Welcome back to our favorite part of our week – Fraternity Friday! Our profile this week is showcasing Noah Milliken, who previously served as the 2019 president of Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE). Noah is a senior at the University of Maine and is working towards completing his Business Management degree.
Noah is originally from Winthrop, Maine, a town with a population of 6,000 people (approximately) and being from a small town, since a young age, community has played a large role in his life. Noah talked about how his graduating class was made up of fifty students which created a close-knit feeling among him and his peers during their time in high school. If you’re looking for Noah here on campus, you’re most likely to find him spending time with his friends and when asked about what he and his friends like to do when they hang out – he prefaced that he is as a huge movie guy, whether it’s just him or a group of his friends going to the theater. Regardless of the activity, it is clear that Noah values experiences with those closest to him and that the role those people play in his life is a big one.
You would think that because of his small community and close friendships, Noah would have jumped at the chance to join a fraternity on campus, however, mutual friends are how Noah was initially introduced to TKE. Unlike a lot of the guys he pledged with, he wasn’t checking the rush flyer everyday planning which events he was going to attend and he actually ended up meeting them because he naturally found himself hanging around the house. He liked that when he was at the house, it wasn’t a group of guys just keeping to themselves and this was evident because when they saw him they would strike up a conversation and spend their time getting to know him. It wasn’t until his second semester that he decided that he wanted to join TKE and when he was offered his bid, it was the environment that made him say yes. He was surrounded by brothers that were excited for him to join and it was then that he knew this was both the right path to take and the place for him on campus.
Tau Kappa Epsilon lives by their 3 core values: love, charity, and esteem. Firstly, charity means that members put an emphasis on what makes someone great and in adversarial situations, members are encouraged to give the benefit of the doubt, especially when a mistake is made. Secondly, esteem means more so in terms of their look and how members should not be looking at materialistic attributions and more paying attention to a person’s character. Third, love is the most obvious value and simply means to be there for one another. When I asked Noah which value he lives by the most, he responded with charity and he humbly explained that he always tries to see the best in people in every circumstance.
In a display of embodying these values, TKE hosts a variety of philanthropic events throughout the school year, however, Noah is most looking forward to the two that take place during the spring semester. The first event is a twenty-four-hour Livestream that takes place on Twitch where the brothers will play their favorite video games. If a person donates, the brothers will participate in a wide range of challenges, for example, a milk chug challenge – if the request is made on behalf of the donation. The second event is new this year where they’ll be selling bracelets for their Black Bear Bar Crawl which is a 21+ event. It’ll be taking place on February 15th, 2020 and bracelets only cost $10 dollars – and it’s quite the deal. With the purchase of that bracelet, it gives every participant access to transportation, five different bars, discounted drinks, cheap food, and free merchandise. All the proceeds from both events benefit St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital which is their fraternity’s philanthropy. Because of all the work that has been put into this event, especially the new one that is being introduced this year, Noah can’t wait to see the outcome and the impact it will make in helping raise money for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
Along with TKE’s values, Noah lives his life by their motto: “better men for a better world.” This motto is closely related to their mission statement – “aid men in their mental, moral, and social development for life.” It is these messages that have helped him find his place in the world and taught him to keep standing, even if it feels as though he can’t. His main goal is to make sure the chapter continues to do their duty so that others can have the same experiences as him and get as much out of joining the chapter as he has. He says that actions that ensure this happens can be as small as making sure someone gets their fair say during a meeting or helping someone if they’re preparing to run for a position – to Noah, it is all about passing the torch as older brothers did for him when he first joined.
As well as serving as the 2019 president, Noah served as the historian where he had a variety of responsibilities. Some of the tasks he had to fulfill were communications with alumni, organizing homecoming and formal, and writing their newsletter. After holding this position, he saw that his grades had gone up and when it came time for him to run for president, it wasn’t so much for him but more for the chapter. Truthfully, Noah wanted to go for president as a way to not only observe what was going on in the chapter but implement change where it was needed and alternatively, celebrate what the chapter is doing right. Noah wishes he could remember the logistics of his speech but he simply stated: “it just felt right”. Through these positions, he was able to attend multiple TKE workshops and not only did they equip him with the skills and mindset he needed to become the President, but they further instilled the values of TKE and how the chapter can give back to the community that supports them.
The biggest workshop he attended was one known as Conclave which is a four-day event that was held this past summer in Orlando, Florida. It is a biennial event where they announce achievements of all of the national chapters as well as their individuals. There they also introduce the theme for the next two years, this year’s theme being excellence. When it was announced, it resonated with Noah because that’s the one word he felt embodied what he wanted for his chapter during his time there and beyond. He left this event with multiple pages of notes from both the workshops he attended and from talks he had participated in with other officers from different chapters who had a wealth of knowledge to give him. When he returned, he organized his notes into a document, but it wasn’t enough for Noah to just to read off the list and dictate through words how his chapter members would do good – it was more of the act of bringing those to life by performing the actions that exhibit those goals. When asked to reflect back on his role as President, he says that the ability to hold that position taught him that experience is the best classroom and it also introduced him to the term of lifelong learning, because his role has given him a solid foundation of leadership and professionalism that he will continue to implement not only in his time at the University of Maine but in the future as he starts to transition from chapter member to chapter alumni.
To conclude, Noah believes that the university and the fraternity go hand in hand very well and he further explains this by explaining that although the University of Maine did give him the tools, skills, and confidence that he needed to begin to start the foundation of his career and life and apply those as he is – that all of that isn’t enough on its own because TKE has given him the how and why he needs to apply it. The University of Maine has taught him how to do well in his job but TKE has given him the personal justifications as to how it will set him up personally as he embarks on his future career with a degree in hand. An example he gave me was one from a year or two ago where he had attended the Career Fair on campus, and he had gone with his resume in hand and a suit on so that he was dressed the part – but he wasn’t engaged. This year he went and he felt he was able to properly communicate with the companies he was interested in and take full advantage of these potential employers all being in one spot looking for nearly graduated students, such as himself. His conversations evolved from simple topics such as internships and his academics to rich discussions and his ideas and desires for the future and between these different experiences only a year or two apart, he feels as those the skills he feels he was able to acquire through his experiences with TKE is what inspired this change and confidence in him.
As his time with TKE slowly comes to an end, he has been able to reflect on his experience. When I asked about it, he feels as though he has gotten luckier than he should’ve with all the opportunities he has been given by the chapter that has made an impact on him both in his collegiate and personal life. To give back, this coming year he wants to do everything in his power to help the chapter succeed and keep it moving forward on its upward track.
Through this humble interview, I was able to learn about the sense of leadership paired with the desire to always be better and help those around you that are instilled in the men of Tau Kappa Epsilon. Thank you, Noah, for all of the work you have done for your chapter as well as our community!