Hello! My name is Austin Travis and I will be writing the Indiana-Eta SigEp Blog for the period of time that I hold this position. The opportunities that arise while being an active member of a fraternity are limitless, and my experiences are in line with that. Within a few short weeks of joining, I was offered a position as the publication chair with the task of writing about our chapter weekly experiences and upcoming objectives. My original purpose for joining the brotherhood was just to be a part of something bigger than myself. For the majority of my life I haven’t been a part of anything, and I decided it was time to change that. I was introduced to SigEp through a few of my friends and I thought it wouldn’t be too harmful of a decision to join. That idea was shortly lived because I quickly learned within the first day that SigEp is so much more! I was quickly inspired to look for any position that had a tangible impact or influence on the larger part of SigEp. Within this time, I also had my Sigma ritual, first interview with a brother, and first few chapter meetings. The ritual was a wonderful experience which helped me to become more comfortable around my brothers. In fact, a few days before the ritual, the other brothers told me that if I felt uncomfortable at any point to let them know, and the ritual will end there. It was a funny thing to expect but looking back it showed how serious and caring other brothers try to make the fraternity feel. The next day came with my first interview, which just brought a bunch of major feels out of me and surprised me a whole lot. It was an experience that I will never forget. It was shocking how easily I told my life story to a brother that I met recently and with someone who I didn’t know much about. Also, I have never told this life story to anyone, so the random trust and confidence when just talking to a brother was not expected. Now that I have introduced myself let’s get on to what SigEp Indiana-Eta has been up to.
Within a few weeks of my joining SigEp, I had already attended quite a few events. The first event was the weekly chapter meeting in full suit coat and tie attire, which showed me how professional SigEp is. It was obvious that a few ideas were held true during their meetings, such as the goal of taking every action seriously and the desire to achieve better than what’s already here. Later on, the new brothers Darian Hudson, Keaton Ostermeyer, and I got the chance to go through the Sigma ritual. Within the next day we had a brother’s lock in, which essentially means that all the brothers stay the night at the fraternity house and enjoy each other’s company. It was interesting to hang out for a long period of time with all these brothers that I don’t even know but truly feel great around. The next morning, we had a community service event with a food bank. This was not only done by us, but also another organization on campus called NSBE helped sponsor the event. A week later we had a recruitment seminar, which I did not want to miss because of the impression this fraternity has already had on me. I want to bring more people into the fraternity in a way that they would never regret this amazing decision. With my first few weeks down, I can’t wait for what the future holds! On Monday, September 23rd at noon, an alumnus Larry Bott, will give a speech on his multiple decades of commitment to our chapter. Everyone is welcome to join us for this special talk! An event called “Car Smash” is currently in the works which would be a chance for anyone on campus to let their frustrations out and take a bat to a car before midterms. Check out our calendar for more events and remember to follow our Instagram and Facebook pages to learn more about the brotherhood!
Written by: Austin Travis
Edited by: Patrick Stevenson