This fall, 42 undergraduate chapters will pilot the Preparation for Brotherhood program, which gives more structure to the Fraternity’s pledging practices by providing an eight-week model for chapters to follow that culminates with the initiation ceremony. Perhaps most notably, the program repackages the I-week component of pledgeship as lessons presented throughout the entirety of the eight weeks, rather than merely at its end.
“The Preparation for Brotherhood model gives our pledges more time to digest and discuss our most important lessons, and introduces them to our Ritual with the knowledge of what it means to be a Sigma Chi,” says Jim Cogdal, BRADLEY 2003, senior director of membership development at International Headquarters. “We are confident that this new model will produce pledges who are better prepared to embrace the vision of the Fraternity at the time of their initiations than ever before.”
The Preparation for Brotherhood program curriculum was produced by members of the Education and Leadership Board (ELB), as well as undergraduates on the Executive Committee and the Jordan Initiative committee.
The program dedicates the first week of pledgeship to an introduction to the basic structure and values of Sigma Chi, and then focuses on one value and Founder each week for the next seven weeks. It also establishes the Big Brother/Little Brother programs at the very start of pledgeship, so that prospective Sigma Chis are afforded the opportunity to access the guidance of brothers throughout the entirety of their pledgeship.
After completing the pilot stage of Preparation for Brotherhood, Sigma Chi staff and volunteers will work to incorporate feedback into the program before rolling it out to all chapters in 2016. For more information, reach out to Chris Brooks, COLLEGE OF IDAHO 2006, Sigma Chi U administrator at International Headquarters at (847) 869-3655, ext. 266.
