Phi Sigs recognized as ‘outstanding’ for 4th year

The saying goes “third time’s the charm,” but for Phi Sigma Kappa, charm doesn’t stop at three. On Aug. 9 at the Phi Sigma Kappa General Convention in Indianapolis, the chapter won the Herbert L. Brown Outstanding Chapter Award for the fourth year in a row.

“It’s extremely prestigious,” said Michael Carey, the executive director of the Phi Sigma Kappa International Headquarters. “It’s the best award an undergraduate chapter can receive.”

The IU chapter was one of five chapters to receive the award, out of 76 chapters throughout the country, Carey said.

“We’re really excited, especially because it’s the fourth year in a row for us,” said Dylan Friesner, chapter director of special projects. “It’s a good thing for us, because we don’t have a permanent house to still stand out nationally. When we win things like this, it reaffirms our attempt to try to make a name for ourselves.”

Carey said chapters are judged on nine different categories, including chapter operations, recruitment and risk management. Adam Clark, chapter secretary, said the chapter, which consists of 118 active members, did especially well in two other categories: scholarship and philanthropy.

“We have the numbers to be able to do things like philanthropies,” Clark said. “We’re able to do those things that make us stand out above everybody else. Raising our GPA to top 10 of all Greeks was pretty big.”

However, even with national recognition, growing membership and rising GPA, chapter Vice President Garrett Greiner said there are still many areas to improve.

“As great as it is to be able to do what we’ve done, my biggest concern with being a four-time Chapter of the Year winner is you get that fear of complacency among members that this is something we’re going to do every year,” Greiner said. “It’s difficult to be the best because you’re always being challenged by people who want the recognition that we’re getting, but you have to make sure everyone knows there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

To make the chapter even stronger, Clark said he and the other members have set goals, specifically with scholarship.

“We continuously raise the GPA higher and higher,” Clark said. “We’d like to set it at 3.3. We’d like to raise our minimum where you can’t be in the house unless you have a 3.0.”

Along with scholarship, the chapter also plans to continue its philanthropy.

“We constantly strive to be a philanthropic house and we require all our members to meet a certain requirement for philanthropies,” Friesner said. “That’s a big part of why our nationals recognize us as such a great chapter.”

Friesner said he also hopes to improve the overall Greek attitude on campus.

“There are some people that have a stigma about it,” Friesner said. “Doing things like this can bring IU’s Greek life as a whole to a better standard and make it more attractive to potential associates.”

With specific goals and a plan to do better, Greiner said he hopes his chapter doesn’t stop now.

“In the long run, it’s great to see what we’ve done, but at the same time, if anyone feels happy with where we’re at, then we’ve lost,” he said. “We need to continue to raise our standards until we are the standard.”