Where would SigEp be without its volunteers? The Fraternity relies on our volunteers, and they step up — serving as everything from program facilitators to mentors for undergraduate brothers to fundraising captains for the annual Founders Day of Giving.

While it’s widely acknowledged that volunteers are the soul of our Fraternity, it’s not always clear to those who aren’t involved what actually goes into being a volunteer or even how to become one.

The main requirement for serving as a SigEp volunteer: a strong desire to mentor undergraduates and make a positive impact on chapter life. Those interested will find SigEp has a wealth of volunteer opportunities open to both alumni and non-members. Volunteers can serve remotely or in person with any chapter, in an ongoing role as part of an alumni and volunteer corporation or in one-time roles such as a career coach or event facilitator.

The Journal spoke with four volunteers about their experiences volunteering for the Fraternity.

Chad Phillips, Baker ’17

When he learned about SigEp’s Career Coaching program, Chad Phillips signed up to serve as a coach. The program, which connects undergrads with alumni working in the fields they hope to pursue, is something Phillips says he wished existed during his undergraduate days.

A recent dental school graduate, Phillips was looking forward to sharing his experiences with brothers thinking of entering the profession. Since signing up to be a coach, Phillips has met with four undergraduate brothers.

The one-hour conversations have mostly centered on the process of applying to dental school, but Phillips said he’s also discussed “the life of a new dentist and the career transition after leaving school.” He said it’s been rewarding to know that he’s helped several brothers take the first steps on the path to entering his profession.

Payton Gabel, North Dakota ’23, one of the undergrads Phillips coached, said the experience helped him gain clarity about what he needs to do to realize his professional goals. “I felt that Chad was able to decipher and simplify the complicated route to becoming a dentist,” he said. “He was able to answer questions about the application process and shared what he wanted out of his future career.”

Phillips is glad his own experiences may make the path to dental school smoother for some brothers and noted he’s happy to have follow-up conversations with his matches if more questions arise and they want to speak with him again.

For a while during dental school, he served on a local chapter’s AVC, but the demands of attending school full time caused him to reduce his involvement. Phillips noted that Career Coaching has been a great opportunity for him to remain connected to the Fraternity and give back during a period in his life when he couldn’t commit to a more time-consuming role.

Frank Ko, Pepperdine ’97

Frank Ko serves double duty, supporting his home chapter, California Psi at Pepperdine, with roles as chapter counselor and AVC vice president.

Guiding young brothers is personal for Ko because he remembers what it was like when the chapter lost its charter during his freshman year. “I mentor them to try to make sure they don’t repeat mistakes that were made previous on occasions,” he said. As a founding father of his chapter, it’s important to Ko to offer his guidance so the chapter remains on the right track.

That means doing things like getting together with members of the chapter’s executive board during the summer to discuss goals for fall recruitment. He sees his responsibility as chapter counselor to be an advisor who sets the tone, helps the undergrads establish goals and helps them focus on achieving those goals.

In his more than 20 years as a volunteer, Ko has also served as AVC treasurer and mentor to the undergraduate chapter’s vice president of finance.

“I would say to other alumni, it doesn’t matter when we graduated, just stay involved. If you put in the time and effort, you’ll see the results. You’ll never know the difference you can make if you don’t volunteer.”

Ko noted that being a volunteer is about doing what you can to give back, but that volunteering brings its own rewards. “Ever since I started volunteering, I’ve met awesome alumni. All of my closest friends are other SigEps, either from Pepperdine or other chapters.”

Jimmy Miller, Clarion ’19

As a former regional director who was responsible for working with chapters in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia, Jimmy Miller was excited by the idea of continuing to serve multiple chapters as a volunteer.

After concluding his time on the Fraternity’s Headquarters staff, Miller initially moved to Dayton, Ohio, and began volunteering with the Ohio Pi chapter at Wright State. “It was a good opportunity to step into a local role and serve as their balanced man steward,” he said.

Miller is appreciative of how warmly the chapter embraced him. He said the chapter holds a brotherhood retreat and an especially meaningful Ritual each semester. “I was the first non-Ohio Pi SigEp to be invited to share that experience with them.”

Miller also decided to volunteer with SigEp’s Ohio Nu chapter at Cleveland State due to the strong connection he formed with the undergraduates while serving as their regional director.

“My decision to take on that role was purely emotional,” he stated.

Since he didn’t live near the chapter, he had to develop a plan for maintaining that bond with the chapter. “I visited about once a semester to do a workshop with the executive board,” he explained. “I kept regular tabs on them, talking every other week to the chapter president.”

Miller believes having a strong rapport with the chapter you’re serving is one of the most crucial aspects to succeeding as a volunteer, regardless of where one lives. “I may have been there [physically], but when they called, I answered. I know they trusted me to help them with whatever issue they were dealing with. It’s a warm feeling knowing I’ve built those relationships and have that trust with the undergrads.”

Miller is currently engaged as a mentor with Ohio Eta at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Since moving for work again, this time to Indiana, he decided to scale back his other volunteer commitments. He remains pleased about his time volunteering with multiple chapters and looks forward to a time when he can become more involved again.

Holly Lovern

While getting her master’s in student affairs at the University of South Carolina, Holly Lovern heard the school’s SigEp chapter was seeking volunteers. She’d been active in a sorority as an undergrad and was curious about what working with a fraternity would be like. Acting on that interest, she connected with the chapter and was asked to serve as mentor for the chair of the Brother Mentor challenge at SigEp’s South Carolina Alpha chapter.

Although she didn’t really know what to expect, she said she still found herself surprised by the experience.

“Sororities are structured differently,” Lovern explained. “We don’t have as many opportunities.” Beyond having the chance to interact with and serve as a role model for members of the chapter, volunteering also connected Lovern with other volunteers and members of SigEp’s Headquarters staff.
Her contributions were quickly noticed by fellow volunteers, and staff reached out to her about facilitating at events like the Carlson Leadership Academies.

After about a year and a half, Lovern relocated to start a new position at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Lovern had enjoyed her experience as a SigEp volunteer and wondered if there was an opportunity to volunteer at her new school. “I was interested in staying involved with SigEp because it was different from but also intersected with my professional work,” Lovern explained. As a gender violence service coordinator, Lovern works with students who have experienced sexual assault or interpersonal violence, but also seeks to prevent such incidents.

After reaching out to SigEp Headquarters, Lovern was asked to serve as chapter counselor for the North Carolina Gamma chapter at Duke and served in that role until the chapter’s closure in 2022. She was later tapped to serve on the national Fraternity’s SigEp Learning Community Committee, a role she enjoys because of its parallels to her work in education.

Today, Lovern has come full circle in her SigEp involvement. She is once again volunteering with South Carolina Alpha, this time mentoring the vice president of learning community.

“One thing I appreciate is that SigEp invests in its volunteers. I’ve had a lot of professional development and I also enjoy the interaction with other volunteers, so, it’s really become a community for me,” she said. Lovern added, “I think the connection I feel with SigEp has kept me coming back.”

The volunteers’ volunteer

Considering how much SigEp prioritizes the involvement of volunteers in the undergraduate experience, it should come as no surprise that the Fraternity has a volunteer role especially for the purpose of recruiting other volunteers — district governors (DGs). These key volunteers appoint chapter counselors and balanced man stewards and support the alumni and volunteer corporations in their districts by recruiting and training volunteers.

Brian Tenclinger, Louisiana State Renaissance, joined SigEp’s Headquarters staff in 2022 as volunteer engagement and education director. One of his early undertakings was to develop a leadership conference for the DGs, highlighting best practices in recruitment and training, the needs of today’s college students, and more. Bringing the district governors together to learn with and from each other is part of SigEp’s ongoing commitment to provide volunteers with training and resources so they can effectively support undergraduates.

Twenty-seven DGs were able to attend in person, with another six taking part virtually. The 2022 conference marked the first time in at least 15 years that an event has been held specifically for DGs to come together to discuss strategies for volunteer engagement.

Myths about volunteering with SigEp

Here’s the secret ingredient for succeeding as a SigEp volunteer: willingness to listen and share your experiences with our undergraduate brothers as they navigate life as a modern college student. There are many misconceptions about what it takes to be a SigEp volunteer. Let’s shatter some of those myths.

1. You must volunteer with your home chapter. On the contrary, volunteering with a chapter that isn’t your home chapter is a rewarding way to get to know undergraduates and fellow volunteers in a different city or area of the country, learn from each other’s successes, and pass on the life lessons you learned as an undergraduate. Alumni who don’t live near their alma mater shouldn’t feel confined to only volunteering with their home chapter. Sigma Phi Epsilon is a nationwide brotherhood, after all.

2. You have to live near a campus where SigEp has a chapter. As seen in the example of Jimmy Miller, phone calls, emails and video meetings can be used to stay in touch with undergraduate brothers between in-person visits. Maintaining a long-distance connection will create a foundation that makes your interactions all the more meaningful during the times when you’re face to face.

3. Volunteering requires more time than you can give. Doing something significant doesn’t always require a huge amount of time. For instance, serving as a career coach typically only takes an hour. But that hour you spend talking with an undergraduate brother about your career path will make a lasting impact on him as he tries to define his own.

4. You have to serve on an alumni and volunteer corporation in order to volunteer. You may not have the time to commit to serving in an ongoing role with a chapter, but there are a multitude of ways you can make a positive impact on our brothers’ development. In addition to Career Coaching, there are opportunities to facilitate sessions at SigEp events such as Carlson Leadership Academies, Life After College, Ruck Leadership Institute and Conclave. While the time commitment for these volunteer engagements is relatively brief, you’ll make a long-lasting impact on our brothers.

5. You have to be a brother to volunteer for SigEp. The Fraternity welcomes the perspective of women and other nonmembers.

6. All of SigEp’s volunteers are older alumni. Seasoned alumni are revered for their wisdom, but we shouldn’t count younger alumni out. Because they were recently in the same shoes as our undergraduate brothers, they tend to form easy connections with chapters and have unique insight on what it’s like to launch a career in these unusual times.

Excited to start your own volunteer journey? Visit sigep.org/volunteers to learn more and get started today.