Review, Reflect, Relax

Greek family & friends,

I am back on campus, back at work and back to classes today. MB requested we blog-out with our thoughts about the whole conference.

This year was much different than last. I feel like last year I went with no expectations and was blown out of the water with all the information about how to make change and how other campuses Greek life functions. This year I went with expectations, challenges and ideas of what I wanted to get out of this year's conference... and I got what I needed.

Despite all the dramatically different tones of personality that were with us, I truly had a good time. I learned so much about how we can better recruit, how I can push forward through the "stuckness" of progress for the Greek Conduct Board and how I can utilize NPC Judicial Rules to make this campus better.

I can't wait to see what Post-NGLA will bring to campus since there were 12 other Greeks in my delegation who were just as pumped to make change as I was. I am so incredibly proud of my delegation this year and not just because we were upholding the best image of Greek life but because our Sigma Pi chapter won an impact award for Risk Reduction!

Stay Classy Bridgewater, and be on the look out for big things from the Greeks ;)

Peace, Love & Greek Life,

Lexipants

You dont have to go home but you cant stay here...

Sunday morning, in room 1816 we all woke up at 9 am and cringed for two reasons. Reason one, it was early and Delaware in room 1818 was loud enough to keep us up past one. We may or may not have called the front desk on them. And reason two was it was time to leave. This past weekend was such a fantastic experience. I made new friends and I learned so much about how to better my organization and how to better the community. So on the van ride home MB posed a question. She said, "When you blog I want you to find one thing you are going to take out of this weekend and write about it." Well I procrastinated because I have a really bad tendency to put off things that require a lot of thought. And I was really nervous, I couldn't pick just one thing to take away. I took something from every presentation. I also learned from the other delegates. I heard things that I couldn't believe were true and made me so angry. And I got some great new ideas. So what do I pick? And then of course this song pops into my head. And I tend to use it in final papers. Semisonic's Closing Time. So maybe this weekend is over, but what I'm taking out of this experience is a way to keep it alive. And I went home. Becuase I was tired.

So back to the question, one thing that resonnated with me. "Embrace and own your sassiness" In my naysayers, whiners and crickets session Chris and I learned how to identify personality types, and find tasks for people within your organization that positively utilize their interests! And we also learned that we need to have conviction in our decisions. So this is what I choose to hold on to the most. As a leader, I need to stand behind my decisions. My sassiness is a good thing when I am standing up for something I believe in. And I challenge anyone who reads this blog to do the same. Own your decisions.

I think I'll keep this short. I want to thank MB for taking us and putting up with us in such cramped corners. Next I want to thank my amazing roommates because they made this weekend so much fun. And last but not least I want to thank you for reading for my BLOG :)

NGLA LOVE

The Bears Are Back In Town!

Hello my fellow bears!

After last night's pajama jammy jam and the anticipation of the drive home the next day, I was too tired to blog about the day's events, lessons and accomplishments. So I will fill you in starting with Saturday.

Saturday morning we started off with a keynote speaker I will never forget. I got to learn all about the history of Fraternity and Sorority life and the changes it has gone through over the past hundreds of years. It was also shocking to see all the hazing that has occurred around the country and all the tragic and preventable abuse students went through. I must say that while I know hazing exists everywhere, I am so proud of Bridgewater and very proud to be a bear. I hope when I get back on campus our delegation can really make sure everyone knows just how bad hazing can be and while we don't see it everyday, it is unfortunately still out there.

I then went to my first educational session with Lexi. I learned a lot about the seven different feelings that organizations go through and that we are not alone. I am hoping I can bring back some of the helpful hints I learned to make sure no one is feeling exhausted or overwhelmed or anything like that. Hopefully we can all make sure we are helping each other out and that no one member of the organization feels like they are doing all the work.

I then got to go to a keynote speaker and I learned SO much from the session. It was about how to de-clutter and make a new and improved image for yourself on campus. I learned about the language we should use when trying to recruit new members and how to make flyers more effective. I guess it never really crossed my mind that using words such as "sisterhood" and "philanthropy" don't have a real meaning to those we aren't a part of the organization and know the true meaning. Dr. Tait was a phenomenal speaker and really actively involved us in his discussion. I also really got to understand the importance of monitoring what members post and say on facebook. Once you are done reading the blog, do this for me, type your name into google and see what comes up. Is what you are seeing something you want anyone to be able to click on? People only know what they see and if they are putting it on the internet, then in a way they have a right to see it.

I also got to go to a session on Where Has all the Sisterhood Gone. It was such a nice and uplifting session. I learned fun tricks to help girls remember why they joined the organization and about just how important recognition is. Everyone goes through periods of rainclouds and sunshine and as sisters, it is our job to bring our sisters back up. Showing the ones who do stuff for you on a daily basis how important they are is really important and a great way to keep morale up. I also learned and got to talk to a few of the ladies about awards they use in their chapters to keep the sisterhood evident.

My last session was on my NPC membership and understanding what it means. I now have a new found respect and interest for Panhellenic and I think it would be valuable if all sisters could attend a presentation on exactly what Panhellenic means and does. I learned all about our responsibilities as an organization that is a part of Panhellenic means and I am so thankful I got the chance to attend this session.

We then went to our fabulous banquet dinner where BSU Greek Life was a pretty strong force. Thank you to Lexi and Aubree, we received honorable mentions and one award for Sigma Pi's Rachel's Challenge. It was really good to talk about all the things we learned from our sessions this week with each other and bounce ideas off of everyone. We also got to take lots of fabulous and sassy pics which I can't wait to share with al of you. Then it was on to Pajama Jammy Jam! We played Taboo which I will admit the boy's team was good and won, but us ladies had tons of fun. It was a really fun and exciting night. :) Then it was time for bed and I had a good chat with my awesome roomies Aubree, Ali, and Audra. I am really glad we got to bond and start friendships. Then after chatting and sleeping, it was time to rise and shine and hit the road.

In the car I started thinking about everything I learned over the past few days and everything I experienced. I am so thankful I got the opportunity to go to good old Hartford, CT and attend NGLA with so many fabulous Greeks! The one thing that has really hit home and stuck with me is the fact that we ARE the change and that change is HERE. We are not the leaders of tomorrow, but the leaders of TODAY. If we want things to change on campus and for there to be more unity or whatever we hope for, we must take the initiative and action to move forward. I hope that I can take all I have learned and share it with others. I cannot wait to become even more involved and implement the change. I can't wait for more Greeks to come together and want the same things.

I also want to give a shoutout to MB, our amazing Greek advisor. Thank you for driving the 15- passenger flawlessly and for being so fabulous. I don't know what any of us would do without you!!! :)

If I think of more (which I am sure I will, the more I continue to process all I learned) and blog later.

Good night Bears!

Much NGLA2011 love,

Kaitlyn

All good things must come to an end

Hello bears!

After pajama jammy jams last night, I was so tired that I could barely walk back to my room so I saved my blog for today when I had a clearer head.

So this is a two-parter!

Saturday:

I must say that Saturday was my favorite day of the weekend. It began with a very informative and shocking keynote. During the keynote we learned about the history of Fraternities and Sororities but even more specifically we discussed culturally based organizations. This was interesting to me because I did not know all that much about those groups. Unfortunately with this keynote came the discussion about hazing. We saw article headlines and disturbing pictures. It is disappointing that we have to continue having this discussion in the FSL world when there are so many things that we could be learning about advancement. Instead we have to discuss advancement from the steps back that FSL community members have taken. So all I have to say is get it through your head what our values are and live congruently with those values. If you are not willing to do so then please get out because hazing is disgusting. How many more people have to die before we get this right?

After the intense keynote, we had our first education session of the day! I went to a session about being an alum with Epsilon Eta and BSU alum, Anna Takahama! We had some good conversations about what chapters can do to include alumni/ae for longer than those few years after they graduate. It was also helpful because IHQ reps were present and took in feedback about how they can keep women involved after graduation.

Once the first session was complete, it was time for the affiliation luncheon! This is one of my favorite parts of the conference because you get to meet all of the members of your organization present and make connections. :-)

After lunch, I had the opportunity to take a picture with all of the Panhellenic presidents present at the conference. We are getting a free calendar compliments of Greek Yearbook.

Then it was time for the NPC area meetings. This was a nice opportunity to get to know what was going on with NPC. There have been a few changes to unanimous agreements and we are looking into a few recruitment changes so this gave us the ability to be more educated. We were also able to meet with our area advisor and the other campuses in our area. It was nice to hear that other campuses may be different but have similar issues. And we are doing pretty well if you ask me :-)

Next we had two more education sessions. The first one I attended was about money. The man presenting gave me some good ideas to bring back on how to cut down costs and get members to pay their dues. Then I attended a session about the Release Figure Methodology that over 400 campuses use for Panhellenic Recruitment. I definitely thing it is something that we need to discuss and seriously consider so I took thorough notes. While at this session I ran into our old area advisor who is the Chi Omega alternate delegate. I may or may not have creeped at her bag and noticed that it had the Panhellenic crest on it. Now, if you know me then you know how much i LOVE Panhellenic and how badly I wish there was a place I could buy Panhellenic swag. So I obviously asked her about it and she informed me that NPC distributes the bags to the delegates and that she had some laying around at home that she was looking to get rid of. So long story short, she is mailing me one! YAY! Talk about Panhellenic love!

After a bit of a break it was time for the awards banquet! We were so excited because of our "Award Winner" ribbons! We ended up getting honorable mentions for Recruitment and Multicultural/Diversity programming and Sigma Pi ended up winning for Risk Reduction for the Rachel's Challenge program. Toot toot BSU for putting us on the map! And a special thank you to Lexi Kay for submitting our award applications. We will OWN next year.

After all of the excitement and a photo op we headed back for some pajama jammy jams with our fabulous advisor MB! We played a non competitive round of taboo before the men vs women competition. The women obviously let the men win...

After sleep came... SUNDAY!

We slept in until about 9 then headed down for our Starbucks fix. Once all the bears were together we re=piled into the 15 passenger van and embarked on our 2 hour journey home.

On the journey, MB asked us to blog about what we valued the most from this experience. As a graduating senior, this trip was very different for me than it was last year. I looked at it as an experience for me to bring back information to the BSU Greek community to help better it in the future even after I leave. The most valuable thing I got from this experience truly was the aspect of lifetime membership and leaving a legacy.

I have put my heart and soul into being a sorority woman at BSU. It has made me who I am today and I could not imagine my life without it. I am making a vow to remain an active alumna in my own chapter and to eventually get involved with NPC. I definitely think that I am leaving my collegiate experience better than how I joined it and I truly believe that I had a part in making that change. I am bringing back even more information that I know will help benefit the community once I leave. I am helping to provide the ingredients to bake an even better FSL community and I know that I will not be disappointed. We have so many talented individuals with so much potential to do great things so DO IT UP! I will always be readily available when needed but cannot wait to see the BSU FSL community when I keep returning as an alumna!

Thank you to MB for providing me the opportunity to take this trip with you and the other members of the delegation. I would not be half of the woman I am today without having been influenced by such an inspirational woman.

Panhellenic Love forever and always!

Aubree

NGLA What A Rewarding Experience!!!

This weekend at NGLA in Hartford, Connecticut I learned so much and had so much fun, that I did not want to leave this morning. I learned so many new things to bring back to my chapter to make us even more successful. I learned new strategies to improve my chapters academics, alumni relations, recruitment, and so much more. I have brought back with me so many new strategies to help my chapter and I am so glad I got the chance to attend this conference.

Not only did I get new ideas to improve my chapter but I also got to bond with so amny people that I never thought I would become friends with. Not only is NGLA a learnig tool to build better Greek leaders, it also allows you to become closer with other Greeks from different chapters and campuses as well. I had so much fun hanging out with all the other Greeks from Bridgewater,all though I was first a little nervous because I was the only Sigma Pi going, it turned out to be a great experience that I would do again and again if I could.

I am so grateful that I was selected to be a delegate at NGLA this weekend and it really benefitted me as a Greek leader to have gone. I got so much out of it to become a more effective leader in my chapter and in the Greek community as a whole. I trully believe that everything we learned this weekend will help strengthen our respective chapters and our community as well. NGLA was one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had and I hope members from my chapter will continue to go year after year because it is so beneficial to attend this conference.

Unity

Because of some of the late night distractions during NLGA 2011…keep it PG readers, these bears don’t mess around at leadership conferences…I was unable to blog every night as should have happened. So instead what I am going to do is give reflection on my time here at NGLA and then over the next couple days im going to be posting some reflections on my individual sessions….unless im a blogging rockstar and can bang out a couple of them tonight before bedtime.

To begin, I am actually going to start at the end, and work my way backwards. I just got downstairs to the hotel lobby aka the “Bearsden” of Hartford CT, where we have some wifi access, after an intense game of Taboo. Now to give you some prospective on how intense we Bears get when it comes to Pajamajammiejam taboo here is my favorite moment…incase you missed all the excitement on Twitter. I was definitely and unfairly brought up on a Judicial Board where Switzerland aka Audra yelled at me and found me guilty and responsible for cheating on the William Shakespeare card. I’m pretty sure in our Taboo frenzy we could have out screamed a heard of preteen girls at a Justin Beiber concert and I have to say, true justice was over looked but maybe I’m just biased. ;)

After what seemed like an exhausting couple of days we were able to come together and really express what we as a community have been trying to accomplish, Unity. I think this is a word that we throw around a lot in the world of leadership and organizations, but I think its one of those intangible things that can really only be seen in glimpses. In Gladiator Marcus Aurelius said that the Republic of Roman was so fragile that you could only whisper it, or it would disappear. it was that fragile. I feel like Unity is the same. If you do anything more then whisper about it when its happening you threaten to lose it. Now there are always those exceptions but for that sassy pants reading this that wants to argue with me, humor me for a minute.

The one thing I learned above all else is that Unity is the binding force that holds us together, especially when we have to fight and struggle for it, even if only for that one brief moment in history we truly feel it. At this conference I have felt more sparks of Unity then at any other time during my student leader career.

During this conference we have had our fair share of squabbles, throw 13 people in that small a space, for that long, with no escape other then intense intellectually stimulating workshops designed to teach, train, and challenge what we already know as leaders, and make it so they don’t get much sleep, there are bound to be a few issues that come up. But in those few minutes you could feel the unity, even if only for a few minutes. I think as Greeks there were times throughout this conference where regardless of the letters on our chests we came together and could feel it, even if only for that fleeting moment. Now don’t read too much into the bickering part, there wasn’t a lot of fighting or anything but there wasn’t that intense unity throughout the entire conference. Just like back on campus.

But at times during some of the keynote speaker’s presentations, during parts of different workshops, during some of the bonding moments; I could feel the energy that erupts and fills a room when we actually come together. This was a powerful thing for me. So many times I lost faith during this past year because that Unity and spark wasn’t there for my chapter. So many times I thought it was hopeless, an uphill battle I wasn’t going to win. But experiencing this feeling during the conference resonated with me at an event my fraternity just had before I left for this conference. For a moment we had come together; despite our differences, despite our conflicts, despite our feelings for each other, for that one fleeting moment we were back where we were two years ago when I joined. That one fleeting moment is worth the battle.

If nothing else I will remember this conference for reminding me what that feels like. It’s a powerful and emotional feeling to have and it makes everything else worth it. I think we work our entire lives just to have a few moments like that, where we feel at one with something or someone, even if its just a few times in our lives. Id recommend taking a moment to look deep inside yourself and try and pick out those few times were you and everyone else in the room seemed to share one energy and one emotion, there aren’t going to be that many, but how awesome do those memories feel when you recall them? That’s worth fighting for. That’s worth the work, worth the exhaustion, worth the effort. Even if I get just one more time this year with that feeling, I know that it was worth it, because years from now when I think back on college those are the memories I will remember and smile at. I wont remember every squabble, each argument, each time I was a spectator in a moment; I will only remember those times were I was a participant in a moment where everyone came together in a moment of magic and sang with one voice.

So for now I’m going to sign off and leave that thought out there. Take it for what it is and I hope when you think back, that you can have a moment like I did. A moment where in the heat of a random Taboo battle I felt not only like a member of a moment, but a member of a movement, no matter what your values, no matter your race, creed, color, orientation, or age, watch out BSU, these Bears have something special, and when we have that moment as a campus where we come together, that’s when the magic will happen, and that day is just on the horizon.

Chris Espinoza

Celebrating Being AWESOME

Greek Family & Friends,

Today was a FANTASTIC day for the Bears :)

Our day started off with keynote speaker, Dr. Kimbrough about our history as fraternal organizations and how we are perceived. It was so great to hear about the history of not just Panhellenic but other councils such as NHPC and NIC.

Session 4: It's Time to Get Unstuck: Progressing Your Greek Community. I attended this session with Kaitlyn :) It was a good session to really evaluate how to move forward. This session helped us

Session 5: Who's Choosing You? This was Brian Johnson from Campusspeak and this session was so informational. It was all about the membership selection and how we need to take into consideration the needs and concerns of the potential new members coming to recruitment. We need to decide if they are a contingent chooser or an embedded chooser; this means that either a person will join pending on what information they gather or a person will join because they know its the next step in their lives. Biggest resonance from this session "The letters don't make you, you make the letters" -Stomp The Yard

Session 6: NPC Judicial Procedures. Good session on getting more information about NPC rules and unanimous agreements. Learned a lot that I can bring back and help implement to the Greek Conduct Board. Can't wait to get the ball moving on this. Chris Hartford & Greg Gomes... get ready :)

The Bridgewater Delegation ended the evening at the closing banquet by raking in 2 honorable mentions for Recruitment & Multicultural/Diversity Programming and a big win for the Sigma Pi chapter for Risk Reduction program. Congratulations men, you deserve it for all the work you have done. So proud to call you a fellow Bear. I would also like to send out a little tweet tweet to all the Bears who won Twitter awards (myself, Chris, Sarah, Aubree, Erika, MB, Ali)

Well blog-followers... I am off to snuggle with Erika for a last night in CT. We head home tomorrow morning with eagerness to start fresh and implement change... Get ready Bears we are coming back twice as strong as we did last year. Signing out from the comfort of my hotel bed

Peace, Love & Greek Life,

Lexipants

What a Day at NGLA!!!

Day two of NGLA was even better and more exciting than the first. It started this morning will a very good speech by Dr. Kimbrough. After the speech I went to my first session on becoming a better leader. It was a very rewarding session and I learned a lot from that session that will enable me to be a better leader for my chapter.



In the middle of the sessions I attended a presentation on why Fraternities and Sororities still matter. It was a very good session that pointed out all the good things that greek life does and the benefit it has on the community. Then I attended a session on building better relations with alumni. I found that session very informative and I can bring a lot of it back to my chapter, because we definitely need to buld stronger relations with our alumni. The last session I attended today was on resume writing. I chose to attend that session because we have a lot of graduating seniors in my chapter this semester and I want to be able to help them get an upper hand on getting jobs when they leave.



At 7:30 we all went to the dinner banquet. After enjoying a nice meal they started announcing which schools and chapters won awards this weekend. For the first time in NGLA history Bridgewater State was recognized with an award. Sigma Pi won the Impact award for Risk Management due to our presentation with Rachel's Challenge during Greek Week last year. It was very exciting to hear the announcement and accept the award on behalf of my chapter. It was a nice feeling to realize that some of our hard work payed off. Also it would not have been possible if Lexi didn't put the reccomend and submit our award for us and I am very thankful for that. Bridgewater also got two honorable mentions for other awards, so overall it was a great night for BSU.



Overall this weekend was a very rewarding experience and I am so thankful that I was sellescted to go. I learned so much that I can bring back to my chapter and the Greek community as a whole. I reccomend this conference to anyone who is involved in Greek life as it was very fun and also very informative at the same time. I am so glad that I attended and I will be sad to leave tommorow morning.

Show people the good we can do...

Hello everyone,

I have never so much fun in one day. This morning we went to hear Dr. Walter Kimbrough speak about Fraternalism in America. He talked about how sororities and fraternities have evolved since the began in America. After hearing him speak, I find it amazing how most peoples opinions of Greek life are based off of a single movie in the 1970s. I wish that people would see the positive that we do instead of focusing on the negatives. But the only way to change peoples opinions of us is to showcase and focus on all the positive things we do such as philanthropy and service. Out of everything that Dr. Kimbrough talked about I loved how he used Chris Rock as his philosopher.

All of my sessions today were really good. In the Academic Excellence session I learned about so many different ways to showcase our chapters academic achievements, but also our sisters individual academic achievements. At this session I learned that there are several different honor societies that our members can join if they meet the qualifications. The people who presented this session were from the NPC (National Panhellenic Council) and they talked about how we could get our sororities recognized on there website. They also gave great tips on how help improve our Greek communities GPAs. I also went to a session about managing expectations. Which basically taught us how to deal with all the expectations that both our headquaters and Panhellenic Council gives us. This session was run by the a sister of Delta Phi Epsilon from our headquarters in Philadelphia.

The last session I went to was a session on creating a new member education plan and what the New Member Educators job actually is. This session was really informative for me because it allowed me to see if there was anything that needed to be improved or changed in the new member education plan that I created this semester I can proudly say that the plan I created is very well planned out it was compared to how other Greek organizations at other campuses. Today we also went to a larger session.

Today was our affiliation lunch. I got to meet so many new deephers! It was so great to get to talk to other members of DPhiE and bounce ideas on what works and what doesn't. I got to get so many different deephers contact info which is amazing because now I can talk to other deephers about how they run there new member program. I also got to meet another wonderful personal from out headquarters down in Philadelphia. Her name was Kendra Darigan. She was the nicest person ever!

Tonight was our award banquet. Sigma Pi won an award for their event called Rachel's Challenge and we also received honorable mention for two other awards. It was very exciting. We ended our day with two games of Taboo. Unfortunately the boys beat the women in the second game but it was a lot of fun.

I'm sad to be heading home tomorrow but I have learned so much that I can not wait to bring back to my chapter and to the rest of the BSU Greeks.

~Diana

And the winner is... BSU GREEK LIFE!!

Hey hey!

It's hard to believe it is Saturday night already and we will be heading home to the Bridge tomorrow. Wow, what an adventure this week has been. This mornings session on modern day fraternalism and our history was a good reality check and start to our last day, thinking about potential is a good way to describe how we may proceed. We have the potential to choose how our fraternal future plays out.

The Affiliation lunch is always a favorite. I love that Gamma Phi Beta's from the Northeast could sit together and chat. As a volunteer leader for Gamma Phi it is great to put faces and individuals to chapters. I met some of Lina's collegiate women from Delta Mu and Epsilon Epsilon (shout out to my Rutgers & Union Gamma Phi's!!)

The afternoon led me to meet with our NPC Area Advisor Lynn. It was nice because there were only 3 schools at our meeting: UMASS Amherst and Fitchburg State so it was a good opportunity to meet with other Greek Advisors from the great Commonwealth of MA :) After our meeting the students returned to Educational sessions and I went to our Regional Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors (AFA) meeting. My homeskillet Cat Sohor from MIT is our new Area Director so she did a fabulous job. (Go Penguins!!!)

After the Ed sessions concluded we went upstairs to class it up a notch for the NGLA Awards Banquet. This time last year we watched other campuses collect awards and the students vowed "that will be us next year" and they followed through on that. Aubree and Lexipants submitted several nominations on the community's behalf. We had tables reserved for us so I didn't have to worry about doing the mad dash in to get us tables. I may have scarfed down my dinner in hopes it would make the awards part happen sooner... anyway.. now to the good stuff!!

SOOO I am so excited to share that we recieved 2 Honorable Mentions and won 1 award!!! Here's on what:

Impact Award Honorable Award for Recruitment (Panhellenic Pancake Breakfast)
Impact Award Honorable Award for Multicultural/Diversity (Coming out Greek)
Impact Award WINNER for Risk Management (Rachel's Challenge- Sigma Pi/Greek Week)

It has been an amazing year in BSU fraternity & sorority life and I am so proud of the students who step up and challenge their peers and the behaviors of our community to help create positive change!! 3 years ago we brought 3 students to NGLA, last year we brought 6, and this year 13 students were able to have this opportunity to better themselves and our fraternal community.

We ended the night with the traditional pajama jammy jam!!! Ali, Sarah, and Diana all won with their fantastic pj choices! We had a great game of taboo, last year banana grams was the big winner... this year it was team taboo!! We had Men (Team Moonwalking Bears) V Women (Team Audacious)... the men won (congrats to them) but it was quite entertaining to see how anxious friends get when yelling out answers.. (aubree...)

so it has been an experience to remember and i can only hope that this weekend has helped us move another step closer to where we want to be as a fraternity & sorority community. I think BSU Greeks do amazing things every day on campus and I hope we can continue to provide opportunities to make men better men and women better women.

Time for this Bear to get in some hibernation time... tomorrow Mb Vs 15 Passenger Van part duex...

Much BSU Greek Life & NGLA AWARD WINNING love,
~Mb

Oh, So you want a cookie?

6:30 am-alarm.snooze.
6:45 am-alarm.groan.fall out of bed. get in shower. go down to starbucks in jammies. get ready.

9:00 am- Saturday begins with our morning Keynote!

Well guess what! You don't get a cookie for doing your job! Let me repeat, YOU DON'T GET A COOKIE FOR DOING SOMETHING YOU ARE ALREADY SUPPOSED TO DO! This was definitely worth waking up for. It was the history of the Fraternity/Sorority life. How over time Schloarship and Character are less important now. It was educational, funny, and important. We need to follow our values. Our actions need to mirror what we say we stand for. And we need to stop expecting to get recognized for doing what were supposed to. We are greeks, we need to hold our selves to the high standards we were founded on. We are in a period of potential so we should work together as a community. Let's counteract the media's portrayal of us. Let's move forward!

My first session this am was about Naysayers, Crickets, and Whiners. It was amazing. By far one of the most productive sessions I went to. One lesson I learned, Own my Sass! That excuses are just excuses and with the help of the fellow NGLA Greeks we brainstormed ways to respond to these excuses. We discussed different personality types and how to apply these personality types in your organization in positive ways! We discussed and we came up with new great ideas!

Today was the Affiliation Lunch. I got to meet all the fellow Deephers here! So much fun!. We talked about our new member processes and bounced ideas off of each other. I met another Vice President of Academics and got a lot of great ideas too! Then we took more pictures! And we had this delicious salad.

My next session was a choice and I am so glad I went to Drink Think. It opened with, "I am not going to lie I drink. I didn't kill anyone, I am not a recovering alcoholic, I don't have a family with alcohol problems. This isn't part of my probation." So I was a little cautious, like well what is this man about to say that is substantial. His message, you can drink. But you have to be qualified aka of age aka 21. And you have to follow parameters. That means you have to drink RESPONSIBLY. His presentation was funny, true, and really resonated. Yes, you have the right to drink, but just like any other right, it has limitations.!

Later I went to a positive PR session. It was interesting and helpful. Our presenter really stressed the importance of social media. We also got our shout out and pulled our blog up on the screen. AND BSU DPHIE's fb page got a shout out too! Can't wait to tell Anna.

We danced in my last session. It was by far the most interactive and exciting. We hula-ed to Justin Bieber. We also learned body language and ways to handle interactions. We learned ways to fire back when leaders try to manipulate us. And we spread Aloha spirit!

7 pm Awards Ceremony!
7:01 pm- Photo Shoot
7:3o pm- dinner time!
8 pm- Awards Start
9 pm- stair photo shoot!
9:30 pm- PAJAMA JAMMY JAM



Bridgewater was super psyched because we got two honorable mentions for our amazing Panhellenic Council and Sigma Pi won an award for Rachel's Challenge!

Ali won best pajamas with her speech. "They are Egyptian cotton and they are witty because they are hedgehogs but they actually eat worms and not apples". Diana and her elmo pjs took a second place tie with Sarah and her eyeore footy pjs. Then came taboo. We ended up in a battle of the sexes!



The ladies( Team Ghandi) vs. The men (The Moonwalking Bears)









I was Switzerland and Neutral. I got to keep everyone honest. And we had a judicial hearing!! So much fun.

Now it's bed time. I am exhausted but I can't wait to bring back my ideas and INITIATE change. I know it won't all happen at once. And its better that it doesn't. But Change is here and its necessary. So get ready Bears!

Goodnight moon!

It's a good life... when you dougie with awesome Greeks!

So I was having technical issues when it came to the blog but da, da, da-da, MB came to the rescue and fix it! AMAZING! So Friday was absolutely amazing. We began with group 12 and coming together with this group to talk about many aspects of Fraternity and Sorority life on campus, we talked about the issues that surround us, ways to stop the issues and to move forward to be the best Greek (personally) and the best Greek organization possible. The best of all, I was re-united with the best person EVER! (Well one of the many best people ever haha) Travis Apgar!!!!! If you all don’t know him or remember him he is a speaker with CAMPUSPEAK, an alumni of TKE, and the Associate Dean of Students at Cornell University. He rocks my socks! Then there is Courtney, a good friend of Mrs. Maribeth Johnson-Flakes who is also an awesome facilitator. We went through so many different conflicts internally and externally that can affect our organizations and the precautions and steps we need to talk to move forward.
Going to my first session, I was nervous that I was going to be late and get lost or something. Thank goodness that was NOT the case. I went to the first speaker of the day, a women by the name of Andrea Mosby. Andrea is a speaker from CAMPUSPEAK who has a fantastic story and speaks about the power and importance of personal decision. She began by introducing herself and then began her lecture. She began by saying her mom asking her if she was pregnant at the age of 16 and then getting pregnant but how responsible will a 16 year old be when put into a situation like that? She went out, went clubbing, wore little dresses to impress boys, and didn’t act like a women ready to give birth would act. She continued her story by saying that one night she wanted to go out because her friends had asked her if she wanted to go out to a club for the night, but the problem was, she called all her siblings and her mother yet no one wanted to help her. Her mother reminded her she needs to grow up; life never stops for anyone so what you decide to do with it is so vital. So she ended up staying for the night. Her baby began to cry so she thought he had been wet so she changed him. Later, he began to cry again and she thought he was hungry so she fed him. Finally, the third time he began to cry, she had enough and then she grabbed him as hard as she could….lifted him up…. And threw him down on the crib as hard she could. From that moment on she said, “… Either I have to give this child up before I hurt him or I have to change my life.”
She continued to describe, the D in decision is for determination. Being determined means recognizing when nothing outside of you is giving you the direction or answers you need, so you look deep inside and make a firm decision to move in the direction of your desires . With this inner strength you will know how to move all obstacles out of your way to achieve your purpose. Goals and dreams…
The E in decision is for energy. Mind and body are the most valuable tools and resources we can use in our quest toward a greater life. Feeding the body with the right foods and exercising to keep strong and healthy gives us the energy we need. We must also recognize how others positive and/or negative energy can sometimes impact our thinking and thus our motivations.
The C is for courage. What is the opposite of Courage? That’s right CONFORMITY!!!! As long as you look outside yourself for the answers to your life’s questions and/or compare yourself to others you will not take the bold steps that turn a dream into reality. Be bold, be sure, and be courageous.
The I is for intuition. Intuition is knowingness. It is a voice inside each of us guiding us in the direction of peace, tranquility, and success. Intuition moves us to risk and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are meant to conceive, believe and achieve. Intuition is a characteristic that demands us to be still, quiet and listen to the…. Voice of Reason.
The S is for serious. Being serious means being committed to oneself. It means going the distance and not confusing the destination with the journey. Learning to enjoy the journey puts doubts and fears in their respective place.
The I is for imagination. Imagination allows us to open our world beyond the present and into the future. It shows us that what exists today is only a lesson and opportunity for the possibilities of tomorrow. Don’t sell yourself short by losing sight of your potential and possibilities.
The O is for open. Being open with yourself is the beginning of truth , a truth that gives you freedom. The art of being open is the foundation to feeling confident and being who you were created to be. Give yourself the best…. OPEN UP AND TRUST.
The N is for Never give up. There are certain times in our life that seem to beat us down and destroy our beliefs in ourselves. But it is through these challenging times that we preserve and Never Give Up, dreaming, striving and achieving.

The S is for success. Success is something we are all looking for, by through fine-tuning our decisions we define and achieve… Personal success.

This lesson alone has taught me so much and I have taken so much! My other lesson seemed more common knowledge and more of a review of things I’ve already learned but I still found it interesting to be able to give my feedback and help others with the issues they may face and let them know if they had any questions or needed any recommendations I would definitely help them!

I met other Phi Kaps which was also very nice! We spoke quickly in between sessions and it was nice to meet other brothers that I have not met before!
I ALSO WON A STARBUCKS GIFT CARD FOR TWEETING NGLA!!!!! WHO DOESN’T LOVE THAT PRIZE! 

I’ve been loving the time I’m spending with the other Greeks from BSU. They have each been more awesome everyday! It’s funny how you see people and you may know some and not others and you don’t really know how you will interact and it ends up being awesome and a door opening experience to a new friendship! Love my BSU GREEKS!
Finally, we went out to dinner last night with Quinnipiac. Funny thing is Courtney works with the Greeks in Quinnipiac was there! YAY! So being so nice and friendly we immediately all interacted with the other school and took a picture with the black bear of the restaurant, Black Bear Saloon! Sarah actually knew one of the Greeks, Ivy, because I guess they grew up together which is awesome! We all sat down with a big group of about 22 all together and we sat and listened to awesome music choices that we requested, ate really good food, we had really great company, and finally we (Quinnipiac and Bridgewater) surprised both MB and Nicole (from Quinnipiac) with a birthday cake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AAAAAAAH! SO NICE!
It was a great way to end the night! FOR SURE! I love making new friends! Then while waiting for the bus to arrive we began to dougie. IT WAS AWESOME!
So far this experience is amazing and I absolutely love it!

NGLA LOVE <3

John Rodriguez! :)

The First Day of the Rest of My (NGLA) Life

So today was my first NGLA experience ever and it’s official…. I LOVE IT! I’ve always loved conferences because of all the new friends you make, the things you learn, and it is the first step to making change and being the best leader you can be. The experience so far has been hilarious ( MB’s driving skills/parking skills), entertaining (again… MB’s parking skills and meeting new people and playfair), and insightful!
I was originally nervous about coming to a conference as a new fraternity on campus and not feeling like I belonged. I was completely wrong! I have loved it so far, originally I was nervous because I have never really spoken or gotten to know some of the members that were coming on the trip and I think they are all great people and great Greek Leaders. Each person is different and brings their own talents and knowledge to the table that is necessary to grow as a leader and as a community.
I’m so excited to see what this weekend will have to offer me as a person as well as a leader on my campus.

Change is here at NGLA and I.Love.It!!

Good morning!

Yesterday was a long and FANtastic day!! We started off the day with a great session with Josh Orendi and challenged the group to be "here of the purpose and not just an attendee". I loved that because it really puts the focus on how WE hold the key to our future. We have the power to make positive change if we live in the moment. Loved it. Josh showed a great youtube video with basketball passing and a random moonwalking bear (yes I know.. that sounds weird but.. I can explain later) At the end it said "It's easy to miss something you're not looking at" AH HA! Really... how many times do we miss the real learning moments because we aren't looking. I'm excited for our students to get back to campus and start looking for our moonwalking bears.

I had the priviledge to present 2 workshops and facilitate a small group for the NIC Drive Forward project. I really enjoy presenting so it is a great way to feel very connected to the conference conversation. Kim and Thea and I presented on Lifetime Membership and how to stay involved after college. Kim and I went back to back and talked about our expansion/extension experience on our campuses. I finished up with my small group by closing the gap on our conversation on spheres of influence, preparing for confronting the barriors, and putting together an action plan for change!

By dinner time we were exhausted and hungry but we teamed up with our fraternal brothers and sisters at Quinnipiac University to venture out for dinner! All 23 of us!! We were luckily able to be seated right away and it was great to spend time with Courtney (QU) and her grad assistant Nicole. The QU and BSU students were a great combo.. even in their dancing the 'dougie'. Bears and Bobcats UNITE!!

We got back to the hotel and some of the cubs were too tired for board games so postponed the Pajama Jammy Jam to Saturday night (tonight) I did however spend 3 hours in the "guys room" having some great conversations on how we can move our fraternity community forward, how to address the 'moonwalking bears', and as a group how we can best work together. I feel really lucky to have men who want positive change and are passionate about getting there (even if we all have different ideas of how to do it). So shout out to my guys for a great conversation! You guys are awesome and truly make me proud <3

We had a GREAT opening session this morning on the Fraternal History of Greek Life and while difficult to visually see some of the negative behaviors of our members I know the BSU Greeks left feeling the sense of urgency we need to challenge our community to do better and be better in the future.

I hope all my BSU Greek peeps at home are enjoying the blog!! Are there topics you can't wait to hear about when we get back??

much BSU Greek life love,
mb

Live Your Ritual Everyday

Hello Everyone!!!

Today was definitely an inspiring day. We started off the day with a great opening speaker, Josh Orendi. It was a very interesting way to start our day. We did a test to see where people stood about risk management things that are happening on our campus. It was interesting to see the reactions to when he asked us if hazing was a problem on our campuses. It really annoyed me to see how many people felt that hazing is not a problem and has potential to positively influence members. The prominent message that came from Josh was a famous quote from Ghandi: "Be the change we desire to see in others." Basically telling us that if we want things to change within our organization, community, or even on a larger scale we need to start within change ourselves and our actions before we expect other to do so.

After the opening speaker we broke into small groups to do Project Drivefoward. A new program NGLA started this year. I thought this was an interesting session. It gave student leaders the opportunity to tackle the tough subjects that we as a community should be addressing more frequently and on our campuses. I really enjoyed how we were able to share problems and bounce ideas on how to better ourselves with other student leaders.

One thing that I did that was really exciting was that I reached out to a sorority woman who voiced a concern that all her sorority worried about was hazing and the "fun" aspect of Greek life. I gave her my contact information and shared with her what my chapter has done and offered any help or resources I could.

My first official educational session was called Pioneering Change: How to Lead a Culture Shift on Your Campus. This session was presented by two IFC presidents from Cornell University. I tip my hat to these two gentlemen. They were able to see a huge problem on their campus: hazing, alcohol and drug abuse, and address it even with all of the negative backlash from their community. These men told us the numerous problems that had occurred on their campus in the past four years and how they were able to shift from a culture where they felt it was necessary to have alcohol and drugs present in their events in order to recruit members to a culture that is taking baby steps to a completely dry and drug free community. I wish these men the best of luck and hope that they inspired others to make such monumental changes on their campuses as well ... anyone can make a change they just need to step up and do it!

The next session I went to was called Connecting the "Majorities" to the Multicultural Community. This session was really about taking the focus off of trying to include the "minority" students and realizing that we have more that connects us than separates us. This was an interesting session because we always judge, or stereotype, or shall we say ... put someone in a "box". What we need to do is take a step back, look more than what is on the outside, find what ties us together, and use that to enhance our community.

My final session of the day was definitely my favorite. It was a CampusSpeaks presenter and we tackled the topic of values. He challenged us to look at a list of values that our community, as Greeks, share and pick one single value that means the most to us. We then had to share it with a complete stranger. We repeated this a few times. It was interesting to see how other people live their values and which ones they found most important. I think one of the most valuable things we talked about during this sessions was how we are all value-based organization and we should be having value-based recruitment rather than just making recruitment a numbers game. He also challenged us to think about our ritual and whether we knew what it really meant or if we just went through the motions. I will definitely be having a conversation on this subject within my own chapter but also with other leaders in the community.

After our sessions we had the AMAZING opportunity to share dinner with the Greek Leaders from Quinnipiac. We had a ball taking the bus and going to the Black Bear Saloon. Chris, Aubree, Murray, and myself shared a delightful dinner that made Norman (my food baby) EXTREMELY happy. We share delicious cheese fries, amazing chicken parm, and scrumptious brownie cobbler. It was so much fun, especially since the Quinnipiac delegates were just as enthusiastic as we were. We got to play songs we requested through the DJ and MB even celebrated her belated birthday!!! Overall it was a nice dinner :) While waiting for the bus we got to shake our tail-feathers, the favorite was the Dougie. :)

After dinner MB, myself, and the fraternity men had some great conversations about our community on our campus and some of the things we wanted to execute. It was great to be sharing our love for the community with each other. It is one of my favorite things about this opportunity we have here. The people we share this experience with also share the same love and passion for their chapters and our community. Nothing can top how inspiring it is to see that same love and passion in other people.

After our chat, I came to the lobby to blog and meet new friends with John, Erika, and Chris Zymroz. We had tons of fun meeting other student leaders and creating memories with new friends!!!!

I can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store!!!

TTFN <3
Sarah

Shirtless Dancers, Moonwalking Bears, and Black Bears Oh My!

Woke up this morning with a Venti JavaChip Frappuccino, and that didn't even help me throughout the day! There was just so much for such a long day. Where to begin?!

The beginning speaker was very amazing getting us pumped up and ready for the day. We watched a video of a kid who was dancing at an outside rock concert alone and people looked at him funny. However not but 30 seconds later everyone was running to dance with him. All I could think of was I wanna be him. I want to be that shirtless dancer. We then saw a video that had guys passing a basketball but we all missed the moonwalking bear. However when related to my Fraternity I think it's great that we go out there and seek those moonwalking bears.

Then we came to the Small Group session. Within the small group session we really got to get together as a whole and got to discuss some core problems that we all experience in Greek Life. It was highly beneficial because some of us had experienced it in the past and were able to help everyone out if they had problems.

My first session was on Social Class. A little upsetting because it was focused on primarily advisors and students were asked to leave like halfway through. Still we got to see what defines social class and how it plays in Greek Life. It's hard but it happens and being cautious is a necessity. You never know.

My second session was a double block on Anti-Hazing. OMG!!!! I learned literally everything my little mind could absorb. It taught us the benefit of being solid as an individual in anti-hazing, then bringing that to your group and solidify that and then you can bring it to the community and make sure that the entire community is all together on Anti-Hazing. It was nice because we discussed the many different people involved in groups that make it really hard to get stuff like this in action.

For the other half I had a one on one session for my Anti-Hazing action plan. It was amazing! I got to meet this really amazing advisor from SUNY and she really pressured me into seeing how sincere I was about an Anti-Hazing movement on our campus. It made me happier when I convinced myself that I really was telling the truth. She gave me a bunch of advice on what causes hazing as well as the slippery slope. The main thing I got out of there if anything was to strengthen your values. Your values define you, not the rituals and pledging that everyone goes through. It's your Values. And that is the only way to stay away from any form of hazing.

Supper happened at Black Bear. Quite loud but still quite enjoyable. Great music and the DJ was extremely nice and played all of our requests. We even got to celebrate the bestest Greek Life Advisor in the World's birthday a week late. ^_^ Tomorrow is going to be even better!

Greetings From NGLA

I have had an awesome time so far at NGLA in Hartford, Connecticut. I have learned so much already and it is only the first day of sessions. I am learning so much useful information to take back to my chapter to make improvements.

Today I attended sessions on recrutiment, scholarship, and risk management. I chose to attend these sessions because I thought they would be useful and relevant to problems my chapter is having back in Bridgewater. I learned so many strategies to improve my chapters GPA because that is something that has particularly been declining lately. The recruitment workshop was also very helpful and I learned a lot to bring back on how to motivate everyone to help with recruitment. Overall I really enjoyed today's sessions and I can't wait to continue with tommorow's sessions and learn much more information to help improve my chapter and the Greek comunity as a whole.

Greetings

Hey, aren't you the Matilda girl?

Hey guys,

I have been sitting in the lobby of this amazing Marriott, reflecting on today, but mainly people watching and I have been telling myself for the last 30 minutes that it is time to blog again. I have seen, done, and heard so many things that I honestly do not know what to talk about. I really just want to say that today was so eye opening and amazing and honestly just call it a day because there is so much to say, but I know people really want to know what I did, saw, and heard! I guess I will just start off at the beginning.

Six thirty came very early this morning. We were so hyped up on energy last night that Diana, Alexis, and I finally had to force ourselves to go to bed at around 1:30 am. Yikes, I know. I was definitely feeling it this morning. I am almost positive that the first alarm went off at 6:30 and I think three more went off before we all finally got out of bed. We got up that early to beat the rush and just some coffee and something to eat at Starbucks. I think my mom and younger sister will be really glad to hear that yes I indeed came downstairs in a pair of fuzzy socks with a scrunchy tying my hair back. If that was not embarrassing enough for some people a song from the movie Matilda came on and I kind of started dance, not really realizing that I was dancing. When I turned to Alexis and ask if the song was from Matilda, the guy in front of us turned around and was like yes it actually is. (A little side note, I ended up seeing this guy again in passing later on in the day and he was like “Hey aren’t you the Matilda girl from this morning?” LOL Yes, yes I am.)

Okay back to amazing day. NGLA opened up with an amazing keynote from Josh Orendi. Yes it was early in the morning for me but he was so uplifting and I honestly did not care that I was dressed up at 9 am and knew I wouldn’t see my bed for a long time. His keynote was really eye opening and made me realize that our greek community is doing so many more things right than I thought we were. The one thing that stuck with my from the keynote is that Josh had us put our thumbs up with we agreed that hazing is acceptable or thumbs down if we believe it is not acceptable. Obviously all of the thumbs that belonged to BSU greeks were down but then we were told to look around and I was shocked to see the amount of thumbs that were up.

The day proceeded with everyone breaking up into small groups for a workshop, then a really good lunch, and then it was the beginning of the educational sessions. Yesterday we all sat down as a group and we decided were everyone was going to go. First, I went to a double session that was called Social Excellence. I was not sure what to expect because I went in not knowing anyone and as confident and outgoing as I can be sometimes unknown experience make me a little nervous. The workshop was very interactive and they got us up and talking to a lot of different people. The overall message of the workshop was to realize how we are interacting with others now and how we are really supposed to be interacting to gain the most out of the conversation. Overall today was really eye opening and I realized that I am not the social butterfly I really thought I was. I am going to take away from this day that I need to just go into every situation confident and everything will turn out amazing.

I cannot wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Until next time!

Much NGLA love,

Erika

Leadership is NOT a title

Hello, Hello, Hello Friends!

Today was a very long, informative, and fun day! I attended three educational sessions and two small groups sessions all from which I had conversations I will never forget. I got to meet and interact with so many people and while we all are from different places within the Northeast, we all are facing a lot of the same situations. Today the theme was Change Is Here. We are the change. If we want something to happen, something to improve, or something to go away, we have to set outside of our comfort zones and initiate it. Nothing is going to happen if we all sit around and wait for everyone else to fix it. While the popular statements says we are the leaders of tomorrow, I have learned that we are actually the leaders of today.

The first session I attended (which was probably my favorite of the day) was called How To Be an OutSTANDing Leader. It was led by Hoan Do who is a man who speaks all around the country and is only a few years older than us. We learned and discussed the 8 elements that make an outstanding leader. They are; E- Extraordinary Attitude, L- Lead Through Actions, E- Encouragement, M- Motivated To Make A Difference, E- Excitement, N- Not Afraid To Be Different, T-Take Risks, and S- Step Out of Your Comfort Zone. It is important for all members to understand and value these elements because they can help us become stronger and better. It is important that we all are capable to see things the way they are, not worse than they are, and also not as if it is nothing. We have to show others what we are going to do and be accountable for the things we say, because if not it is just a bunch of meaningless words that may sound good but have no real meaning. It is one thing to know about something, and an entirely different thing to apply what you know. As leaders, we cannot be afraid to speak up, to be held accountable, or to encourage other members and accept them for who they are.

People may not always remember what you said or what you did, but they are always going to remember how you made them feel. It is important that we are genuine and if we say something we mean it. People want and need to be able to connect. Leadership is NOT a title and we need to make sure we do not believe that we are above or more entitled than any of our other sisters and brothers, or any other members of the community on campus. If you want to inspire, you have to be the real you and don't settle for anything.

I also learned that I am my own message. What I do, how I act, and what I say everyday, is the reputation and legacy I am leaving behind. The benefit of being involved and being a leader is not what you can get from it, but what you give back. Leading is serving.

I also went to a very emotional session on DUI: A Powerful Lesson. I know that everyone knows they shouldn't drink and drive, that they shouldn't get behind the wheel even if they have only had a little to drink, and yet, shockingly, the majority of people in my room honestly answered and have gotten behind the wheel while they are intoxicated. I think it is something Greek life as a whole needs to work on. We have the stereotype we have due to our actions and by doing stupid things, we are only making that stereotype seem real. I hope that even if we are not in the same organization, we can be responsible and stop those from drinking and driving. I have lost three people in my life due to drinking and driving and I NEVER want to lose any of my fellow Greeks from something that is SO preventable. You never know what can happen and when something as tragic as a drunk driving accident occurs, it is not only your life that is about to change for ever, but EVERYONE who knew the person. I obviously was brought to tears throughout the presentation and it really hit home. I hope everyone on campus knows that I will gladly come and get you any time of day, no questions asked. Just be smart :)

Tonight we also got to go to dinner with our Quinnipiac friends. It was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to tomorrow. I am attending three more sessions that I am super excited about. I have learned SO much and have so much more to share with everyone. I have already learned more than I imagined possible and it has only been a day. I will leave you with this quote, "You miss 100% of the shots that you don't take."- Wayne Gretzky.

Peace and much NGLA love until tomorrow,

Kaitlyn

Celebrate Being Greek!

Greek family & friends,

How is everyone doing? Because I know that the Bridgewater State University Delegation is having a BLAST!

Today opened with key note speaker, Josh Orendi... all about driving to be the change we want to see on our campuses. Such a great start to the day and to the discussions that we would be having. Oh, and because our delegation is so sweet at tweeting... I won a $10 Starbucks gift card. Along with my delegation mates Chris E., John R. and Aubree!

Then came our group number meeting (I was 11). It was a slow start with my group but we got some great discussion in about what we can control on our campuses... please note the "can" aspect of that statement... because we CAN have control... but why don't we?

Lunch followed which included delicious soup & chocolate chip cookies. Audra and I sported the "no bread" sandwiches... just turkey & cheese :)

Session 1: Celebrate YOUR Greek. This session was run by 2 Alpha Xi Delta alum who had been traveling consultants for their affiliation. This was a great session chock full of information about how even though you are not wearing your letters, you still represent Greek life and begging the question... "How do you celebrate your Greek life?" Are you partying on-campus? Are you clocking copious study hours? Did your campus do a new philanthropy? Are you hazing? Would your founders be proud?

Session 2: Building Better Brothers & Sisters. Not impressed... lots of information but overall this session offered me no "ah ha" moments. Lots of examples of hazing. The major point of this session was to take a close look at our organizations and ask ourselves "Why are we doing the activities we are doing" because something that may seem harmless can downward spiral very rapidly. We also need to remember that during our new member processes we are trying to educate and be safe.

Session 3: Dynamic Recruitment. Holy moly. If anyone ever gets the chance to see a Phired Up presentation... PLEASE TAKE ADVANTAGE! Jess Murphy had attended one of their sessions last year and I can honestly say I am so thankful that I got the chance to attend this year. I attended this session with Audra and I think we both got a lot out of it. I have some great ideas to implement in my own chapter to build off of what we are already doing... get ready Gamma Phi Beta ;) If you want to take a look at their website they have free resources at www.phiredup.com/free

Closing of our group 11 time followed education sessions and we had an awesome discussion about conflict management skills. 7 easy steps to take to solve conflict (I would post them but I left my notebook upstairs... fail)

Dinner with Quinnipiac peeps was at 7pm, such a great crowd :) They are so much fun. We sat with Ivy and Frankie. We even surprised Maribeth and Nicole (Quinnipiac) with birthday wishes and one of the servers sang Happy Birthday... BEAUTIFULLY might I add.

Now we are blogging. Pajammy Jam Jam will be taking place tomorrow night so be on the look out for our posts!

Can not wait for the affiliation luncheon tomorrow afternoon and... the Awards Banquet!

Peace, Love & Greek Life,

Lexipants

Celebrate Being Greek!

Change is Here!

Hello Bridgewater Loves!

Today was our first jam packed day! I learned a lot of useful things at each session! The day began with an amazing speaker, Josh Orendi. As you may recall, he spoke last year about recruitment. This year he spoke to us about changing the fraternal world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4

Did you see the moonwalking bear? I missed it at first too, but the important thing to learn from this is to pay attention to the finer details. Nothing should slip through the cracks.

Once the opening keynote ended, we separated into smaller groups and had some good discussions about how much we control how we are perceived. How do you think the BSU Greek system is perceived on our campus?

Onto education sessions...

Block 1: Break the Ice

This was not my favorite of today's sessions but it did give me some good ideas on some fun icebreakers/teambuilders. We discussed what was appropriate for the following settings: NM meeting, E-board retreat, council retreat, and sisterhood retreat. I am planning on using some of the fun ideas in the future so I cannot disclose my favorites. The session was basically one giant ice breaker which was nice but it didn't seem to cover as much new ground in the land of icebreakers/teambuilders as I had hoped.

Block 2: MB discussed Lifetime Membership

In the coming months I will be an alumna. Sad, I know but we all have to do it someday. Anyway, I had the opportunity to hang out with the fabulous Maribeth as she and two Phi Sigma Sigma alumnae presented on how to be an active alum. It is obviously my main goal in life to own my Gamma Phi Beta and Panhellenic awesomeness so I will do whatever I can do be actively involved. So if anyone from NPC decides to read this, holler at me :-) As for the Gamma Phi Beta side, I would love to be involved on an international level. Perhaps I will apply for a CLC position, become and RC or work with extension. These are my main areas of interest. But if EH is looking for an advisor or if MB decides she wants an awkward graduate to stick around for Panhellenic then I am your girl! It was a very informative session but I am very lucky that I continue to have MB as such a great resource in the future.

Block 3: Girls Fight Back!

This was my FAVORITE session of the day! It was led by an awesome CAMPUSPEAK speaker whos friend was murdered. With her life spinning downward she knew she had to make a change and basically became a total badass. I wish I could do that for a job: Professional Badass. But really, she was so inspiring. She empowered every woman in the room to know that she is worth fighting for. I learned lots of useful tips but more importantly, a nice routine called the badass ballet. Again, I cannot reveal the secret moves on the blog but I would be happy to share once I return to campus. I like the interactive nature of this session.

Two main things that she said really stuck with me... intuition is knowing something without knowing why. And we should trust it the moment it speaks to us. So own it ladies, if you think someone is a sketchball, listen. The second is a little sad but totally true: "it is better to be judged by 12 than to be carried by 6." Basically if you feel the need to protect yourself then do it. The consequences could not be worse than losing your life. I think that this would be an awesome program to bring to BSU so we should look into it, perhaps for a Panhellenic program.

Sidenote: ICS

Ali and I had the chance to pop over to the ICS table during lunch today. It is an online recruitment tool that BSU NEEDS! I will be giving a presentation about it to the chapters as soon as possible so we can pass the change for next formal recruitment. So keep your eyes peeled!

Once we were finished with the learning, we met up with the Quinnipiac delegation for dinner. We went to Black Bear Saloon. It was a fun place and we made lots of memories. They even sang to MB for her recent birthday. It was a fabulous time.

Now it is time for BED! We are so sleepy, especially the people in my room because of some hooligans in the hallway last night that kept us up. We are hoping for quiet slumber but pajama jammy jam has been postponed until tomorrow! SO EXCITED!

That is all for now bears!

Aubree

Change is here...

Today was such a long but it was filled with so much exciting things. Our day started by going to a hear Josh Orendi in one of the ballrooms. He was absolutely amazing. He discussed how change is here, but we need to be willing to put ourselves out there to make the changes happen.

I went to so many informative sessions. The ones I went to included If Hazing Worked...But it Doesn't, The Power of We, and The Place of Service. All three of the sessions got me thinking of what I can do to help make the necessary changes to make not only my chapter better, but the whole Greek Community. If Hazing Worked...But it Doesn't was probably the most important session I attended. In this session I was completely amazed at how many people actually thought that hazing to any extent was okay. But on a more positive note I found out so many new ways to make our service and philanthropy projects more exciting and get higher attendances to these events.

One of the many highlights of my day was meeting so many other Delta Phi Epsilon sisters. It was so awesome when one of them recognized that I was from Bridgewater State University and she was as excited as I was to meet other DPhiE's. I can't was it until our delegation lunch tomorrow where I get to meet even more sister of DPhiE!

We ended our day by going out to dinner with the Greeks from Quinnipiac. It was great getting to know some of them.

~Diana

Be the Change You Want to See in the World.

Today I learned to be audacious. First thing this morning, I was asked, "Do you have the courage to stand up for what is right in a tainted environment!". Well my answer to that is YES! And after my educational sessions, some group work, and of course, some fun, I have a few new ideas!

Josh Orendi started off this morning with an eye opening keynote. He asked us to participate and put our thumbs up/down depending on if we agreed/disagreed. The things I couldn't believe; Only one greek stood up to say they thought there was no hazing on their campus. ONE, out of 900. Many others had their thumbs up that it was okay to haze and they had their thumbs up that they thought more greeks would disaffiliate if we removed alcohol. Unbelievable! Hazing is not ok, I don't care how long its been a tradition in your organization. And alcohol is irrelevant it makes you look stupid anyway.

One thing I appreciate after today is the Bridgewater State University Greek Community. Let me tell you, it is very different from other campuses. In our small groups we had to discuss our chapter's realities. Where we thought we were, and what barriers we faced. Well so many people agreed that campus rivalries were causing a huge problem. That there was violence because people chose one fraternity/sorority over another. Seriously Greeks get it together! Literally! BSU's community has been one of the most welcoming and friendly environments. I said it at lunch today, and I'll say it again, I am beyond grateful to have the inter-fratenal support that BSU offers. Best Bears ever!

We each attended, in addition to the keynote and group sessions, three educational sessions. I got to go to The monsters in the basement which was a seminar about underground and unrecognized groups! It was easy to relate to and I learned a lot! Don't let anyone tell you differently, unrecognized groups are not Fraternities or Sororities. They lost that right when they chose to engage in their hazardous behaviors. They can be severely dangerous too! I intend to educate the community when I get home.

My second sesh was about a charity organization Circle of Sisterhood. They are sorority women that support worldwide women's education. Visit their website and learn some more @ circleofsisterhood.org. They recommended everyone read this book, Half the Sky by Kristof and WuDunn. Oh! And it was featured on Oprah!

My last session I got to go with Lexi! Dynamic Recruitment. I was really excited having just gone through my first ever formal recruitment only a few weeks ago. It was so helpful! We have a bunch of great new ideas that we are going to bring back and try to use of course. The follow through is something emphasized all day long in every session. Bringing back great ideas is necessary, but change won't happen overnight. And our recruitment speaker Jessica said that we need to slide, we cant jump. Transitioning can be everything!

Our last workshop of the day was about confrontation. We took a seven step approach to appropriately deal with conflicts within our organizations. Because of course they are going to happen, and we need to find ways to deal with them. Hopefully I won't need to apply this new strategy any time soon.

Dinner was so much fun. We went to Black Bears with the Quinnipiac Delegation! The Yale/Quinnipiac hockey game ended up on t.v. too! We listened to requests from the DJ the whole time, and sang happy birthday to our advisers Nicole(QU) and Maribeth(BSU)And my burger was delicious! Sorry to the veggie eaters!

Unfortunately our board game pajama party has been postponed until tomorrow! I am so excited for what's next. Tomorrow I am going to 3 more sessions. 1. Naysayers, Crickets and Whiners! 2. Positive Pr and how to get it. 3. Mental games leaders use! It is bound to be an amazing day. I can just tell! I'll keep you posted! Till then follow our tweets #ngla2011.

Good Night Moon.

be the change you want to see in the world.

today we had our first day of sessions, i loved every minute of it. although our day started bright and early at seven thirty in the morning, i was somehow jazzed and ready to go.

among the three sessions i attended, my favorite by far was about inner beauty and body image. the facilitator was stacy nadeau, who was one of the models for dove's real beauty campaign. stacy is a strong, confident, down to earth woman as well as a wonderful speaker. she has me in tears through half of her lecture :) she talked all about finding your healthiest ideal and owning that ideal, regardless of whether it is a star athlete's body or if its a little on the more to love side of the spectrum. she made me feel so empowered and great about myself... i am considering creating a presentation for anyone who wants to attend at school to share her messages.

we also got to go out to dinner with our fsl friends from quinnipiac... two of them being fellow phi sigs : )

Do Things With A Passion or Not at All ... NGLA 2011

Hello Everyone!!!!

So today is day 1 and it I can say this is only the beginning of such a great weekend!!!

The ride here will Momma MB was interesting as it always is. It was so fun and it was only the beginning of our bonding!!! Once we arrived we checked in and settled into our beautiful rooms. We then formally checked into the conference and started the conference off right. We got our free t-shirts!!! I LOVE FREE STUFF!! John and I had a GREAT conversation with GreekYearbook about having our very first composites taken. It was so exciting to have helpful information to commemorate such a monumental experience for us. I can't wait to get home and bring them to our campus to get the ball rolling.

After that we went to the Greek Boutique and I was totally ECSTATIC to see DPhiE stuff in that room. I almost cried ... it was such a difference seeing MY chapter represented at a conference and knowing the changes I had made in the past year. Standing in the same place last year I was at a totally different place in my life and it was an AHA moment to have the changes I have gone through come to life. I was so excited to see all of the fun things I can buy ... let's just hope I have some self control and don't spend all of my money :/

We also go to venture through the city to find dinner ... this year our destination was Subway. Norman was starving and it was refreshing to have some yummy food in my belly!! We found our way back to the hotel and selected our sessions. I CANNOT WAIT to learn everything they have to offer!!!!

Next came Plairfair!!!! One of my favs!!! I love making new friends so this is the perfect game for me!!! I made so many friends and saw DPhiE's everywhere!!!! We are taking over the conference and its AWESOME!!! After Playfair I got a chance to talk to about 10 other DPhiE's that were here. It was AMAZING!!! We were able to compare chapters and talk about DLCs. I was so happy! I met some of the girls from Keene State and I will definitely be planning a trip out there to visit them and their house!!!

Currently I am downstairs in the Starbucks lounge blogging and hanging out with some new friends from Southern New Hampshire University. It is awesome to be talking ans making bonds with people here at the conference. If day one is this awesome I cannot wait to see what the rest of this weekend has to offer!!!

Stay tuned for all of the awesome things I am going to share with you all!!! I can't wait to share!

TTFN <3
Sarah

NGLA.. I love this place!!

SO... We (I) survived the 15 passenger van experience... I may have been at a strict 10 & 2 position with white knuckles all the way here but.. We are safe, happy, and ready to change the fraternal world :)

I love the comraderie that occurs so quickly with traveling to conferences. Some other things I totes love: that we rocked our BSU community letters and that we recruited Reza to Twitter. Tonight the crew went to Playfair while I went to facilitator training for tomorrow. I was really excited to have some time to catch up with my Gamma Phi Beta Mom, Sandy Burba. I wish we were able to see each other more often but when we do, I always am reminded how much I love her. She is a Gamma Phi rockstar and an overall phenomenal woman. (Love you Burbalicious!!)

I am really excited for tomorrow. I love the NIC programming we are adding in this year and I am super psyched to present 2 presentations on things I love to talk about... Expansion at BSU and Lifetime Membership!

As many of you know... MB is not a night person so I am slouching down in my Starbucks chair right now.. time to hit the hay so I can be my very best tomorrow.

I hope you are loving all the blogging! We have 13 awesome students this year so I am sure there will be no shortage of fun and educational tidbits!

Much BSU Greek Love
~Mb

CT is my home... for the next 4 days :)

Hello Everyone!

We have obviously made it to the beautiful Hartford, CT thank you to the best Greek Advisor and her fabulous driving skills. Not going to lie, I was a little worried how 14 of us were going to pile into a van with all of our vera bradley duffles, but we somehow managed. I got to sit shotgun and play DJ (which I was not very good at) and be the most important EZ pass holder for all the tolls.

We got here and settled into our hotel rooms. I am super excited to be rooming with Aubree, Ali, and Audra. It is going to be fun times. After we unpacked we registered and got awesome name tags. I am excited and proud to say that in a few members of our delegation there were award ribbons! :) So we are keeping our fingers crossed that Saturday night when we leave the banquet, we will be walking away with some awards. YAY Greek Pals!

After we journeyed to the fabulous subway for dinner. MB and I had some delicious veggie patties representing the vegetarians in Greek life. It was super fun to get to sit and chat with different members of our campus that I normally don't get to interact with much. AND (best day) I got to sit with my big and spend some time with her :) Walking back to the hotel, we finally got a walk sign and of course out of no where came an ambulance, lights, sirens and all. I don't think any of us have ever run or scattered faster in our whole lives. It was too funny and while an scary moment, one that helped us bond.

We all just got back from PLAYFAIR. It was super fun and I got to meet SOOOOO many Greeks from all over. I have never seen so many letters and different combinations of letters in one room EVER. It was amazing to see 800 Greeks all come together. While I was a little hesitant at first, I had so much fun and got to make connections with different people I hope I get to see or run into again. I also got to meet 2 Gamma Phi's from Rutgers who were fabulous. There aren't that many Gamma Phi's here but that's okay because everyone is so enthusiastic.

Tomorrow morning I will be rising and shining bright and early and attend three different sessions. I am excited to learn so much and bring it back to Bridgewater State. All of the sessions sound really interesting and I have heard only good things about all the speakers. I will let everyone know how my busy Friday goes. I am super psyched! I hope I take plenty of notes. I am sure I will have so much to share.

That's all for now followers! Make sure you keep checking!

Much NGLA love,

Kaitlyn

New Friends!!

First blog of the weekend! Holla :)

I was a little nervous about this whole NGLA thing but now that I am here I am already having so much fun! I love the bonds that I am creating with my BSU homies that I haven't gotten to know so far! Today after long (and squished!) car ride, we finally made it to the Marriott in Hartford and fueled up on coffee. I was a little overwhelmed with all the warm fuzzies in the air but as soon as we sat down & started browsing all the workshops offered for the weekend I was immediately excited.

I can't wait to learn a lot moreabout greek life as well as Panhellenic, and bring some really useful info back to BSU & my chapter!!! I'm super excited to meet all the really fun NGLA-ers here, especially my fellow Phi Sigs! (There's a ton of them here!)

Tomorrow will be a LONG day but there's a lot to look forward to so I don't even mind waking my toosh up at 6:30 a.m. - which is something I am NOT known for doing very graciously. I will promptly gas up on Starbucks so that I am not a crankypants and I can soak up all that NGLA has to offer me. I will update more tomorrow on the sessions I attended and (hopefully!) the wonderful friends I will have met! Wish me luck! :)

xoxo

And so it begins... (again)

Good Evening Bears!

Today I returned to Hartford, CT for my second and final NGLA conference as a collegian. It is semi-bittersweet.

After a two hour mini van trip with 14 BSU bears we checked into the hotel. Upon arrival, we made the executive decision to get Starbucks. While waiting for my soy caramel macchiato we saw the one and only Sandy Burba. For those of you who do not know her, she is the alternate NPC delegate for Gamma Phi Beta. We met her last year and she remembered us! We were very excited! We also met some UVM Panhellenic ladies while waiting for Mama Bear to finish checking us in at the front desk.

Once settled into the hotel rooms we made our way to check in to the conference. The lovely EH alumna Anna Takahama checked us in and gave us our envelopes. In my, Lexi's, Matt's and Reza's envelopes there was a special surprise! It was a pretty blue ribbon with gold writing that read "Award Winner." So we won some awards the first year that we applied for some! Toot toot to us and stay tuned to see what we win! MB also informed us that our Panhellenic women were recognized by NPC for having GPA's higher than the All Womens Average at BSU so we obviously got neon green A+ stickers! Basically, our name tags are decked out! Ballin!

We also obviously checked out the Greek Boutique. I am going to think very carefully before I purchase anything this year because we all know that last year I went a little crazy.

After check in came dinner time! After being snubbed by the Irish place we attended last year we landed on Subway as our dining choice. We are having dinner with the Quinnipiac delegation tomorrow night and I am so excited to meet them!

On the way back to the hotel from dinner we were almost killed by an ambulance (ironic) as we were crossing the crosswalk legally. We survived but it was mildly entertaining.

Then we chose all of our education session for the rest of the conference! I chose some that discussed life as an alumna because it is my goal to remain actively involved as a Gamma Phi and Panhellenic woman. I also chose sessions that I know will help advance the Panhellenic community even after I graduate.

After a little down time it was time for Playfair! Playfair is basically icebreakers on speed... in a good way! You just meet a ton of people in a relatively short amount of time. We also had the chance to meet some Gamma Phi's from Rutgers. They were so sweet and I can't wait to see them again at the affiliation luncheon!

Now I sit here and blog as I prepare for what will hopefully be a restful evening because tomorrow is an early and funfilled day! I LOVE NGLA because there are so many fabulous Greeks! I am mildly high on Greek life already and this journey has barely begun! Stay tuned for more of my awesome travels!

Panhellenic Love forever and always!

Aubree

NGLA!! Finally!

I am so exhausted! All I want to do is go to bed BUT I am be a good little NGLA-er and blog first.

Today has been fantastic. Even our crazy 15 passenger van ride here didn't ruin my fun. I was in the back seat the whole way, in a corner, and there was a bag to my left, right and under my feet! Its okay though because I had some sorority bonding time with some new friends :) It was a great time driving through the Mariott Parking garage, ducking when we thought we may not make the clearance...because that helps! And parking was another adventure.

Once checked in we picked roomies, and got some free shirts! I bought a new pair of letters too! They are by far my new favorites!

We ventured to dinner, changed our minds and ended up at subway! It was delicious. Then of course in true Audra fashion, half of us were crossing the road and nearly got run over by an ambulence. We all ran, it wasn't actually as close as we thought. It has been the joke of the night.

The highlight of today was definitely the PlayFair. It was a blast. Not only did I meet some other Deephers which has really been a huge priority, I got to meet lots of other interesting Greeks too! We high fived, I lost an epic battle of rock, paper, scissors, and we DANCED. It was slightly embarrassing. The icebreakers were great!

I am really looking forward to tomorrow! When we all sat down and figured out which educational sessions we were going to, I got a lot of my first choices! So I need to rest up. I am going to learn so much tomorrow, I can just tell :)

Good Night!

Promise to post again soon !!