Did you know that according to an article by The New York Times this past May only 56% of students from the class of 2010 had jobs, compared to 90 percent of the graduates from the classes of 2006 and 2007?  The same article also discussed a study that was released by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, at Rutgers University that median starting salaries for four-year colleges in 2009 and 2010 was $27,000, down from $30,000 for those who entered the workforce in 2006 to 2008.  Why do I bring this up in the Educational Foundation blog?  To discuss the importance of continuing to develop upon the networking skills you have begun while in Sigma Pi.

Being in a Fraternity brings with it a skill set that non-fraternal students miss out on, in my personal opinion.  By living in a chapter house, attending meetings, becoming involved in the work and social systems of Greek Life, we have learned a multitude of skills that one would not learn in their usual course work.  I remember sitting in interviews and found it easy to answer questions like: Have you ever had to work with uncooperative people and how did you handle this?  Have there been times when you had to lead a project and motivate people to participate?  How would you describe your ability to meet deadlines in a cross functional team?  These are questions we can answer if we were active in the chapter since we have a group of 25-150 men that are trying to be successful on campus; and in order to do that there is a lot that needs to be done.  But how do we truly use the network we have made and bring these skills to life? 

The answer to this question is what Sigma Pi University has been re-designed for.  The classes are designed to help prepare Sigma Pi members for life after college.  The presenters come from a myriad of professional fields and have prepared materials to help with networking, interviewing, resume writing and leadership attributes to help you be a better person and candidate for the position you are looking for.  Thanks to support from Alumnus Tony Siress (Santa Clara, ’87) $65 of your registration fee is covered allowing for a cost of only $200 for you to attend.  To support you further the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation is providing an avenue for alumni and parents to cover this cost and sponsor you.  For our parent and alumni members reading this article, if you would like to cover the cost of this program for a student or recent alumnus to attend, please visit www.sigmapiedfund.org/donation.  On this page simply use our drop down tab and select the Tony Siress Career & Educational Institute and in the comment field let us know the chapter or student you are sponsoring.

 Thanks to Brother Siress’s generous contribution to the Educational Foundation every student that registers will receive a $65 scholarship towards his $265 registration fee helping to reduce the cost to $200 per person.  If you would like to join Brother Siress you can do so by sponsoring a student member from your chapter or another chapter by making a $200 donation to the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation and help pay for them to attend this program. 

After just one day of announcing this sponsorship opportunity the Educational Foundation has received over $2,000 in sponsorship pledges and gifts from alumni.  This means that 10 students already will be attending this high-powered institute at no cost thanks to these supporters. 

On behalf of the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation we thank Brother Siress and all of our donors who help to provide the scholarships and educational programs that make such a positive impact on the lives of our undergraduate members.

To make your donation you can mail a check to:

Sigma Pi Educational Foundation
230 Wilson Pike Circle
Brentwood, TN 37027
In the memo section write SPU 2011 and the name of the chapter you would like to sponsor a student from

 or

 You can visit www.sigmapiedfund.org 
On the Make a Donation Page  use the drop down tab for
Educational Programs: Sigma Pi Univ. – The Tony Siress Career and Educational Institute
In the Comment Section write the name of the chapter you would like to sponsor a student from
 *As always gifts to the Educational Foundation are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.

For additional questions please contact COO Jonathan Frost at jfrost@sigmapi.org

The Educational Foundation reached out to new alumnus and Sigma Pi Executive Office staff member to get to know more about what influenced him to become a donor.  We thank Adrian for his time and for his support in the mission of Sigma Pi.

The word Graduation has many different meanings depending on where you are in your life. As an alumnus, the word brings back fond memories of my last few weeks as an undergraduate: parties, senior bar crawls, lounging by the pool at my fraternity house (be jealous), and saying good bye to some of the most amazing people I have ever met.  However, for the four years I attended college, it meant something much different.  As an undergraduate your life is very simple: sleep, eat, study, party, repeat; your list of responsibilities is very limited. As a result most college students are, for the most part, very short-sighted. I know I was this way. What else mattered besides my plans for this Friday and (maybe) my exam next week? No one else seemed to have another care in the world, so why should I? Graduation was such a distant fork in the road.

It was not until I joined the fraternity that I began to change my perspective of the world around me. My priorities shifted and my vision widened. During my pledge period, I learned the importance of trust, loyalty, and discipline. Ever faithful to my pledge class and chapter, I rarely failed to let down those who counted on me the most. As a young active member, I gained an advanced understanding of the notion of brotherhood and the dramatic impact it can have. During my two terms on the executive council of my chapter, I was taught the necessity of a careful balance between humility and pride. During this time and unbeknownst to me, another more important lesson was creeping up on me.

Slowly I began to understand that all of these ideas were connected in some way. That all of the lessons I had learned had stemmed from some earlier enlightenment. As a senior, I contemplated what this could be. What was it that seemed to be my guiding principal in my undergraduate career as a Sigma Pi? How could all of these men who were so much different possibly make this work? Then all at once, it hit me.  I was in my last few weeks as Sage of my chapter and I was rereading the initiation ritual the day before the ceremony was to take place for the fall pledge class. I had always taken this ritual very seriously so I wanted to be sure I knew what I was talking about. Of course I had read this before but I had never fully immersed myself in it as I did this time. I spent several hours absorbing the lessons that I had been taught years before yet never taken the time to appreciate. As I read, I realized there was one term that kept popping out at me: sacrifice.

Like a wave, the realization of the power of this concept overtook me. I understood why Sigma Pi meant so much to me. It was not the parties or the intramurals or all of the time well wasted. It was the personal sacrifices that we all made together. We had all given so much, many of us had literally shed our blood and sweat and tears in the hope that what we had inherited would soon be made better through our combined sacrifices. As quickly as this ultimate realization came, my time with my chapter ended: Graduation.

As an alumnus I struggled with what to do next. I began to realize that my chapter was no longer my chapter. To this day I still remain in close contact with my brothers but it just is not the same. I reminded myself that Sigma Pi is bigger than just one chapter, much, MUCH bigger as I soon learned.  When I came on staff I knew I was ready to serve the Fraternity. Although I had already sacrificed much by uprooting my life from my home in Phoenix, AZ to move Nashville, TN, I was still being compensated for my troubles. In a way, I lost that sense of volunteerism that I had enjoyed while serving my chapter. I wanted to do something that was meaningful and yet allowed me to maintain a balance between my time with and without the Fraternity. So I began to search for other ways in which to give of myself.

It was not until Jon Frost (COO of the Educational Foundation) spoke to the staff about the importance of donating that I found what I was looking for. “I know you guys don’t make much,” he said, “but giving has to start somewhere and it might as well be with you. You’re setting the example. You’re leading the way.”  He was right and I knew it. Of all the people in the world who should give back, the staff should be the first in line. What better way to make a remarkable statement about your dedication to your job? By donating each month, I want everyone to know that I believe in what I do so much that I willingly give money back to the people that gave it to me in the first place. I Believe.

Mike Ayalon (SUNY-Buffalo, ‘97), Technology Committee Chairman

As Chairman of the Technology Committee for the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation (SPEF), our committee has been working hard to improve our communication with both the actives and also our alumni supporters. Our first step was to update the SPEF website and make it more user-friendly, which is at www.SigmaPiEdFund.org if you haven’t seen the updates recently. On our homepage you can join our Facebook fan page and see our upcoming events. We also chose to highlight a different volunteer and donor each month in our spotlight section, which lets you learn more about some of the people that donate their time and money on a regular basis to the Foundation.

One of our most important missions is to let all the undergraduates know about the scholarships that we offer. The Sigma Pi Educational Foundation offers a variety of scholarships for undergraduate and graduate studies to help our members remain competitive in school and the Greek Community. Please apply for those scholarships by downloading the application on the scholarship page. For alumni, we encourage you to consider establishing a Chapter Educational Fund for your chapter or contribute to a fund that is already in place. You can also donate on our website to any scholarship campaign that you choose by clicking on the donation tab.

The Sigma Pi Educational Foundation has a new blog located at http://sigmapiedfund.org/blog/. It’s extremely useful in keeping up to date on the various events and news happening at the Foundation. For quick daily updates, be sure sure to become a fan of our Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/sigmapiedfund. This has quickly become the most popular way our actives like to receive their SPEF information.

Most recently, we wanted to develop a mechanism that allowed the SPEF to send instant text messages to your cell phone as soon as new scholarship opportunities open up. This is the most immediate way you and your chapter can stay on top of new scholarships that become available. In order to get these updates directly on your cell phone, just text the keyword “MYLC2011″ to 720-320-7694. There is no fee to join our list (standard text message rates may apply), and you’ll be the first to know when to apply for new scholarship funds.

As an alumni volunteer and donor myself, I hope that you will continue to support the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation. All of the actives I spoke to had great learning experiences at the Mid-Year Leadership Conference in St. Louis last month, and much of that would not have been possible without the funding that came from the Educational Foundation. I’m lucky enough to see firsthand the impact it has on each attendee personally and the difference it has on the chapter once they return and implement those new ideas. It’s clear that the strength of our fraternity comes from the continuous development of these types of programs.

Thank you for your continued support.

“John Donne once wrote, “No man is an Island, entire of itself.”  The fraternity man recognizes this basic truth – that every person exists only as a part of society.  Each man contributes to and takes from the world in which he lives.  His actions, words, and attitudes affect those around him.  Thus, no man is so independent as to be completely severed from his fellow man.”  This paragraph from I Believe… the new member education manual of Sigma Pi Fraternity, recently resonated differently with me after I left St. Louis, MO; the site of the 2011 Mid-Year Leadership Conference.  It was at this conference that over 400 undergraduate officers from across North America and 100 alumni volunteers came together to learn and gain greater knowledge of their positions as leaders and mentors.  It was here that we saw alumni and parent contributions be used to provide this leadership weekend to develop these young minds.

The Annual Mid-Year Leadership Conference has been around since 2001 and its very presence helps to truly show that our members are not alone; that they are a part of a larger society.  Chapter officers come together from over 120 university and college campuses and learn that their struggles are not an isolated issue and that they do have support from many sources.  This conference brings in alumni volunteers from various professional backgrounds who give of their weekend to provide the training these young men are seeking in order to be better leaders and managers of people and finances.  The volunteers contribute their experiences and in turn take accomplishment in knowing that they were able to provide knowledge and assist their young members to gain confidence in what they are doing. 

The Mid-Year Leadership Conference also allows the city of St. Louis and staff at the hotel to see that Sigma Pi leaders are not the stereotypical fraternity men they read about.  These young men gain a stronger understanding of how their actions and words affect this image and perception as they mingle and network with alumni members and one aother.  This real-world experience, along with the educational sessions, allows these young men to gain a stronger understanding of what it means to be part of a larger community: sharing, working together, networking and learning from one another.  The fraternity experience involved in this weekend shows these young Sigma Pi members that while they may be separated by miles of the highway system, they are not severed from their fellow man.

Since the winter of 1983 at the University of Tennessee-Martin, Sigma Pi has been a part of my life.  It was there at the Epsilon-Tau Chapter that I began to develop the many memories and friendships that I am still blessed with and cherish today.  The Epsilon-Tau Chapter was the first and only chapter in the state of Tennessee at the time and in my opinion the best option for an aspiring undergraduate on campus. It was during this time that I was given some of my first leadership experiences serving as New Member Educator of the Chapter and learning how to interact and work with other like-minded men, not that we always knew what to do, but we gave it the “ol college try.”  My brothers and I always had a saying “Sigma Pi for Life,” but that was while I was in school.  I had forgotten that saying after I graduated and went on with all the opportunities and advantages life had to offer.  That old saying however, has taken on a whole new meaning over the last six years, as I have gotten back engaged as an active alumnus. 

In 2006, I was re-introduced to Sigma Pi as an alumnus and given an opportunity to be involved in a way I had never imagined as an undergraduate.  It was during this time in New Orleans, LA as I attended the Biennial Convocation that my Sigma Pi journey began to take on a whole new direction; I was nominated and elected by other Sigma Pi alumni and donors to serve on the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation Board of Trustees.  This experience has allowed me the opportunity to see how Sigma Pi has evolved over the last 28 years into an organization that provides undergraduates with Educational Leadership Programs to prepare them for leadership positions both within their chapter and in the real world.  Each year hundreds of newly elected officers are educated at the Mid-Year Leadership Conference held in St. Louis, MO (Feb 4^th-7^th this year) to prepare them for their new roles and how to be successful; Sigma Pi University held bi-annually at Vanderbilt University has been sponsored by Brother Tony Siress (Santa Clara, ’87) to develop both personal and professional skills members will need after graduating.   At the same time, the Educational Foundation continues to provide thousands of dollars in scholarships throughout North America and has recently established Chapter Educational Funds that allow alumni to contribute to the support of their local chapter as well as Sigma Pi as an international organization. 

This experience has shown me that there is one area that is still the same as when I was an undergraduate at UT-Martin: alumni support.  It is this support that has allowed me to be able to give back.  It is very rewarding to serve in a volunteer capacity but to also give financially to Chapters that have just been chartered and need support for educational initiatives.   While there are alumni who can and do give large donations, and we are extremely grateful for their support, I’m not speaking of those today.  Today I am talking about those gifts of $18.97 a month, $250-$1,000 a year and how important those gifts are to making an impact on today’s undergraduate member.   It is because of this we on the Educational Foundation Board and Staff work to stretch and maximize every gift, no matter the size. 

We all joined Sigma Pi for our own reasons but I’m here to tell you it was not just a college experience.   I am grateful for my Epsilon-Tau brothers and the memories we created, but I have found that there are other great Sigma Pi’s across North America, through attending these very Educational Programs.  I urge you today to reach out to your local Chapter to see how you can make a difference, and if you’re like me and your local Chapter is no longer open, you’re still needed.  Reach out to the Educational Foundation to see how you can get involved again and help.  It’s very gratifying , understanding that I have a chance to participate and watch something grow that was here long before me and will be here long after me is very fulfilling,  I’m speaking from experience.

I was four months into college at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, NJ and I already wanted to transfer.   “This school is great,” they said.  “It’s right near the ocean on the Jersey Shore and is surrounded by affluent communities like Asbury Park, Eatontown, and Belmar.”   That was awesome news.  What they didn’t tell me was that roughly 75% of all freshmen students go home every single weekend, leaving me with almost nothing to do and nobody to commiserate with. 

When I came home for my first Christmas break, I met my parents at a restaurant by my home.  They encouraged me to stick it out and try to make at least the first year work at Monmouth.   That night, I talked to my best friend and roommate (who I grew up with and was from my hometown) about the possibility of pledging a Fraternity and trying to make the best of it.   He was in if I was in.   We decided that we’d essentially “shop around” once we got back to school and figure out which Fraternity was the best fit for us.

 Within two weeks of being back to school, it was evident that Sigma Pi was the right home for us.   The guys were laid back, funny, and basically represented my self-image of being a retired high school athlete, it was perfect.   We were given bids and spent the next six weeks trying our best to get into the Fraternity that would hopefully improve our college experience.  Not only did it improve our experience but it far exceeded any and all expectations we had. 

Attending Monmouth became easier once we were in Sigma Pi.   I began to be introduced to a whole new group of friends both inside and outside of the Fraternity.  My new social network also started to introduce me to the girls of Monmouth – each of whom seemed more beautiful than the last – and I was beginning to have actual fun, and enjoying my collegiate experience.  With the sense of belonging in-tact, I felt like I needed to apply myself in order to give back to the Fraternity that had already given me so much.  

It was during my sophomore and junior years of college, that I began to make an effort to get as involved in the Fraternity as I could.   During this time, I became Recruitment Chairman for the Delta-Beta Chapter and set recruitment records for not only our chapter but for the entire Fraternity system at Monmouth University.   I developed an ACE Project for campus that earned the Top Award in North America by the Executive Office of Sigma Pi Fraternity.   My duties as an involved undergraduate member became the model by which our chapter still functions and operates today.  My involvement became addictive in a sense as I was seeing how easy it was to get great results once I applied myself.  I was having fun every single day, and I was still doing a ton of good work to help the Fraternity progress.

When I graduated, I was left wondering how involved I would be as I began my career in the workforce.  Luckily, I have other alumni who are good friends that have maintained involvement in our chapter at Monmouth University.  These brothers urged me to stay involved and to give back to the chapter in a way I had not thought of before.  They would ask me “Remember how tough it was to afford the trip to national meetings?”   That question spawned so many things in my mind, the most obvious of which was that I should help these young guys out now that I had a job and could afford to do so.   I was informed that I didn’t have to give a ton of money, which was good news as I am not wealthy or well-off by any means.  These brothers told me I could give $50 here and $50 there, and every little bit would help our current undergraduates do the things that they wouldn’t normally be able to do.   As of the writing of this article, I’ve pledged $18.97 every month that goes to the Delta-Beta Chapter Educational Fund.   On top of that, I try to give small amounts to Sigma Pi in other capacities as I can afford to provide a few bucks here and there.  “It doesn’t have to be a lot,” I tell myself; the chapter’s thankful that I’m able to give at all.

At the end of the day, I think I donate my time and money back to Sigma Pi because it made such a huge difference in my life.  I guess it’s my way of thanking the Fraternity.  Anybody that knows me from college knows I had a great time, but I was always doing whatever I could to improve Sigma Pi’s standing both locally and nationally.  While we may have graduated from college, it’s important to know that we can still help to improve the Fraternity’s standing by giving back, I certainly do.

This year we are thankful to see 27 new donors to the Educational Foundation.  It is exciting for us to see these new names and supporters as it is showing that our public relations and other communication mediums are having an affect.  The Board of Directors and I have worked diligently to improve our overall communication efforts and let people know the impact they can make on our student members.  We hope this number continues to climb as we continue to provide support for the young student members of Sigma Pi Fraternity.

We are also grateful for our returning donors.  Last years economic conditions saw a 24% decrease in annual donors but we are seeing that trend begin to reverse.  As of 6/30/10 we had 1,024 donors, a drop from the 1,388 the year before (7/1-6/30/09) but so far this year we are up to just under 500 donors already since July 1.   This is good news for the Foundation as it allows us to carry on our mission and make an impact on student development.  Our goal is to continue to keep lines of communication open, reach out to donors and ensure we are being proper stewards, thus retaining your trust.

Finally, this past month we conducted our Inaugural Phone-A-Thon for the Annual Mid-Year Leadership Conference (MYLC) thanks to the support of the undergraduate members at Middle Tennessee State University.  This was a first for us in regards to a phone campaign for this program.  We had some complications due to disconnected phone numbers but our volunteers stayed focused and were able to raise close to $10,000 for the conference.  Considering this was our first effort of this type for MYLC, we are grateful to those who donated to support this program and sponsor undergraduate members.  If you would like to be a supporter please visit our website www.sigmapiedfund.org or helpsigmapi.mobi and make a contribution today.  The three levels of support are as follows:

Conference Supporter: $25-$150
Undergraduate Sponsor: $200
Chapter Sponsor: $600
*Supporters and sponsors will be recognized at the Mid-Year Leadership Conference and in our publications

This year the Educational Foundation has partnered with the members of the Theta-Omega Chapter at Middle Tennessee State University for our phone-a-thon.  The young men from the chapter are volunteering their time to help make phone calls to alumni, parents and past attendees to raise funds for this annual leadership program.  I had the opportunity to work with their Chapter Director, President and Philanthropy Chairman to provide training and ensure they could coordinate this effort with their studies and other activities.  It has been fun so far after the first week, working with these students and the professionalism they display on the phone. 

Why raise funds for MYLC?  This program is designed and facilitated by Sigma Pi Fraternity to provide leadership training to newly installed Presidents, Vice-Presidents and Treasurers of Sigma Pi Chapters and Colonies.  Executive Director Mark Briscoe and his staff have found the following for those that attend: these chapters score 32% higher on their efficiency scores than those who do not attend, have an average chapter size of 41 men compared to the fraternity average of 37.  They also have seen eight chapters over the past six years have maintained over 800 (or higher) on efficiency and those 8 have attended MYLC over this time span: with Alpha-Iota Chapter at Missouri S&T maintaining an average score of 941.   *Chapter Efficiency is based upon officers filling out all reports properly and turning in the necessary documents needed to maintain in good standing.  This helps to show that the program is ensuring these young men understand organizational and operational management.

As I alluded to earlier, the Board of Directors is conducting their Strategic Plan Focus Group conference calls this month with various segments of Sigma Pi alumni.  This is in relation to updating the strategic plan and ensuring we have feedback from our various constituencies.  This information will be compiled and presented at our board meeting this November as we prepare to update our plans and seek to increase our portfolio thus increasing our impact on the organization.   More information on our plan will be presented later this year as we complete our various phases.

We again thank all of you for your support of the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation and our mission.  If you would like to support the Mid-Year Leadership Conference as a Conference Supporter, Undergraduate Sponsor or Chapter Sponsor please contact me at jfrost@sigmapi.org for more information.  If you would like to support one of our other educational or scholarship initiatives please visit our website at www.sigmapiedfund.org.

PGS Rovira had been a member of the Grand Council (Sigma Pi Fraternity Board of Directors) for 12 years and helped to move us from Vincennes, IN to Nashville, TN, increase our presence in North America with his expansion vision and oversaw the improvements in financial reporting for the Fraternity.  Brother Rovira also served for four years on the Educational Foundation and chose not to seek re-election.  This week he continued his leadership by establishing the Rovira Legacy Scholarship Fund with an initial $10,000 gift towards his commitment of $50,000.  This scholarship will help to provide funding for student members in California and Louisiana in order to help offset the costs of tuition so that these students can focus on their studies.  His gift also moved Brother Rovira to the Traveler’s Society and we look forward to his leadership as he continues this gift and moves up in our donor ranks.

Brother David Reale has been a big supporter of his chapter at Monmouth University for a few years not only in working with alumnus and Foundation Treasurer Joe Palazzolo (Monmouth, ‘03) but also in helping provide scholarships to female student-athletes who are Education Majors at Monmouth University.  Brother Reale has supported the Delta-Beta Chapter Educational Fund in the past and this week provided a leadership gift for the fund as the Advisory Board is planning their fundraising strategies.  Yesterday at breakfast with Joe Palazzolo and I, David committed $10,000 towards the fund which will help provide educational grants for the members of the Chapter to attend leadership programs hosted by Sigma Pi Fraternity.  This gift when fulfilled will also move David from the Emerald Society into the Traveler’s Society and make him the first Delta-Beta Alumnus to achieve this.

Brother Adam Dibble has displayed his leadership over the past few months through serving on the Foundation’s Marketing Committee but this week he took it even higher.  Brother Dibble contacted his financial planner and named the Educational Foundation as the contingent beneficiary of his retirement account.  This type of gift will not only benefit the organization in the future but shows his leadership as a young alumnus who is currently a monthly donor but now has helped to ensure the long-term future of Sigma Pi members.

These men helped to provide a fantastic week for the Foundation and we look forward to other members providing leadership gifts to help the Foundation meet its mission and impact members of Sigma Pi Fraternity.  If you are curious as to how you can help to provide support to the Foundation, at any level, please contact me at jfrost@sigmapi.org and I will be glad to work with you on your philanthropic pursuits.  I also ask all of our donors to please email me your testimony and a photo to whyigive@sigmapi.org.