Broadening the Circle

SAE retreat provides opportunity to network and hone leadership skills

May 1, 2007

Will Goetschius '07 is back on campus after attending SAE's Inner Circle Program.

Will Goetschius '07 has been busy for the last four years. The international business and management major has served as treasurer of Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity and president of the Interfraternity Council and was inducted into the Order of Omega and Omicron Delta Kappa, two of the college's leadership and honor societies.

He also has been a varsity lacrosse player, served on the college's Pathways for Citizen Leadership Task Force and organized weekend cleanup drives in Carlisle.

Whether he consciously intended it or not, Goetschius has become a walking exemplar of how fraternity values can benefit individuals as well as the broader Dickinson community. "Fraternity life has taught me a lot about hard work and organization skills: to better communicate, to work well as a team, to lead. And it has allowed me to join an automatic network of people that share the same values as I do," he explains.

Goetschius recently was invited to SAE's first-ever Inner Circle Program, an intensive leadership-training retreat held on a farm near Prince Frederick, Md., March 10-12. He was one of only 25 members of the fraternity—out of more than 200 who applied nationally—chosen for the retreat.

The program allowed Goetschius to meet with other SAE alumni, such as U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia and Sergeant at Arms of the U.S. House of Representatives Wilson "Bill" Livingood, the chief law-enforcement official of that body.

"The Inner Circle was an unbelievable opportunity to get together with leaders from across the country and to act as a think tank to help the executive leadership of the fraternity," Goetschius says.

"I met a lot of different people from all walks of life. I learned how diverse SAE really is," he says. "There were people from large state schools, trade schools, commuter schools and liberal-arts colleges. It offered me a way to learn from a wider group of people that I wouldn't have otherwise come in contact with."