“Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” -Warren Bennis
RICHMOND, VA- Every year, many of SigEp’s most promising leaders travel to Richmond, Virginia for the opportunity of a lifetime. This opportunity is the Frank J. Ruck Leadership Institute, a five-day experience designed to empower undergraduate members to impact change at their own chapters. Students are put in small groups where they discuss and evaluate their own leadership, issues within their chapters, and strategies to improve in both of these areas. Throughout the week, students also participate in Sound Body activities like yoga, workouts, and runs, as well as workshops that teach them about how SigEp stands out amongst other fraternities. MS Beta had two brothers attend Ruck, Jack DeSantis ’24 and Hayden Cherry ’25.
Jack DeSantis is a junior Criminology major from Nashville, TN. When asked about his favorite part of Ruck, Jack says that it was “meeting SigEp brothers from around the country who each brought with them different experiences from their chapters.” This year’s program had students representing schools from Washington to Florida and from Maine to California and chapters of all sizes! “The most impactful thing I learned at Ruck was that anyone can be a leader,” Jack says, elaborating that everyone has what it takes to be a leader, if only they are willing to work hard to discover their strengths. One of Jack’s goals from Ruck is to bring back a culture of positivity to our chapter by making sure that positivity and progress are recognized to keep morale high among our members. He made sure to network with other brothers to learn how they keep their chapters motivated and committed to improvement.
Hayden Cherry is a sophomore Agricultural Communications major from Halls, TN. His favorite part of Ruck was “the atmosphere created by being around so many great leaders and hearing their stories.” He says that Ruck was unique because “no one was there to become a leader because we were all already leaders, we just came to learn from each other.” When asked what he plans to take away from Ruck, he says that he plans to use what he has learned to “educate and empower others to maximize their leadership potential.” He plans to accomplish this by working with chapter leadership to evaluate current systems to figure out the best way to organize leadership roles to include more leaders within the chapter. Some of Hayden’s favorite activities at Ruck were eating with his small group, participating in the ropes course, and winning the Ultimate Frisbee tournament with his team, Team Chuck.
The Ruck Leadership Institute would not be possible without the hard work of SigEp headquarters staff and the generosity of donors nationwide. Our chapter is extremely grateful to all the amazing staff and facilitators who allowed our brothers to have a safe and impactful experience in Richmond and look forward to sending brothers to Ruck in the coming years.