Balanced Man Celebration Opens 59th Grand Chapter Conclave

Thursday evening’s Balanced Man Celebration officially kicked off SigEp’s 59th Grand Chapter Conclave. While the much-anticipated reveal of Buchanan Cup-winning chapters was the centerpiece of the evening, the celebration featured powerful moments of recognition, reflection, and excitement for what’s ahead.

Grand President Brad Nahrstadt closed the evening with passionate — and at times, teary-eyed — remarks:

“We must re-center the SigEp experience on the Balanced Man experience,” he said. “We have an ideal, we have a Program, we have a Scholarship — we even have this Balanced Man Celebration. The ideal is timeless. It demands our diligent and unending pursuit.”

Nahrstadt’s term ends with the signature achievement of launching SigEp’s plan to become the largest and best fraternity on every campus where our flag is planted.

“We must continue to raise our bar on growth, my brothers,” he said. “If we truly believe that SigEp is different, we must build our chapters differently. If we believe we are the best, more and more young men will join as we grow into the largest.”

Throughout the event, three undergraduate emcees shared personal stories and reinforced SigEp’s vision for the future:

• Wyatt Carlson, Missouri ’26

• TJ Dubler, Montana State ’26

• Jason Schwartz, Georgia Tech, ’25

Sam Grant, Florida ’26 and chapter president of Conclave host Florida Alpha, welcomed attendees to Tampa and spoke about the legacy of high-performing SigEp chapters.

More than 90 SigEp chapters are now recognized as SigEp Learning Communities. Thanks to the generosity of the Illinois Alpha AVC at the University of Illinois, Missouri Theta at Central Missouri and West Virginia Gamma at Marshall University each received Pay it Forward grants to continue enhancing their living-learning environments.

Maine Alpha at the University of Maine earned both the Conclave Attendance Award and the Man-Mile Award for bringing 32 brothers all the way from Orono, Maine, to attend Conclave.

The Fraternity also recognized its newly chartered chapters from the past two years:

• Indiana Alpha at Purdue University

• New Jersey Beta at Rutgers University

• Texas Mu at Texas A&M University

These chapters were honored for reaching this important milestone, with nine Past Grand Presidents joining together on stage to present them with their official gavels.

The night concluded with the undergraduate emcees joining Grand President Brad Nahrstadt on stage to officially open Conclave — setting the tone for a weekend of celebration, growth and brotherhood.