Epsilon Sigma Phi
Initiation Ritual  

 
No date

Formation for Initiation Ceremony
 
Initiates and officers will form in a close circle.
The officers will stand next to each other and on either side of the Chief. Members will form in close concentric circles about the initiates and officers.
 
 
Procedure for Initiation Ceremony:
 
Greeting and explanation of organization, by the Chief: We greet you as initiates for membership in the Lambda Chapter of Epsilon Sigma Phi.
Your applications for membership have been reviewed and accepted and you are presenting yourselves for membership of your own free will. You have been vouched for by your associates as worthy of affiliation with this national honorary fraternity of extension service workers.
The completion of ten years of service to Extension work ia not of itself sufficient evidence for admission to membership, but the caliber of your work, your conduct and your belief and interest in the extension service is evidence of your love for your work and your faith in farm folk and your interest in their problems.
Science is the cornerstone of the Extension Service, Only as science advances can the Extension service advance. The positions you occupy were created in order that science might serve rural people. You, as professional people are charged with the dissemination of scientific information. As professional people you believe in this principle on which the Extension Service is founded,
Our national honorary extension fraternity is an organized expression of our professional unity. Its purpose is "to maintain the ideals, preserve the traditions, uphold the morale of the Extension Service, and to promote a spirit of fraternity among its members." It is an honor society. You have kept the faith. You have done your work well, You are entitled to wear the emblem of the fraternity because you are held in esteem by your associates.
Epsilon Sigma Phi stands for the highest qualifications for entrance into the work, the latest approved methods of procedure and for continued professional advancement.
As a member of Epsilon Sigma Phi, you are obligated to high professional idealism and cooperative effort, It is a fraternity dedicated to mutual helpfulness, friendly toleration, and kindly assistance.
The spirit of the Extension Service is embodied in this Creed of Epsilon Sigma Phi.
 
 
Creed
 
Chief: I love the open country with its changing seasons; the smile of the sun; the patter of the rain; the caress of the wind; the odor of freshly turned soil; the song of the birds; the laughter of the trees; the peace of the country day and the starry silence of the country evening.
I love the growing crops, the impatient rustle of the corn; the golden billow of the ripening grain; the blue : J shimmer of the grass; the sweet scent of freshly out hay; the glory of the orchard in full bloom and the musky odor of ripening fruit.
I love God's creatures that minister to man's needs. Their friendship, their gentleness and their confidence in mankind represent the response of service to kindness and care.
BECAUSE I LOVE THESE THINGS
I believe in the life of country people; in their hopes, their faith, their aspirations; in their ability and power to enrich their own lives and to plan for the happiness of those they love.
I believe in the farmer as essential to the Nation's life; as a fundamental source of its wealth; as its haven of security from those who would despoil it.
I believe in the farmer's right to a comfortable living; to such recompense for his capital, labor and skill as will make him the peer of those who work in office or shop; in his right to cooperate with his neighbors in seeking the service of science and security in his farm business.
I believe in the sacredness of the home as the real goal of farming, and in the home's influence on the family's culture, grace and power.
I believe in the rural boy and girl; in their longings for opportunity; in their right to trained minds, healthy bodies and loyal hearts.
I believe in the Extension Service; in the opportunity it offers to do useful work; in its touch of human sympathy and its joys of fellowship.
I believe in the public institutions of which
I am a part; in their right to my loyalty and enthusiasms in extending their knowledge and ideals.
With sincerity of purpose, I pledge myself to work faithfully and earnestly with farmers, homemakers, and young people in helping to make agriculture prosperous, home life beautiful, the rural community satisfying and my own life one of unselfish service.
BECAUSE I LOVE THESE THINGS AND BELIEVE THESE THINGS, I .AM AN EXTENSION WORKER.
The Chief will now administer the pledge. All members and initiates will place right hands over hearts, Initiates will repeat the pledge, led by the Chief:
 
 
Membership Pledge
 
I hereby subscribe to the Extension Workers' Creed, as an expression of my idealism as an Extension Worker. I will endeavor to conform to it in thought, word and action, and to promote its spirit among those with whom I may be associated.
I pledge my loyalty to the members of this organization and to promote at all times the Extension Work in which they may be engaged. I will render to its members, in sickness or distress, any assistance within my power.
I pledge my loyalty and support to the organized Extension Service, State and National.
All this I pledge on my sacred honor.
The Secretary-Treasurer will now obtain the signatures of the initiates to a previously prepared copy of the pledge, and will distribute copies of the Creed, and the insignia.
The Chief, officers, and members may now greet and welcome the initiates individually.

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