester and having a summer to focus on recruitment, Carey says the chapter has made significant improvements.

“I think too many times before they never recruited on that; they just pulled somebody in and showed them a little snippet but never really told them the whole Delta Sig story,” Carey said.

(SJSU ’07) both joined the Delta Sig movement at SJSU in the same year and attended the Summit multiple times.

“My expectations going into the Summit were actually pretty high. As a young leader in my chapter it seemed like a big deal to be flying to Indianapolis for a leadership event.

I expected to sit through a lot of lessons and lecturing but was surprised to see how hands-on the activities were. The facilitators were committed to hearing us out and helping us solve issues instead of just feeding us general recruiting advice,” Henry said.

Whitchurch added, “Having the opportunity to meet with hundreds of Delta Sigs around the nation saved our young colony because it helped us leverage other chapter’s successes and replicate them on our local campus.”

The results were almost immediate.

“The fall following the Summit our chapter recruited 36 men, which was the most on campus,” Henry said. “We set this goal at the Summit in January. That recruitment class still stands out as the time Gamma Epsilon took the step from young new chapter to one of the nation’s top performing.”

By the time Nicholas Ayala (SJSU ’10)—now the past chapter president—joined, Whitchurch and Henry’s class had transitioned out of the chapter. He was ready to keep the momentum going though.

“Attending [Summit] taught me the details of being an effective recruitment chair and how I can best teach my fellow brothers skills and techniques to recruit more efficiently,” he added. “I will truly be in debt to the brothers who have helped the Summit be a reality.”

Gamma Epsilon (San José State University) By now the accolades of the Gamma Epsilon chapter at San José State are well known, but in 2008, they were still a new chapter pursuing chartered-chapter status.

Ryan Whitchurch (SJSU ’07) and Marco Henry Negrete ABOVE: UW-LACROSSE MEMBERS AT DINNER. www.DeltaSig.org | The Pearl

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