Jeff Mockaitis: As an adviser to Sigma Pi Fraternity, every semester I get access to the Greek grades versus the Non-Greek grades and they break it down by all of the different fraternities and there is a clear correlation that the fraternities and sororities do significantly
Better than the non-Greek community when it comes to grades. Every member of the fraternity has a what we call a “Pledge Father,” which is basically an older mentor who teaches you the ropes of the fraternity, but also makes sure that you’re staying up on your grades, that you’re studying
For your tests, and preparing well. Having exposure to upper classmen really from day one, helps you to understand what you’re in for and prepare you for success. You get a lot of people moving into the dorms that are unprepared for the level of school work because there’s a massive
Difference between your freshman college classes and your high school senior classes. I know for a fact that you get no real support structure other than what you seek out yourself. Whereas in the fraternity you don’t have to seek it out, it’s provided for you on day one because everybody
In the fraternity wants to see everybody else in the fraternity succeed. We want to help each other out. About a year ago the university hired a high level mathematician to sort through the data to try to understand what was going to help students at MS&T stick around and as they started
Sifting through the data, they found a very strong correlation that members of the Greek Community, the fraternities and sororities, were sticking around college at levels of 5-10% higher year-over-year, freshman to sophomore to junior to senior. One of the things that they identified as
A major predictor of success at Missouri S&T was how well the student does in the very first math class. The better you do in that first math class, the better you will do over the four years that
You’re at Missouri S&T and one of the things that the fraternity can do is help. You’re going to have brothers that are in your math class, you’re going to have many brothers who have taken that
Math class and have mastered the topic and can help you, tutor you, study with you, so that you can get the best grade possible in that first math class, because the data was incontrovertible. The better you do in that first math class, the better you will do for your entire college career. Our
Chapter of Sigma Pi has an educational foundation that provides Scholastic grants for students that get 4.0s, for new members that get 3.5s, for students that have the most improved GPA from the previous semester to the current semester, and so everybody within that the house has a vested
Interest in supporting each other. This is all a way to help support the Scholastic endeavors and also to help defray the rising costs of college as the foundation is very invested in the success of the future engineers and scientists that Missouri S&T is creating. So at Missouri S&T every student
Has to participate in a design team or or have a co-op or internship, and one of the things that Sigma Pi offers to our members is we have a lot of alumni that are working in St. Louis and Kansas City and around the country in various engineering firms, math and science firms, and
Those alumni are always looking for opportunities to provide internship opportunities or co-ops to members of the house to help support them in their career development. One of the things that happens is a kind of a side benefit of this is as one student finishes an internship with a company,
They will introduce one of their brothers to that company to take the next internship so that they kind of follow each other. That’s something that you just don’t see in the dormitories, but being a member of the fraternity, one, it gives you the social skills, the soft skills, the leadership,
The teamwork, the problem solving skills, and employers know that and brothers know that, so when we see Sigma Pi on a resume, we open our eyes and look for opportunities, how can we help benefit that person. How can we hire them or point them in the right direction so that they can get
The job that they’re looking for. So when you’re a member of Sigma Pi Fraternity, you’re living in the house every week, you’re going to have some kind of house duty and that house duty is then measured and checked by the Vice President of the fraternity to make sure that you did the
Job that you were supposed to and that creates a sense of accountability that you’re taking care of something. You’re learning very basic skills on how to clean, how to maintain a house. Along the same lines, you have the opportunity to serve on committees and as you get to be a sophomore,
Junior you move up to the point where you’re leading those committees and you’re really learning how to work together to develop a project or to put on an event. How to work together as a team and problem solve so the undergraduates get exposure to how to manage people, how to lead
People, how to budget and finance. You get these experiences that you can take with you into your professional career. As you are exploring college or as you’re helping prepare your son to explore college, I strongly recommend you look at Missouri S&T and Sigma Pi Fraternity at the school. It has
Had a great impact on my life and has so many positive benefits that I can’t even count.
source
