The Kent State chapter of the National Society of Leadership and Success, also known as Sigma Alpha Pi, will potentially induct 674 new members this year.

Sigma Alpha Pi started at Kent State with about 12 members in 2007, and now has more than 1,600 current active members.

Briana Salgado, Sigma Alpha Pi president, said this year’s enrollment is the largest the organization has ever seen.

“It seems like students are involved more than ever,” Salgado said.

Students are invited to join the organization based on GPA. Michelle Adair, chapter adviser, said mostly sophomore through senior students are sent invitations to join from the national office during the summer. This year students were sent follow-up letters, which she said seemed to help a lot with the enrollment increase.

The society also made changes in their promotion.

#KWhonorsociety

“I think they did a better job this year of explaining the benefits of the organization,” Adair said, “ … and I think students want to gain recognition for their current skills or further develop their leadership skills as college students.”

Salgado said the organization also has a Facebook page now, which has received a lot of attention, and they’ve started having a lot of social events, as well.

According to the National Society of Leadership and Success website, the society was founded by Gary Tuerack in 2001 and is currently at 273 colleges with 162,126 members nationwide. It encourages community action, volunteerism, personal growth and strong leadership from its chapters and members around the world.

Adair said in a lot of honor societies people are invited to join, they pay a fee and they get an automatic membership status that they can put on their resume.

“Ours is a little different,” Adair said. “You sign up and become a pending member, and there are certain activities and programs that you have to participate in to earn your full membership.”

Salgado said in order to become an active member of the organization potential members must attend orientation and a presentation called Leadership Training Day. They also must go to at least three videoconferences, which Salgado said are broadcast live to students so they can watch motivational speakers. In addition, prospective members must take part in at least three social networking team meetings.

“They must meet with their teams and come up with goals to accomplish,” Salgado said. “They’re in groups based on their majors, so they can meet with people with the same interests.”

Amanda Douvis, junior applied mathematics major and Sigma Alpha Pi member, said she more than doubled the induction requirements last year.

“I was really interested in the group and actually attended just about every event offered,” Douvis said.

She received the National Excellence in Leadership Award for completing extra requirements and placed first in the nation for the National Excellence in Leadership Award Scholarship.

“It was a lot of work, but it truly is a rewarding experience.”

Contact Aubrey Johnson at [email protected].