The Fraternity has named the following finalists for the 2019 International Balfour Award (IBA): Andrew McMahon, BIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN 2019; Oliver Page, WABASH 2019; and Andrew Pierce, NEW MEXICO 2019. The honor is presented annually to the person who is believed to be the Fraternity's most outstanding senior, based upon his success in academics and campus, community and Sigma Chi involvement.
The finalists will be interviewed by a selection committee at this summer's Krach Transformational Leaders Workshop at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, and the winner will be announced on Aug. 3 at the event's closing session.
McMahon graduated from Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama, with a degree in mathematics and a distinction in leadership studies. He was selected for membership in several honor societies. While a member of the Fraternity’s Chi Chi chapter, McMahon served as Consul, Magister, Recruitment Chairman and judicial board representative. He was president of the college’s Honor Council, tutored local elementary students in math, interned as a legal assistant and visited Nepal to help deliver community health initiatives.
Page, an English major, graduated from Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana. He was elected as captain of the football team, where he received All-Conference recognition. Page also was elected student body president and Consul for the Fraternity’s Delta Chi chapter. In addition to belonging to several campus committees, he planned the college’s inaugural Diversity and Inclusion Night. Page was a staff writer for the student newspaper and won an Indiana Collegiate Press Association award in 2018.
Pierce earned degrees in biochemistry and psychology from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and will continue his studies at the university’s School of Medicine. He has served as Pro Consul, Magister and Annotator at the Fraternity’s Beta Xi chapter and also was Interfraternity Council president. Elsewhere, he was a finance senator with the student government, a sexual assault awareness volunteer, conducted genetic research and worked as a medical scribe in a local emergency department.
Before being named IBA finalists, McMahon, Page and Pierce were province (regional) and chapter Balfour Award winners.
The 2019 IBA winner will join the previous year’s honoree and two undergraduate representatives to serve on the Fraternity’s Executive Committee (EC). The IBA winner will be on the committee for two years as an advocate for undergraduates.
