On September 21st, 2020 our brothers attended the 2020 Fraternity and Sorority Life Awards Banquet. This banquet consisted of various awards for UNK chapters for the academic year of 2019-20 through the form of nominations. SigEp was extremely successful at this banquet, winning more awards than any other fraternity. Our chapter received three chapter awards and two individual awards.
To begin, we won the Nester Cup for the 13th semester in a row with a chapter GPA of 3.495, which is the highest GPA we have obtained in recent years. We also received the Outstanding Faculty Relations Award for our relationships with our faculty fellows, as well as adding another faculty fellow in Dr. Theresa Yaw. Dr. Yaw is an Economics professor at UNK and has given informative presentations on personal finance and money management. Another chapter award we received was the Outstanding Collaborative Program Award with Alpha Phi for organizing Skills for Success, a program that teaches essential skills such as impressions, social media and email etiquette, thank you cards, professional and formal attire, and table manners to 7th grade students around the Kearney community. Around 15 to 20 SigEp and Alpha Phi members would volunteer each day for a week to help teach these 7th graders beneficial skills. The program was led by SigEp brother Gabe Crocker, and the award was given for how successful and impactful the program was in our community.
Finally, SigEp received two of the most important individual awards. Austin Jacobsen, a senior in the academic year of 2019-20, received the Greek Man of the Year Award for his exceptional involvement and leadership in the Greek community as well as the Kearney community. His accolades proved that he went above and beyond in his journey of becoming a Balanced Man, and we are extremely proud of him in the way he has represented us over the years! Landon Seibert, a freshman in the academic year of 2019-20, received the Outstanding Fraternity New Member Award for his immediate involvement in fraternity life while taking up leadership positions right away. In his first year as a SigEp, he was the Homecoming Chair, a student senator, and nominated as the Vice President of Programming at the end of the year. He expressed a strong voice in our chapter from the get-go and obtained a 3.5+ GPA both semesters. Landon was a new member that bought in to the Balanced Man ideals and it has shown throughout his growth. We are extremely proud of Landon and are excited to see the great things he will do in the future!
Overall, our chapter was highly accoladed at the banquet, demonstrating our high level of expectations for our brothers. We are extremely proud of the achievements we have made and will continue to strive to be the best we can be as fraternal men.