Chapter Spotlight - Eta-Upsilon

Positive Change at Eta-Upsilon

by Jeremy Lenart (Monmouth '19), contributing writer

Over the past few years, Eta-Upsilon Chapter at the University of California-Irvine, has become a shining example of excellence and a proud carrier of the Sigma Pi name. Thanks to the guidance of advisors and dedicated leaders, these young men brought the Chapter together and made it better. Not long ago, the Chapter only had 27 active members. Today, it has 85 active members and has won many IFC awards. It has also held the highest GPA among other fraternities on campus for several consecutive quarters and had an undefeated IFC flag football season in fall 2021.

Before Eta-Upsilon experienced the success it knows today, the Chapter was lacking strong leadership. The young men of Eta-Upsilon were eager to improve the Chapter, but they needed mentorship and advice from an advisor/alumni perspective. In July 2019, an alumnus and founding member of the Chapter, Peter Georgantopoulos ('95), became chapter advisor and gave these young men the guidance they were searching for. With the newfound leadership from Georgantopoulos, the Chapter began to work as a unit. The burden of tedious work was evenly distributed across the Chapter rather than falling on a small group of brothers. Every man was doing their part, allowing the executive board to focus on their specific roles. The brothers were turning in more reports and keeping better track of their money. Revenue was growing in the Chapter and the men could feel the bond of brotherhood more than ever before. Georgantopoulos said, “When only a handful of guys want to do the work, the question is: whom are those guys going to be? Now we have so many people who want to do work, the question becomes: who is the right guy to oversee that?”

The first undergrad to become that overseeing guy was former Chapter Sage Luis Escalante ('19). Escalante said he entered the Chapter with the mindset to “leave the fraternity better than you found it.” He understood that they needed to take rushing events seriously if they wanted the Chapter to grow. When he was an incoming sophomore, Escalante held a 45-minute rush meeting where he strategically laid out the guidelines and plans for an effective rush season. The brothers responded to Escalante’s enthusiasm and recruited the largest fall pledge class two years in a row. Recruiting 30 men the first year and 28 the following year. Following Escalante’s time as sage, Gabriel Trejo ('21) stepped up and filled his shoes as chapter sage. Possessing the same work ethic, Trejo was able to maintain the success that the Chapter was building. Despite the challenges brought on by the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, each of these young men used that as an opportunity to work on the Chapter. They completely translated their rush program into a virtual one and began holding group study sessions online to boost the Chapter’s GPA. They also held virtual philanthropy events, got the Chapter involved in the American Red Cross Blood Drive, and donated gifts to the Big Brother Big Sister program. The hard work paid off when the Chapter won seven IFC awards. The awards consisted of, Outstanding Advisor, Chapter Values, Membership Development, Philanthropy & Service, Risk Programming, Scholarship Programming, and the Chancellor’s Cup which is awarded to the best overall IFC chapter on campus. As Eta-Upsilon continued to flourish, chapter alumni began to show more interest. The alumni reinitiated a scholarship fund exclusively for the Eta-Upsilon chapter. Along with that, Georgantopoulos said, “recently graduated Alumni have come forward to help the Actives pro-actively in professional/career development by finding alumni who already work in the fields that the actives are interested in pursuing.” When asked about the driving factor of the Chapter’s success, Trejo said, “It all came from the brotherhood. Because we have this bond; we get together to study and work out. We find our strength in numbers.” Georgantopoulos elaborated on that brotherhood when he spoke about an IFC basketball game he attended as chapter advisor. He said, “they had the sidelines packed with brothers from the Chapter. That brotherhood aspect was there from the beginning.” All of their hard work paid off at the 55th & 56th Biennial Convocation when they were awarded the Most Improved Chapter award for the biennium. Eta-Upsilon demonstrates that, with a strong sense of brotherhood at the core and the help of dedicated leaders, a group of young men can push the envelope of success and exemplify what it means to be a chapter of Sigma Pi.