This past summer, I had the great honor to attend SigEp’s Annual Ruck Leadership Institute. Along with past VP Member Development Praneet Patil (‘23), I flew down to Richmond, Virginia to spend five days at the birthplace of our fraternity.

The Frank J. Ruck Leadership Institute is one of SigEp’s most valuable programs, and the one which focuses specifically on personal leadership development. The experience bisected my term as VP Recruitment. After attending Ruck, I served much better in my role, raising our recruitment from 3 new brothers the prior Spring, to 18 new brothers that next Fall.

Specifically, I learned how to conduct myself, how to better understand others, and above all, how to see failures and challenges as opportunities. I look at our chapter with a refreshing sense of optimism. With each realization of something we’re missing, there’s an opportunity to shift our chapter for the better. Even in the wake of successes, it’s crucial to remind ourselves that the job’s not done.

The people at Ruck were the most important part of the experience. On the plane, I sat with Will Servino (CT-A ‘24) from UConn, who shared the same role, major, and interests as me. We compared our recruitment plans and contrasted the differences in our Balanced Man Scholarship programs.

Will helped me see the things we could improve, and I hope to reconnect with him before graduation. Some friendships you just know will persist. My roommate at Ruck, John McLaughlin (ME-A ‘24), shared the same major and home state as me. Like myself, he was recently elected as his chapter’s President. We were able to catch up at the Carlson Leadership Academy this February, and I know we will see more of each other going forward.

I’ll always cherish this experience and continue to bring the things I learned with me to the chapter. I’m grateful to the alumni who sponsored this trip and enabled me to go without any associated cost. I look forward to the day that I can pay the favor forward and do the same.