MC fraternity
honored

Sig Ep awarded Buc Cup

By Natalie Hal
Courier Staff

The Illinois Gamma Chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon, Monmouth College 's largest fraternity, won one of the national fraternity's 28 Buchanan Outstanding Chapter Awards during the 2004-2005 scholastic year.

During the year, the men achieved a 4.0 GPA, the highest cumulative GPA for college fraternities and, commenting on the fraternity's success, President C.O. Varnes said, “This is a huge accomplishment for such a small school and chapter since there are 257 chapters nationwide. The chapter is extremely excited to have won this award.”

“The road to a Buchanan cup takes a high degree of concentration and effort but we as a house were able to pull together and work as a team, even though we encountered some setbacks and losses this past semester,” said junior Mark Shaw, chaplain.

Shaw commented the award was a group effort saying, “In retrospect, our house has been building up to this point for the last few years. It was not something that the individuals here at Monmouth are solely responsible for, we are all in debt to those brothers who came before us and led the way.”

As Vice President of recruitment, Zach Steffan stated, “This award not only shows how well we work as individuals, it shows how we intensify our greatness when working together as one. Not one man can do it all to win this award, it takes many leaders and scholars, working together as one solid unit.”

President Varnes is looking to the future.

“The chapter is excited about getting things started again this year and making sure we improve our house to receive the award again in 2007. We are also very happy to see the school getting involved with this, because the Greek system would not be the same without the support of Monmouth College ,” he said.

The Buchanan Cup is awarded to a chapter for its overall excellence and includes the following criteria: academics, a highly effective member development program, intramural participation, involved alumni, active and productive alumni/community board and up-to-date fiscal budget and accounts receivable.

As for Sigma Phi Epsilon, the fraternity was established in 1901 and Monmouth's chapter was chartered in 1948.

Currently there are more than 13,000 undergraduates in 257 chapters nationwide, making Sigma Phi Epsilon the largest college fraternity.