At the recent Balanced Man Scholarship Banquet, a UT fraternity received a total of $48,000 in scholarships.
Sigma Phi Epsilon awarded 40 scholarships to active members and eight scholarships to freshmen.
Jason McKernan, vice president of recruitment of Sig Ep, said the scholarship program is divided into two groups.
Active members make up the first group and receive the most money. To receive a scholarship from Sigma Phi Epsilon, active members must excel in multiple areas such as academics, athletics, community service and fraternity involvement.
“The other aspect of the program is the Balanced Man Scholarship … part of Sig Ep’s community service project,” McKernan said. “Any high school graduate attending The University of Tennessee that meets scholarship requirements may apply.”
During the month of May, a scholarship committee travels around Tennessee interviewing prospective applicants. Of the 400 students that applied this past year, only 80 were interviewed and those were narrowed down to 16 finalists.
A committee will then further examine the finalists in order to choose the eight winners. Key factors in the selection process were a minimum 2.75 grade point average, involvement in both athletics and academics and community service projects.
Once the final eight finalists are selected, each will receive a $500 scholarship.
“The average grade point average for the eight scholarship winners was a 3.63 and an ACT score of 26,” McKernan said.
Members of the fraternity view the freshman scholarship as a way to help attract quality students to UT by helping them with a problem that plagues most students – financial aid.
“After being involved with the program for two years, I think it really shows the quality of freshmen students being admitted to The University of Tennessee,” said Michael Davis, a member of Sig Ep. “These are the students that are able to balance and excel in academics, athletics and extracurricular activities.”
The scholarship winners are excited about the financial assistance they have received to help with tuition costs.
“Sigma Phi Epsilon was extremely generous with the scholarship,” said Brad Barnes, a freshman in business marketing. “They’ve all been great.”
The money for the scholarships comes from donations by alumni. Former fraternity members such as Jim Clayton of Clayton Homes Inc., set up trust funds for the fraternity to use for scholarships.
