Proverbs 27:17 says “as iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens another,” and that was the driving theme that guided me as my time as Hegemon in the year 2025. Beta Zeta has a culture that breeds and demands excellence, and that starts at the ground level with our candidates for membership. Our constant pursuit of excellence means that we are constantly trying to evolve any process we have, especially new member education. The Mu Class, our most recent initiates from the Fall, got to experience the results of our evolution as they experienced the most rigorous, yet most rewarding, new member education process we have seen. Our candidates for membership process has always been about teaching young men how to be excellent men and how serve TKE best. That has not changed, but asking one man to teach to over 40 young men things that will actually stick in their brain is difficult, though not impossible. However, while I taught the fundamental habits for becoming a Leader of Character - which are Courage, Humility, Integrity, Selflessness, Positivity, and Duty - I also started a small group program to encourage more camaraderie and discussion-based learning among the candidates. With this, a new opportunity for members of the active chapter to lead within these small groups was created. This team of active leaders was called our Initiate Readiness and Onboarding Network, or I.R.O.N. for short as it refers back to Proverbs 27:17. Iron is formed to its desired purpose in a forge, so the candidates were split up into varying Forge Groups that were each led by two I.R.O.N. leaders. Seeing the fruits of this labor was nothing short of miraculous. Not only did the Mu Class seem the closest Fall class we have seen, they also were the most philanthropic any candidate class has ever been raising over $4000 with their class project, which has been a long-standing tradition of Beta Zeta. They more than doubled what any class has ever raised, and I could not have been more proud of their success, and I attribute that to the many opportunities they had to learn and grow together, with their Forge Groups being a large part of that. Ultimately, I am very proud of the new member education process that we now have. I wanted to serve the chapter as Hegemon to help usher the change necessary for growth in our candidates, and I did; however, I feel that I may have learned more from the candidates than what I taught them. At Beta Zeta, part of what makes us special is that we have a very diverse group of people that come from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, and the Mu Class was no different. This allows for a broader knowledge base to be explored as a group, and the Mu Class definitely broaden my worldview. Even though it was my job to hold these young men accountable, I grew in empathy greatly. Because of that diversity we have, you truly never know what someone is going through, and one of the greatest things I thank God for was the opportunity to meet our candidates where they were at when they were coming up short in some area of their life. And that is what brotherhood looks like. Being able to model brotherhood to the new initiates was my greatest honor because that is ultimately what keeps Beta Zeta great. I could care less if I am remembered as a great Hegemon or not, but I care deeply for the future of our chapter, the Nu and Mu Classes, and our brotherhood. Because of the candidate classes that I was fortunate enough to serve, I am not worried about the livelihood and future success of Beta Zeta as my time as an active is coming to an end, and you shouldn’t be either. So sit back and watch the show because I have no doubt that very great things are on the horizon as these new initiates become the new leaders of Beta Zeta. Sturdy Chords!