The Fraternity welcomed 1,805 brothers, including 1,326 undergraduates, to last week’s 2016 Balfour Leadership Training Workshop (LTW) at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. It is the 12th time the Fraternity has hosted Balfour LTW at the university, making it the event’s most popular site since it was first hosted there in 1955.
The event kicked off midday Thursday, July 28, and ended the evening of Saturday, July 30. Alumni facilitators led undergraduate attendees in large- and small-group sessions based on their officer positions for the 2016 to 2017 school year in discussions about best practices and how to deal with commonly faced problems. Later, the undergraduates convened with their chapter brothers and alumni advisors to formulate chapter-specific goals for the coming year.
The event wasn’t all oriented toward classroom development, though. On Friday, attendees had the option of participating in Sigfest, Balfour LTW’s annual collection of sporting events, games and social activities that take place in the evening hours. In addition, 65th Grand Consul Bob Jones, RENSSELAER 1973, and 62nd Grand Consul Doug Carlson, MINNESOTA 1973, joined 22nd Grand Historian Michael Codina, CALIFORNIA-SAN DIEGO 1993, in hosting a classroom session at which brothers learned about major events in the Fraternity’s history. Jones and Carlson are both inductees into the Order of Constantine, as well as recipients of the Significant Sig Award.
The event concluded with a Saturday night closing session at Bowling Green State's Stroh Center arena, at which Ethan Pickering, CASE WESTERN 2015, accepted the International Balfour Award, recognizing him as Sigma Chi’s most outstanding graduating senior in the class of 2016. In addition, the Fraternity presented the Daniel William Cooper Award to the chapter at the University of Idaho; the James F. Bash Significant Improvement Award to nine chapters; the Legion of Honor Award to 23 chapters; and the Peterson Significant Chapter Award to 86 chapters, including three that received Peterson Significant Chapter Gold Awards. The event's keynote speaker was actor and Significant Sig Eric Close, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 1989, who portrayed Teddy Conrad in the television show Nashville that will air its fifth season on CMT.
To learn more about Balfour LTW, visit the event’s website or contact Andrew Nepp, MINNESOTA 2015, leadership programs and data coordinator at International Headquarters, at (847) 869-3655, ext. 229.
