This week’s Fraternity Friday profile is Matt Stenger, Vice President of Finance for Sigma Phi Epsilon (SigEp) and the University of Maine Interfraternity Council. He is a fourth-year Management and Finance major who is also very involved in his community.
Matt is involved in Black Bear Mentors (BBM) through his fraternity’s philanthropy organization, Big Brothers Big Sisters. When we were talking about his involvement in BBM, he explained to me that mentoring to him is not something that someone can do for self-fulfilling reasons. “It’s really all about the kids”, he said, after telling me that his mentee sees him as an important male figure in his life.
With his mentee, he usually either helps him with homework or simply gives him someone to hang out with. From my own experience with mentoring, I could really understand that he is passionate about this organization and making an impact on a young person’s life.
With his fraternity, Matt told me that he has achieved a lot of self-growth. This summer, they went to a national fraternity conference where SigEp won their sixth Buchanan Cup, meaning they were within the top 10% of SigEp fraternities nationally. As someone who never saw themselves joining Greek life, Matt says that he has really found a great group of people to grow with in college.
Although he has the same leadership role for both the IFC and his fraternity, Matt says that his responsibilities are pretty different between the two groups. For the IFC, he told me that his role consists of collecting dues from fraternities and creating a budget for the overarching organization. For SigEp, however, he says that he is much more involved, creating a budget for the fraternity itself and purchasing items for different events throughout the years.
This summer, Matt had an internship at Bangor Savings Institution in Portland, Maine, where he presented a project to the president of Bangor Savings as well as the Dean of the Business School on campus, which is something he takes great pride in. While he is not someone who likes to brag about his achievements, Matt likes to leads by example, and he believes that the work he puts in speaks for itself.
This week, SigEp is participating in an approximately 100-hour campout on the University Mall to raise awareness for domestic violence and sexual assault. Matt told me that the motivation behind this event is to show that domestic violence and sexual assault can happen anytime, anywhere. They are also doing raffles for gift cards, a backpack, and vouchers to local businesses. The raffle money is being raised for Partners for Peace, an organization that aims to bring awareness to domestic violence.
Thank you, Matt for your continued involvement and contributions to the community!
HCXO