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ONE RECENT PARTICIPANT PRAISES THE PROGRAM
By Colin McLean, Montana '11
 When I applied for Ruck, I hoped to learn the necessary strategies to bring my fledgling chapter of Montana Alpha to greatness on the Montana campus. I also expected to meet outstanding men from across the country and share ideas and experiences to enhance my ability to lead my chapter. With the prospect of bettering myself and the men around me, I was very excited for the opportunity to attend Ruck and also thankful to my chapter and Headquarters for funding my trip. These expectations were met and surpassed.
Through the use of the preliminary leadership surveys and deep discussion on each aspect of leading, I had an epiphany about my strengths and weaknesses. With this new base of knowledge, I can rally my chapter brothers around one unified vision: to become the dominant fraternity on campus.
Later in life, I see this type of introspective leadership development as invaluable. Under my current curriculum as a philosophy/political science major, leadership development simply does not exist. Anyone with initiative to succeed in life would benefit from what Ruck offers, as it teaches you how to translate your initiative from an idea to actuality on both a personal and group level.
Frankly, no college class I’ve taken has touched on this, much less defined each aspect and taught me how to better myself as a leader. During the program, 120 men converge from across the United States, find commonalities and legitimately become friends. The caliber of my fellow Ruck scholars inspired me to better myself beyond what I originally thought was possible. Hearing about their chapters inspired me to bring my chapter beyond the goals my executive board and I set at the end of the last semester. These guys embody the Fraternity’s values of Virtue, Diligence, and Brotherly Love and gave me a great deal of pride in our organization.
The facilitators were among the most impressive individuals I’ve had the pleasure of shaking hands with. These driven individuals have further pushed the boundaries of what I thought I could accomplish and serve as concrete examples of the practices and strategies Ruck taught me.
Ruck has made a revolutionary impact on me personally, professionally, and fraternally. My ideas about effective leadership have transformed. I now have an approach to unify my brothers so they can accomplish any task of any size. Seeing the type of men the Fraternity has recruited and developed has shown me the type of man I should strive to be.
**Excerpted from a feature series on partnerships in higher education, appearing in the upcoming Fall 2010 Journal.
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