Junior wins national award

by Steph Mostaccio

This year, approximately 200 Delta Sigma Pi business honor fraternity members throughout the country applied for the Founder’s Memorial Undergraduate Scholarship, and only four received it.

Sarah Ranney, a junior advertising major who is senior vice president of recruitment for Rider’s Delta Sigma Pi chapter, Beta Xi, was one of those four. The award was worth $500. Delta Sigma Pi is a co-educational professional fraternity for students in the College of Business Administration.

“It’s a big honor to be selected by the national fraternity,” she said. “To be recognized on a national level for your achievements is a big deal.”

Since many people compete for limited scholarships, Shanda Gray, executive vice president of the Delta Sigma Pi Leadership Foundation, said Ranney should be proud.

“Competition is tough for the scholarships, and Sarah stood ahead of many in order to receive an award,” said Gray.

Ranney said she is proud, but also relieved. She was expecting to be notified about the scholarship in early September and began to worry she wasn’t selected when the middle of the month arrived with no word.

“I was nervous and was starting to get a little disappointed come mid-September when I hadn’t heard anything,” said Ranney. “It turns out the letter was in my mailbox at school all along.”

According to Rider’s Web site, Delta Sigma Pi is the oldest Greek organization at the University. Nationally, there are more than 250 chapters and about 200,000 members.

According to Gray, the Founder’s Memorial Undergraduate Scholarship is awarded based on scholastic excellence, community and university involvement, local and national involvement with Delta Sigma Pi, and financial need. Applications are reviewed and ranked by a scholarship selection committee at the national fraternity chapter, located in Oxford, Ohio.

Dr. Alan Wiman, associate professor of marketing and Delta Sigma Pi faculty adviser, said he is not surprised that the national chapter selected Ranney for this award. According to him, she is a well-rounded individual who fulfills all of the scholarship’s requirements.

“Sarah is one of those special students — extremely capable, can juggle a lot of balls in the air, really does extra good academic work, [and is] very active in the fraternity,” he said.

Ranney participates in several fraternity events as well as other campus activities. For Delta Sigma Pi, she contributes to various community
service projects, such as helping the organization hold a blood drive each semester and working with Homefront, an after-school program in Trenton for underprivileged children. She also plans to help the fraternity host several campus events for Cancer Awareness Day later in November.

Outside of Delta Sigma Pi, Ranney is a sister of Alpha Xi Delta, a social sorority; and a member of DAARSTOC, a professional and interpersonal skill building organization.

Ranney said her leadership positions within Delta Sigma Pi also played a role in her receipt of the scholarship. Since becoming a member in fall 2005, she has served as the chapter’s faculty correspondent and historian in the past.

Wiman said Ranney’s leadership within the chapter sets her a part.

“I think it’s a combination of her high energy level, [her] attitude that anything is possible, and [her] way of getting people’s attention and instilling their confidence in her,” he said. “When you put all of that together, you have somebody who is capable of leading.”