Josh Cadorette '19 participated in Sigma Phi Epsilon's Tragos Quest to Greece with other members from around the country to explore the foundations of the fraternity.
A 10-day experience in Greece this summer offered Elon senior Josh Cadorette a new perspective on Greek life — both in the country itself, and within his fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon.
Called the Tragos Quest to Greece, the fraternity-sponsored expedition allowed Cadorette and 16 Sigma Phi Epsilon brothers from chapters around the country the chance to retrace the roots and core principles of the fraternity, partake in discussions and visit historical sites.
The trip wasn’t a typical sight-seeing venture to a foreign country. The group’s day began around 6 a.m. and ended around 11 p.m. with a return to the hotel, helping ensure they made the most out of the time they had.
The group woke up, exercised, ate breakfast and then got their minds working with a discussion led by a faculty member on the trip. These morning discussions focused on readings about Greek philosophy, mythology and history that the brothers were given a few months prior to the Quest. Organizers purposely kept the itinerary of the trip under wraps ahead of time so the members could be present in the moment without thinking or worrying about what was coming next, Cadorette said.
It was that early start to the day that proved to be the most challenging and rewarding aspect of the trip to Cadorette, who is the vice president of Residential Learning Communities for Sigma Phi Epsilon. He was asked by the mentors on the trip to lead an early morning yoga practice for one of their workouts as he had mentioned that yoga was a way he embodied the principle of having a sound body.
Even though he has only done yoga as an informal practice at Elon, he agreed. “Yoga started at 6 a.m., so people were getting up at 5:30, 5:45,” he said. “It was kind of challenging at first because they weren’t necessarily awake but then within 5 or 10 minutes we were getting into the flow of the practice and they were loving it, so it was a lot of fun.”
The quest offered the opportunity to travel to several different historical locations such as Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympics, the National Archaeological Museum in Athens and the Temple of Poseidon throughout the trip. Whenever the group was on the bus to its next destination, the members took part in an activity called “life maps.” Each brother spoke about the most important moments in their lives so that they could get to know each other better in the short time they had together, Cadorette said.
Time after dinner was filled with another discussion, with the brothers taking turns as discussion leader. One that stuck with Cadorette centered on the topic of vulnerability. Vulnerability is not a topic college-aged men typically explore in great detail, he said, and it allowed the brothers to be comfortable with sharing their feelings and insecurities. “We were scheduled to speak for an hour and it would last maybe three times as long,” he said. “Through challenging each other to think critically on complex topics, we drew closer together. Our close bonds were forged by these conversations.”
The Quest enabled the brothers to deepen their understanding of the roots of their fraternity and rediscover the principles that the Sigma Phi Epsilon embodies. There can be misconceptions about Greek life in college, Cadorette explained, so this trip helped them to look back on the founders’ purpose of their fraternity.
“I think that there are perspectives and misconceptions about what Greek Life is and what it has become,” he said. “I wanted to go back to the roots, the foundation of the fraternity to see why the founders implemented certain aspects of the fraternity and to be on the ground and learn about those foundations and be able to reflect upon them with a group of highly intelligent, driven, hardworking members was pretty impactful.”
Self-reflection was an aspect of the quest that Cadorette took to heart. “Self-reflection is incredibly important, if you aren’t checking in with where you are in the present moment and where you’ve been, then you’ll have no concept of where you’re going,” he said.
The lessons he learned in Greece solidified for him the fraternity’s cardinal principles of virtue, diligence and brotherly love. “You learn lessons in Greece that you wouldn’t be able to learn in a classroom or through a textbook,” Cadorette said. “However, even more so than the places, it was the people that were important because we were all able to learn from each other, to share experiences with each other.”