April was National Volunteer Month and to celebrate, collegiate chapters from around the Realm held True Gentleman Days of Service.

A TG Day of Service is any service project a group of brothers puts on or participates in. All collegiate chapters and colonies, alumni associations, and any other groups of brothers are encouraged to give back to their community by volunteering and performing community service year-round.

Below, we highlight some of the great service projects our brothers participated in last month.

Penn State-Harrisburg granted students a wellness day to give them a break from classes on April 7. Brothers at Pennsylvania Psi Eta decided to turn this wellness day into a TG Service day and spent a three-hour-long hike at Hawk Rock in Duncannon, PA cleaning the trails. Each of the fourteen participants was responsible for filling a bag of trash while wearing gloves to ensure nothing came back with them from the trails. This event allowed everyone to relax from their academics and enjoy the great outdoors, while also giving back as a group. This was the first event after their last initiation of the spring semester, which allowed all the newer brothers to bond even more and understand how important community service is to SAE.

Brothers at Fort Hays State, Kansas Delta woke up early in the morning on Saturday, April 17 to volunteer at the Arc of Central Plains thrift store, which supports local participation in the Ellis County Special Olympics. There they spent 4 hours sorting incoming items, tagging, and pricing clothing and putting the clothing out on the racks for display and purchase. They also connected with other volunteers of the organization, positively engaged with them, and spread awareness of the fraternity and SAE’s goals. 

On April 18, a group of 20 brothers at Rollins College, Florida Omicron collected trash and other waste that had polluted Lake Virginia in Winter Park, FL. Brothers picked up a total of 53 pounds of trash over three hours.

Fifteen brothers at Texas-Dallas, Texas Chi helped pack over 20,000 meals on April 20 for starving kids in poverty-stricken countries with the organization Feed My Starving Children. With their efforts and the other volunteers, the brothers helped feed 20 kids for an entire year, making sure they went to bed with full bellies. 

Has your chapter or alumni association recently held a True Gentleman Day of Service? Tell us about it here. Not sure where to start with planning your next TG Day of Service? Check out SAE’s resources, including event ideas, a planning guide, and tools for tracking and reporting your event, here.

On January 9th and 10th, Sigma Alpha Epsilon hosted the first-ever Virtual Executives Academy. Executives Academy provides Eminent Archons, Eminent Deputy Archons, Eminent Treasurers, Recruitment Chairmen, Health and Safety Chairmen, Member Educators, and Advisors with the tools necessary for success in leading their chapters.

Thanks to the SAE Foundation, this event was offered at no cost to our attendees. As our third virtual Educational Programs event within the past year, the Virtual Executives Academy was our largest and most successful event to date. Though we couldn’t meet in person, the Executives Academy connected over 230 brothers from across the Realm as they tackled the important issues of their office roles. Programming at the event spanned over two days and included a wide array of topics such as Executive Presence, Action Planning, Officer Nuts & Bolts, Health & Safety Training, Coaching, Officer Need-to-Knows, Leaving Your Legacy, and Networking.

On Saturday, January 9th, the event began with undergraduates and alumni logging on to a single Zoom meeting. Hannah Cotton, SAE’s Manager of Education, kicked off the event with an overview of the schedule and what to expect for the weekend. Other speakers included our Eminent Supreme Warden, Mike Rogers, Eminent Supreme Herald, Mark McDonough, Senior Director of Member Education and Development, Spencer Long, and National Ambassador, Ashwin Sinha.

Unlike in-person Executives Academies, members were able to join the event from all four time zones. Whether chapters are meeting in person or online, participants attended the event from their campuses or the comfort of their homes. The advantage of offering the event online is that it allowed some officers to attend for the first time. While traveling expenses and scheduling may hinder chapters from sending more than one or two officers to in-person events, the virtual setting made the event more inclusive and affordable for all executive officers.

The event was an invigorating and reassuring reminder that, even during a pandemic, SAEs continue to thrive and Rise Above. The conversations, connections, and ideas offered by our undergraduate brothers were nicely complemented by the guidance and wisdom of our Supreme Council, staff, facilitators, and advisors. While many organizations are struggling to operate and grow during COVID-19, the participants of the Executives Academy showed that SAEs are leaders and innovators amongst the challenges of the pandemic.

Let’s hear what our participants had to say about the event!

Remy Lodrigues (Eminent Archon, Nicholls State): “I learned about all the different resources that [Fraternity Service Center] has to offer. Basically, there is never a reason the chapter should be stressed because [FSC] has probably already faced a similar issue and is there to help you.”

Russell Wells (Member Educator, Fort Hays State): “This program was a great way to introduce new ideas and helped enforce anyone that is an executive leader to be more confident.”

Andy Wilson (Eminent Treasurer, Penn State – Harrisburg): “The most important thing I learned was when we were in the officer specific rooms we talked about issues during COVID such as difficulty fundraising, I heard many great ideas from other brothers that will be useful to helping my chapter thrive next semester.”

Alex Dirksen (Eminent Archon, Chapman): “I learned a lot of things, but I found the most helpful part of the program the times that we were just able to talk to the other brothers and hear about their experiences.”

Anthony Mack (Alumni Advisor, North Florida): “My biggest takeaways were the practical ways of being an effective chapter advisor. Every chapter is different, so learning what works at chapters around the country was invaluable!”