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Politicial Science club news, summer '06.
Compiled by Prof. Jeremy Lewis, revised 24 July '06.

"Montgomery, Ala. -- Huntingdon College senior R. Walker Garrett, of Columbus, Georgia, toured Greece earlier this month, after being selected for the fully-paid Quest to Greece Scholarship, funded by the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.  One of 17 college men chosen from across the United States, Garrett was one of only two Sig Ep men chosen from the Southeast and the first person from Alabama to receive the award.

The Quest to Greece Scholarship was competitive, requiring applicants to submit two letters of recommendation and at least five separate essays.  Garrett was chosen by the National Board from among the more than 400 applicants.

For him, the experience was life-changing.  "The purpose of the trip is to explore the foundations of our fraternity," said Garrett.  "I learned some wonderful life lessons.  In the end, I found the most profound development for me was a new understanding of the value of being exposed to completely different people, challenging each others' ideas and improving our own, and finding common ground and friendship."

Quest to Greece supports the fraternity's "balanced man" philosophy, requiring that members in chapters that adopt the philosophy maintain an established grade point average, standards of etiquette, and involvement in co-curricular programs.  Garrett, a member of the Huntingdon Hawks men's tennis team and a Student Government Association senator, served as the president of the Huntingdon Sigma Phi Epsilon chapter during the 2005-2006 academic year and was re-elected by his brothers to serve a second term for 2006-2007.  During his presidency, Garrett has captained the rebuilding of the fraternity's membership on campus and has established the Sig Ep chapter room as a residential learning community (RLC), based on Oxford and Cambridge University models.  Because of the adoption of the RLC model, a faculty fellow has an office in the chapter room, there are individual study areas in the chapter room, the chapter is building a small book collection, and the fraternity maintains a reading list for its members.  The chapter's faculty fellow, Dr. Maureen Kendrick Murphy, associate professor of chemistry, presented study help sessions in the chapter room as well.

The Huntingdon Sigma Phi Epsilon chapter won the Phi Beta Kappa Wheelhouse Award in 2005-2006, an award reserved for those chapter that achieve chapter grade point averages of 3.15 or higher.  Huntingdon, one of three colleges in the the Southeast whose Sig Ep chapters were honored with this award, achieved a grade point average of 3.34.  The chapter also enjoyed 100% new member retention and a 3.36 grade point average among new members during the past year.  The chapter requires a 2.75 grade point average for initiation and 3.0 to serve in an office.

Garrett, a political science major with minors in business administration and history, had to continue his study habits into the summer to prepare for the trip to Greece.  After completing a pre-trip reading list, he studied Greek philosophy and participated along with the other men selected in sports and recreational activities while in Greece.  "Coming out of the trip I feel enlightened and changed," said Garrett.  "We all learned more from each other, and therefore learned more about ourselves, which will help us impact our individual chapters and communities when we graduate."  He is the son of  Mr. and Mrs. Hudson Garrett of Columbus." -- HC eNews, 24 July '06