Each year, we are reminded that SigEp undergraduates are the type of values-based leaders our campuses want and need. That’s why we continue to see brothers elected as student body presidents. University administrators and fellow undergraduates know that SigEp men can make a difference.
To truly become a valued partner in higher education, our undergraduates and alumni need to be involved on campus beyond the chapter and the Interfraternity Council. Our brothers must take on more important roles to make a difference.
Meet some of our recent and current student body presidents:
Jason Badeaux,
Louisiana State ’19
Hometown: Alexandria, Louisiana
Major: Economics
Minor: Energy
Term: 2017-2018
How has SigEp helped you during your time as student body president?
SigEp’s development program, the Balanced Man Program, has had a lasting impact on me, especially regarding professional development. I believe the program’s educational challenges prepared me for a role as a leader and communicator on campus.
Additionally, the Louisiana Beta Chapter served as a model of how a fraternity should operate while I was a member of the President’s Task Force on Greek Life following the death of a freshman in another chapter. I was able to use my experience in SigEp to help craft policies that will encourage other fraternities to step up to the new normal.
What’s been your biggest accomplishment as student body president?
Creating and implementing a medical amnesty policy. This policy grants amnesty to students who act responsibly and seek medical attention in an alcohol- or drug-related emergency, and has the potential to save lives. As of this spring, the policy has been finalized in the Code of Student Conduct.
Lucas Frey,
Wisconsin-Platteville ’20
Hometown: Machesney Park, Illinois
Major: Software Engineering
Minor: Business Administration
Terms: 2017-2018 and 2018-2019
How has SigEp helped you during your time as student body president?
SigEp has taught me the value of having a good time while getting work done. I was elected student body president before I joined SigEp. I was much more black and white with my day-to-day routine. SigEp and the brothers I spend time with have given me a chance to relax and have fun while serving students.
What’s been your biggest accomplishment as student body president?
UW-Platteville’s student government was without purpose. The government had no clear strategic plan for student representation or a presence on campus. Our first term was spent restructuring the student government. I wrote nearly 100 pages of governing documents to be voted on by the general assembly. We passed a constitutional revision including avenues for underrepresented students to have a voice through a new advocacy caucus. The first week after this revision, we had 10 new students join our ranks.
Furthermore, the UW System Board of Regents voted to merge our schools into regional campuses. I was able to successfully merge three student governments from three separate campuses seamlessly through an equitable and fair process. During our term, we grew the student government from 10 people when I joined my freshman year to nearly 35 elected and appointed voting students as of two weeks ago … potentially convening the largest assembly ever at the UW-Platteville. Our prospects are looking promising for filling the student senate up to 50 people in the upcoming year, a number unheard of in the UW system.
Overall, we have had a successful year of activism and addressing apathy on campus. Some student body presidents opt to choose two-three legislative priorities to address during their term. However, in the upcoming term, I will spend a majority of our time empowering the senators in our senate to accomplish their own goals and priorities in an attempt to help them to understand that they can make a difference and empower them to be tomorrow’s leaders.
Luke Jansen,
Southern Illinois-Edwardsville ’18
Hometown: Effingham, Illinois
Major: Marketing and Public Relations
Term: 2016-2017
How has SigEp helped you during your time as student body president?
SigEp provided me a network of brothers who were also student body presidents and involved in their respective student governments. This gave me a group of brothers to bounce ideas off of and share concepts with. Additionally, I attended the Ruck Leadership Institute the summer before my term. This gave me an entirely new lens to see leadership through, which made me a much more effective president. Student body president is a difficult and stressful position; my chapter brothers supported me and gave me an outlet to let out stress once in a while.
What’s been your biggest accomplishment as student body president?
My single biggest accomplishment was changing a campus-wide policy that limited the amount of hours student employees could work and defined when they could and could not work. This policy restricted students and also put departments that rely on student employees in a bind. I worked with senators and several other governing bodies on campus to increase the number of hours students could work and remove restrictions that made students ineligible to work. This change better served our students, faculty and staff.
Cameron Keen,
Georgia ’18
Hometown: Dublin, Georgia
Major: Political Science
Minor: International Affairs
Term: 2017-2018
How has SigEp helped you during your time as student body president?
My brothers in SigEp were supportive throughout my campaign and term as president. Additionally, the leadership skills and career advice I gained through SigEp inspired my passion to serve students with humility and passion. I am certain that I would not have been as effective as student body president if it were not for the encouraging and inspiring community SigEp provided for me.
What’s been your biggest accomplishment as student body president?
As student body president, I am proud of my team’s efforts to assist students affected by mental illnesses. We were able to create a community where students are cared for, and we streamlined resources in a clear and comprehensible manner. Overall, I believe we were successful in helping any student facing a crisis as a result of our efforts to create a welcoming community on campus.
Kyle Long,
Trine ’19
Hometown: Edon, Ohio
Major: Social Studies Education
Minor: English
Term: 2017-2019
How has SigEp helped you during your time as student body president?
The most profound way in which our Fraternity has impacted my time as president would be through the Carlson Leadership Academy I had the opportunity to attend this past February in Chicago. It was there that I further developed my communication and networking skills during the recruitment track. I brought these enhanced skills and tips back to my campus and integrated them into various activities we partake in. I used this experience to design a retreat for new and prospective members in order to recruit and train highly qualified individuals. I feel as though being a SigEp has better prepared me for this role, and I am excited to continue representing our cardinal principles while in office!
What’s been your biggest accomplishment as student body president?
When I assumed the office of president towards the end of my sophomore year, the student government was very informal and, quite frankly, lacking participation on behalf of many senators. I made it my goal over the next year to intrinsically increase the senators’ motivation to fulfill their duties and bring more structure into our weekly meeting. I then was able to create two positions within the senate for international students, who were previously unrepresented. With them came valuable insight as to the needs of all students, not just domestic ones. As a result of these efforts, I was able to significantly increase the impact we were having upon the students at Trine University. I look forward as to what my second term in office will hold this upcoming year!
Drew Stensland,
Northern Iowa ’19
Hometown: Cedar Falls, Iowa
Major: Political Science
Minor: Public Administration
Term: 2018-2019
How has SigEp helped you during your time as student body president?
I would not be student body president at Northern Iowa if it were not for Sigma Phi Epsilon. The lessons I learned through the Balanced Man Program have been extremely useful, whether it was learning how to excel in public speaking, staying organized or understanding what it means to be a leader so that I can provide results to the students. During my time on the exec board as vice president of member development, I learned important leadership traits such as delegation and how to balance my time in SigEp, student government and school work.
Our campus has a rich history of SigEp involvement in many areas on campus, including student government. I am the ninth SigEp to serve as student body president or vice president since 2009. We also have had a large number of senators as well, including last year when we had 10 of the 21 student government senators who were in SigEp. This comes as no surprise to this campus because the Balanced Man Program has helped me identify different opportunities to help young men grow, helping to build them to become future leaders on campus. SigEp has been a life-changing experience, and it has instilled the core principles that have made me the leader on campus that I have become.
What’s been your biggest accomplishment as student body president?
Only being in office for a month, I’ve started to put together all my strategic plans to tackle the big projects once school starts again. However, I’ve accomplished many objectives the past three years when I served as a senator and speaker of the senate. Some of these objectives include placing a student representative on the local city council so that students could have a voice when it comes to local city issues and creating a program called Find Your Involvement, which is an online program that matches students with organizations they may want to join based on their interests. Over the next semester, my vice president and executive cabinet will be working on coordinating a “280 tour” where we meet with all 280 student organizations and listen to issues they see on campus. We also will be working to make sure students can get more information when they come to campus to make them more prepared for their college experience by offering a freshman-only class called “Panther 101.” We have a lot of work in front of us, but through the lessons I learned in SigEp and the people in SigEp who help me along the way, we will be able to get a lot done.
Thomas Watral,
Kent State ’19
Hometown: Mentor, Ohio
Major: Nursing
Term: 2018-2019
How has SigEp helped you during your time as student body president?
I first got my start on USG during my sophomore year campaigning to be the 2017-2018 director of governmental affairs. My involvement through my chapter provided me the network to learn and become involved with USG. The Balanced Man Program helped me fine tune my executive leadership skills, and serving as Ohio Lambda’s chaplain in 2017 provided me the discipline necessary to uphold the standards of an organization while holding others accountable.
What’s been your biggest accomplishment as student body president?
As I am entering my presidential term, I am already having discussions with administration about implementing voter registration into university-wide, mandatory courses.
Alex Winter,
Valparaiso ’19
Hometown: Gas City, Indiana
Major: Business Management
b Spanish, Humanities
Term: 2018-2019
How has SigEp helped you during your time as student body president?
SigEp has helped me in so many ways. One way would be that it gave me the leadership training and experience necessary to make tough decisions and be the best leader that I can be. Secondly, SigEp has pushed me out of my comfort zone and helped give me the courage to take risks, put myself out there, and not be afraid of taking on extra responsibility, even if I know it’s going to be hard. Lastly, my brothers provided me with the support that I needed to be able to run for and be elected to this position. I definitely would not be in the position I am today without Sigma Phi Epsilon.
What’s been your biggest accomplishment as student body president?
I haven’t started my term yet, However, I am really hoping to be able to completely revamp our current processes to make them paperless and way easier for student organizations to understand and complete.
Alex Wisniewski,
Indiana ’19
Hometown: Munster, Ind.
Major: Economic Consulting, Public Policy, Business Analytics
Minor: Spanish
Term: 2018-2019
How has SigEp helped you during your time as student body president?
My brothers helped me get involved in IU’s student government. They mentored me and provided great examples of student leadership on campus. As I gained more responsibility in the organization, the tasks grew in scope and difficulty. I turned to these brothers for guidance and they helped me get to the position I am in today. SigEp instilled us all with the diligence to improve student life, the brotherly love shown for every Hoosier at IU, and the virtue to lead a university.
What’s been your biggest accomplishment as student body president?
For the first time in over two decades, we have created a working relationship with the city council of Bloomington. We are currently working to permanently establish a student liaison to the city council. We believe this position will help us better understand the city issues that regularly affect student life on campus. We hope to have this position created before the fall 2019 semester begins.
Terry Montei says
These fellows were outstanding!
Keep up the great work.
Bob Stewart says
so proud of each and everyone of my young brothers.
with young men like these, our beloved Fraternity will continue to grow
and change lives!
Bob Stewart Tennessee beta 73