March 2015 Pearl

the Pearl March 2015

An

Inside 02 Donations Needed for Third Annual Delta Sigma Phi Foundation Auction Presidents’ Academy

03 Bruce J. Loewenberg Summit

04

thank you to our donors

Ready to make a difference?

Visit deltasig.org/give today to support current Delta Sig undergraduates!

inside look at

D elta S igma P hi , exclusively for donors

Delta Sigma Phi Foundation to Host Second Annual Bracket Challenge for NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament What’s in it for me? PRIZES! S Everyone who plays wins.

ome people are meticulous when it comes to making their picks. They look at Associated Press rankings, team records and strength of schedule rankings. Others pick based on a gut feeling. It doesn’t matter to us how you make your bracket picks, we just want you to play!

In March, the Delta Sigma Phi Foundation will kick off our second annual Bracket Madness Challenge. All Delta Sig alumni, undergraduates and friends are invited to play, 100 percent free of charge! This year, the challenge will be hosted on ESPN.com.

Key NCAA Tournament Dates March 15 – Selection Sunday March 19 – Before tipoff of first game, brackets completed/submitted on ESPN.com March 19-22 – Second and Third Rounds March 26-29 – Regionals April 4 – Final Four April 6 – NCAA Championship Game

This year, participants will automatically receive a Delta Sigma Phi magnet just for playing.

Winner:

Runner-Up:

Choice of GoPro or Custom Delta Sig Shoes GoPro or Custom Delta Sig Shoes (winner gets first choice)

Other prizes include Delta Sigma Phi basketball jerseys and Delta Sig swag bags.

Pick your prize

-or-

Are you ready to win?

Beginning March 15, go to deltasig.org/madness to make your picks. To be eligible for prizes, be sure to visit the Delta Sig Bracket Challenge page prior to visiting ESPN.com.

Delta Sigma Phi to Host Third Annual Auction during Convention Did you know the Delta Sigma Phi annual auction is coming up in July? This year’s auction will be held at an offsite location during Convention in New Orleans. Our students love to meet our donors, so please mark your calendar for Friday, July 10 and be sure to attend!

Everyone who attends will be provided with food and drinks.

We could also use your help to secure items. Do you have something you’d like to donate? We’re looking for things like: Delta Sig relics, event tickets, unique experiences, vacation packages, gift baskets, etc. If you have any questions or would like to donate an item, please contact Alaina Cutler at cutler@deltasig.org or (317) 6341899 ext. 466.

Let’s make this year’s auction the best ever! We have a great team of smart, connected volunteers working on sponsorships, a fabulous location, and all that is left is to have amazing items to auction. Come on and join the fun!

Top 5 Reasons to Participate: 1. The auction is in New Orleans.

2. You can change lives AND help us raise money for our premier leadership programs like the Leadership Institute, Regional Leadership Academies, Bruce J. Loewenberg Summit, and Presidents’ Academy.

3. Friends and family are welcome to attend.

4. Your donation may make you eligible for a tax advantage on your itemized return.

5. Giving is good for you. We all know giving helps others, but studies show that giving is also good for the giver by boosting physical and mental health!

One hundred percent of the net proceeds generated from the auction will be donated to the Foundation. Place your bid for brotherhood!

Your Gifts at Work: Q&A With Presidents’ Academy Attendee Chapter President Luke Carroll, Virginia Tech ‘13 Chapter Presidents from across the country gathered in Brookston, Indiana, Feb. 6-8 at Camp Tecumseh for Delta Sigma Phi’s second annual Presidents’ Academy. The Pearl had the opportunity to speak with one attendee about his experience.

Q: What was the biggest takeaway from Presidents’ Academy?

A: [It] was simply the ability to collaborate with Presidents from other chapters and talk to each other about the issues we are all facing and how to best deal with them. This was great for me because, finally, I could connect with someone who can relate with what I am facing at my chapter. Other than this, the greatest takeaway was bringing back the importance of Ritual and how important it is to us as an organization. Implementing this in my chapter will be easy and great to revive a greater sense of brotherhood, enable us to come back to our “center” and remember why we are really here.

Q: What kinds of relationships did you develop with brothers from other chapters?

A: It was great to connect with other Presidents and create bonds that will enable us to work together. In many cases, I created bonds with fellow brothers who were similar to me in vision and what we wanted out of our Fraternity experience. I truly felt like the bonds that I created were 02

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with brothers who embodied what it meant to be a Delta Sig. Q: What was your favorite part of Presidents’ Academy?

A: My favorite part was hearing from our Executive Director and National President, Patrick Jessee and Tom Cycyota. To finally be able to put a face to the name was great.

The other Presidents, along with myself, greatly appreciated both of them taking the time out of their schedules to talk with us and answer our questions.

A: Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

Q: My view of the Fraternity as a whole is great. I love being a Delta Sig, and it is something that I will carry with me throughout my life. I will always do my best to embody our ideals and values and hold myself to a higher standard.

Like most fraternities on the national level, as well as the chapter level, we still have things to work on. There will always be a challenge facing us, but I believe that we can and will overcome them and make the best out of any situation and recruit the best men we can to continue on the legacy of Delta Sigma Phi.

An Inside Look:

One Recruitment Chairman Shares His Bruce J. Loewenberg Summit Experience Fraternity and sorority recruitment preparation is no longer confined to designated dates on the calendar. To be one of the strongest chapters on a campus, Delta Sigma Phi is executing dynamic recruitment, and Summit attendees explored the concept.

At the 2015 Bruce J. Loewenberg Summit (Jan. 23-25, 2015), the recruitment chairmen’s track focused on valuesbased, dynamic (year-round) recruiting. In partnership with Phired Up Productions, recruitment officers learned about the importance and success of dynamic recruitment.

During dynamic recruitment, chapters aren’t continuously handing out bids. Members are meeting new people on campus and building relationships with them.

They are being active and promoting Delta Sigma Phi on their campus. The entire idea behind dynamic recruitment is to build Delta Sig’s reputation on campus and network year-round so that when recruitment week happens, people already know the chapter.

“Phired Up used some great strategies with some of the more personally relevant ones being the values-based recruiting and prospect pools,” Recruitment Chairman Robert Gay, Wingate University ’13, said. “The training is definitely something that not only recruitment directors could benefit from, but even our general members could use refreshers on the ins and outs of recruiting.”

In addition to learning about dynamic recruitment, recruitment officers had the opportunity to participate in skills training, build a dynamic recruitment plan and learn how to implement it at home in their chapters.

Gay said he’s excited to use Theta Epsilon’s prospect pool along with the sorority presentations (where chapters speak with sororities about the values of good men and network with them to find potential new members). “This new shared knowledge that I was able to bring back [from Summit] has boosted the overall energy of our chapter as we gear up for our big recruitment season.”

Like at all Delta Sigma Phi programs, attendees had the opportunity to build bonds with brothers from other chapters, which definitely comes as an added benefit.

“I remember sitting in our small group session and brainstorming different ideas, and at one point, someone posed the idea, ‘What if we were our own chapter? What if all of us in this room could charter a chapter together?’”

Gay said. “Now, don’t get me wrong, each of us are immensely proud of our chapter and the success we have had, but in those two days we had at Summit, we created a bond that was ignited by our passion for this Fraternity, and it drove us to work harder to make Delta Sig the best that it could be.”

During Summit, both the New Member Educators’ track as well as the Recruitment Chairmen’s track offer small group sessions to allow members to talk about specific challenges they face within their chapters.

“My favorite part of Summit was the small group sessions. I feel like we all put our ideas out there and even admitted some of our weaknesses. Regardless, each of us made an effort to not only improve our chapters back at home but to improve the chapters of our brothers nationwide,” Gay said.

“They weren’t afraid to challenge one another while keeping an open mind,” Lynsy Karrick, Assistant Director of Education, said of the small group session participants.

By offering programs like the Bruce J. Loewenberg Summit, Leadership Institute, Presidents’ Academy and Regional Leadership Academies, members get to experience more of the big picture. They are able to see and learn about the Fraternity as a whole and how their chapter fits into the equation. They also have the opportunity to learn how to grow the Fraternity by growing their chapters and becoming stronger. “[Summit] made me feel connected and showed me that I truly am a part of something bigger than myself,” Gay said. “It was exciting to celebrate all of our triumphs, but it was also rewarding to be able to collaborate with men from different chapters and give innovative approaches to challenges that we are all facing.”

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Thank You...

derek morefield California Polytechnic University, San luis obispo ‘12 04

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