Sigma Phi Epsilon has forever changed my life for the better. This time last year, I was walking up the slippery steps to Sylvan, taking my first strides as a UMass Amherst student. Coming into that semester, I was full of angst and excitement, nervous about how I was going to get involved and fully adopt my title as a student of Massachusetts’ premier flagship university. As a transfer student, it was paramount that I found a great group of people that I could smile and laugh around, but also people I knew I could rely on when things weren’t going well; that’s what SigEp is all about.
A few weeks into the semester, I found those people at SigEp. Friends who I would later call my brothers. I would have never known that two of my closest friends from my rush class that spring, would later serve with me on the executive board a year later, carrying on the legacy of Massachusetts men being written since 1912. Not only was it a great group of people who I knew had my back, but also an environment I knew I could grow in. The beauty of SigEp is that it’s a place where you can be yourself, take risks, and fail, knowing your brothers will be there every step of the way. Pairing the academic side of an undergraduate experience with an extracurricular like SigEp is integral to maximizing the most out of college.