CHAPTER NEWS

“This fraternity will be

different, it will be based

on the love of God and

the principle of peace

through brotherhood.

- Carter Ashton Jenkins,

Benjamin Gaw, William Phillips

In This Issue

Housing Update

Dance Marathon

Recap

Meet the New Exec.

Board

2016-2017 Executive Board

A Note from the President Brothers, alumni, parents, and friends –

Our fraternity has continued to grow stronger into 2016. As we continue to

grow and excel, our chapter has had the good fortune to add a diverse

and exceptional group of new members, continuing the trends of the last

several years. We have committed to not only recruit, but to produce an

unforgettable experience for our entire membership, traveling to iO Thea-

ter and the Carlson Leadership Academy, while looking forward to even

more exciting experiences in the spring.

As our push to earn our Charter continues, the future looks bright for this

chapter. Our new Executive Board is bringing new ideas and new energy

to help this chapter thrive. I cannot express how excited I am to see what

2016 brings for us all!

-Sam Hall, President

Sigma Phi Epsilon at Northwestern University Spring 2016

Housing Update Last school year was our chapter’s first opportunity to reside in the house. Before that time, the house sat vacant since

2012. During the vacancy, the house was used as a center for NU construction, which left it in not such a great condition,

and more importantly, not suitable for living. The house was cleaned and the second floor was renovated so brothers could

move back in, but the house still needed plenty of work.

During the summer of 2015 and parts of the academic year, the house received some major renovations and additions,

making it not just a suitable space for living but also a center for chapter operations of which we can all be proud. The

basement was painted a clean white, and the floors were buffed and polished. The main floor was fitted with LED overhead

lights to brighten the space, putting an end to the gloomy feel of the house, and the walls have been decorated with the

remaining past chapter composite photographs. All three sets of outdoor letters were equipped with light-sensing LEDs to

illuminate our letters to the rest of campus as the sun sets each day. All of the windows and screens around the house

were cleaned, and the ivy cut at the base. We purchased a brand new HD flat-screen TV, as well as a sound system con-

sisting of two tower speakers and a subwoofer, to replace the early-2000’s projection-screen TV that would make you

cringe. Finally, the most useful addition to the house is, without a doubt, the conference room on the main floor. Two beau-

tiful French doors lead into a clean, professional space furnished with an 8’ mahogany conference table, eight quality office

chairs, overhead LEDs, our first 3 chapter composites, the remaining trophies and awards of the last chapter, and our hard-

earned Green Cup trophy. Our brothers have utilized this room as a study space, meeting room and interview room (BMS),

and the AVC has held monthly meetings there as well.

Overall, the house is in better shape than it’s probably ever been. The allure to live-in is resonating strongly among the

brothers, but regardless of residency, people come to the house more often, creating exactly the kind of positive environ-

ment that we were looking to establish. I am extremely proud of our results so far, and there are still many great additions/

renovations to come in the next few years.

-Max Zoia, Housing Director

Brothers study in the renovated conference room on the first floor of the chapter house.

Balanced Man Scholarship Banquet

The Balanced Man Schol-arship Banquet was held November 8. It is a time where we reward under-graduate students who exemplify the ideals of our fraternity. Out of our 27 applicants, we had three runner-ups and one winner. The runner-ups each received a $1,000 scholarship whereas our winner won a $2,000 scholarship.

We were immensely im-pressed by both our win-ners and applicants for this year's scholarship. To speak at this year's ban-quet, we had a distin-guished SigEp alumnus, Brad Nahrstadt, speak on the importance and pur-suit of the Balanced Man ideals. It was an excellent way to relay to our exem-plary applicants the mag-nitude and prestige that comes along with being a part of the Balanced Man Scholarship. From our applicants to our speaker to the venue, all of the preparation done leading up to the banquet led to a wonderfully executed banquet for SigEp, appli-cants and guests.

-Xavier Kirkham and Max Zoia

BMS Co-Chairs

Graduating Seniors

Congratulations to brother Rahim

Shakoor on graduating after the

Winter Quarter! And congratula-

tions to brothers Tom Hyman,

Zach Elvove, Sam Young, Xavier

Kirkham, Blake Disiere and Brett

Sleyster on graduating at the end

of this Spring Quarter! Thank

you, brothers, for your service.

(From left) Elvove, Young, Hyman and Anderson

Dance Marathon 2016 The 42nd Northwestern University Dance Marathon took place March 4-March 6,

and the Sigma Phi Epsilon team raised $8,593 for the 30-hour event. The primary

beneficiary for this year's NUDM was Blessings in a Backpack, an organization

that works to provide children in need with a supply of food for the weekend.

The funds raised by the SigEp team will feed approximately 86 kids for one school

year.

Thank you and congratulations to brothers Eric Anderson, Zach Elvove, Tom Hy-

man and Sam Young for their participation in NUDM this year. Elvove, participat-

ing in his fourth and final NUDM, raised $6,643, which placed him as the 8th high-

est fundraiser among the more than 1,000 participants.

Elvove and his father, Roy, who helped start up Dance Marathon at Northwestern,

were featured in a brief video recapping NUDM 2016.

Overall, NUDM 2016 raised approximately $1.2 million for its beneficiaries. Con-

gratulations to all who participated in this special event.

https://vimeo.com/158066388

Meet the New Executive Board

Sam Hall, President

Sam is a junior from Rockport, Maine. He is double majoring in Political Science and International Studies with a focus in

International Political Economy and Development in Asia and with a minor in Business Institutions.

Sam is the Secretary Parliamentarian for Northwestern University Model United Nations (NUMUN) and has competed as

an attorney and witness for Northwestern Mock Trial. Sam ran for President to give back to an organization that has given

him so much and is excited for the year to come!

Kevin Zhang, Vice President of Programming

Kevin is a sophomore from St. Charles, Illinois, studying Economics. Outside of SigEp, he is also a part of NUMUN. As the

new Vice President of Programming, he said he will spearhead planning on campus-wide, philanthropic and social events

that our chapter puts on, so if people have questions or suggestions related to what Kevin does, “which is basically every-

thing,” Kevin said, then they should let him know.

In addition, Kevin likes to play piano and violin and won’t hesitate to show off, so “anybody is welcome to ask me to demon-

strate for them,” Kevin added.

Meet the New Executive Board (Continued)

Alex Toporek, Vice President of Risk Management

Alex is a sophomore from Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, studying Civil En-

gineering (Architecture & Design Concentration) and Classics (Latin Concen-

tration). On campus, Alex is a building supervisor at the Henry Crown Sports

Pavilion and Aquatics Center. In addition, he is a member of the Northwestern

branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers and a member of the NU

Steel Bridge Team.

Alex previously served as the Alternate on our chapter’s Standards Board

before being elected to his current role during the Spring Quarter of 2015. As

the chapter’s first-ever Vice President of Risk Management, Alex has estab-

lished - with the help of his Risk Management Committee and the previous

Executive Board - the foundation for this position. Alex is now in his second

term as VP of Risk Management.

“I ran for this spot again in order to continue developing this position into one

that keeps our fraternity safe in all aspects of risk,” Alex said. “I enjoy this role of keeping my brothers safe because this

community means so much to me.”

Roman Drake, Chaplain

Roman is a junior from Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, studying Chemical Engineering. Outside of SigEp, he is involved in

Northwestern’s chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and in the engineering honor society Tau Beta Pi.

Roman is also a biology mentor for the Gateway Science Workshop.

Roman said he serves as Chaplain because he wants to see the qualities of virtue, diligence and brotherly love continue to

define Sigma Phi Epsilon throughout his time here.

Meet the New Executive Board (Continued)

Andrew Jacobs, Vice President of Finance

Andrew is a sophomore from Houston, Texas, studying Learning and Organ-

izational Change with a minor in Business Institutions. Andrew is a die-hard

football fan and has worked as a Northwestern Football student manager.

He is also a Young Life volunteer leader.

Andrew said he is looking forward to growing the chapter with this new Exec-

utive Board and is excited about the future growth of SigEp.

Grant Everly, Vice President of Recruitment

Grant is a freshman from Gurnee, Illinois, studying English and Spanish.

On campus, Grant is involved with Reformed University Fellowship (RUF)

and is a Project SOAR mentor.

Grant said he took up a leadership role with SigEp because he believes in

SigEp’s mission of Building Balanced Men and wants to see our chapter

become the best chapter it can possibly be.

Andrew Jung, Vice President of Member Development

Andrew is a junior from Seoul, South Korea, studying Chemical Engineering. Andrew is active on campus by being a part of

Extreme Measures A Capella as well as working as a Student Supervisor at Norris Tech-

nical Services.

Andrew was one of the founders of our chapter when it started up again several years ago.

He then spent two years away from campus serving in the Korean military. He served with

U.S. troops in Seoul, serving as a translator in the United States Forces Korea Chaplain’s

Office.

Andrew said he wanted to serve as VP of Member Development because he believes Mem-

ber Development is one of the most important aspects of our fraternity.

“Since the Balanced Man Program is a central part of the SigEp experience, I wanted to make it the best program we can

possibly make it to be,” Jung said. “And in turn make the fraternity experience a fruitful one for our brothers.”

“If your

organization is

going to be the

best it can be,

everyone has to

feel comfortable

in speaking up

and taking

initiative.”

-Dr. Barry Posner, Co-

author of The

Leadership Challenge

(UC-Santa Barbara, ‘70)

A Note From the Editor Fellow brothers, friends, parents, and alumni,

It is my honor to work on this newsletter in order to keep our readers up-to-date on

our chapter’s operations. Thank you to our alumni, friends, parents and families

for their continued support of this chapter.

As we continue to grow, we are focused on improving contact with alumni, and we

would like to hear from you and meet you, so please stop by our house if you can

or reach out to us. We value the opportunities to meet you.

Please reach out to me or our chapter if you would like to be added to our alumni

list or if you have any questions. Be sure to check out our social media pages for

continued updates throughout the year.

Best regards,

Billy Kobin, Vice President of Communications

williamkobin2018@u.northwestern.edu

SIGEPNORTHWESTERN@GMAIL.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/NUSIGEP | TWITTER.COM/SIGEPNU

“This Fraternity will be different.”