Hello wonderful friends,
So I promised I would explain my key words and elaborate on how my first day of sessions went so here it goes!
Sadie and I's Starbucks Adventure: We awoke at 7am which is a terrible time since we are nottttt morning people by any means. We headed downstairs after much grumbling about being seperated from our comfy beds and head to the Starbucks for some delicous coffee. We figured since it's wicked early, everyone else would just be in their pj's too but NOPE everyone else was dressed to badge! We looked so out of place and it was just so funny to us. I was impressed everyone else can function that early. So we made a mental note to get dressed first this morning.
Buy In or Get Out: This was the name of David Stollman's presentation which focused on "fraternal values, standards and what to do about those breaking them." He was all about real talk and took real Greeks' Facebook pictures that showed us in a negative way, like girls chugging wine and guys using paddles for hazing. He read a poem about the negative steroetypes we face and I was so angry listening to it because that poem did not properly respresent me as a sorority woman but it is how the public views us because of the Greeks who don't actually live their values. He had some great quotes like "Friends say the things you want to hear, brothers and sisters say the things you need to hear" and "You are always wearing your letters, from the 1st time you put them on, they never come off." And he encouraged us as leaders to hold the Greeks who are not living their values to be accountable for their behavior and change, or to get out.
Small Groups: In our small groups, we broke up to discuss problems our organizations faced on campus and what influences we had control over and what we had no control over. A person in my session said we have no control over how the media protrays us as members in the Greek community, which many of us disagreed with. Alex Brown, from Keene State College, was leading our discussion and he had a great quote which I loved. It was "If we don't do dumb things, the media can't report it." It was so simple yet so true. Instead of trying to explain why you may have hazed or broken rules, just don't do the stupid behavior and you won't have to deal with the negative backlash.
No More Drama: Conflict Resolution Skills for Leaders: This was the first session I attended, run by Christopher Irving from the Miller Institute. It was about learning effective conflict resolution skills for situations that may arise in your chapter. His session was very interactive and lots of fun. He had us look at optical illusions and say what we saw. There were two different pictures with the illusion, so the point was that sometimes you need to change your perspective to see the whole picture. He also said we need to stop making assumptions if there is a conflict and listen to the whole story.
Understanding your LGBQ Broters and Sisters: This session was about promoting a better understanding of what struggles your LGBQ brothers, sisters and their whole community face simply because of the gender they love. It started out with a video called Love is Love and it flipped the perspective as if straight people were the minority and the gay community was the socially acceptable one. It was great way to change your perspective on things. The next activity was heart wrenching for me. We had to imagine we were members of the LGBQ community. Then we took a star and put down names of our best friend, communities we belong to, family members, our dream job and future life goals in each of the points. Then Alicia who was leading us, read different paths that each person could take. My colored star represented a person who was completely shunned from my family, friends, work and community because of coming out. I had to rip up my entire life written on the star and throw it to the floor and realize I have no future now because no one was supporting me. It was a big reality check that many people face that same situation. The message was that we as Greeks need to still support our brothers and sisters, and show them that they still are supported and loved and that we are a safe place in the community for them.
Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself: This session was all about your Standards for membership and the incentives you provide to hold one another accountable. It was really good information that was presented. A point the stood out to me was that you shouldn't expect things from others if you wouldn't do them yourself. And to also set up realistic expectations for membership. Of course we all would love to have that 4.0 GPA and attend 100% of events and meetings, but those are unrealistic expectations which isunfiarly setting your sisters up for many Standards Board hearings. Also we need to look at what incentives are we giving girls. Are they only negative, like fines or hearings? Or do they include positive incentives like holding a dinner honoring girls who made points all semester or improving their GPA, small rewards or having to not pay a portion of their dues. These were all postive ideas for motivation to improve your attendance.
The Black Bear Saloon: Where we went to dinner and it was delcious! Only fitting that the BSU Bears go dine at the Black Bear!
Cheetah Footie PJs, Cathphrase and Ice Cream: Our pajama jammy jam was a big hit. I had cheetah footie pjs with cat faces on the feet so I won most fun, I was quite proud. We played Catchphrase, which I had never played before and it was highly entertaining. And lastly, Sadie and I ordered ice cream from Room Service. It was delivered to us and we had been told it would cost $8, when in fact it was $10.21....we didn't have the 21 cents so the nice delivery man said he would just pay it for us....but we felt TERRIBLE. There was no reason for him to pay our 21 cents, sooo we ran downstairs in our bare feet because we were such a rush to make it right, down to the front desk to deliver more money and tip the nice man. We righted the world and showed the Greeks do care and no one should take responsibility for what we owed. It was a nice moment, even if it was only for 21 cents!
So this was my real Day 2...the super long version, but I needed to get alllll the details out! Thanks for reading Bears. I'm going to sleep now since Day 3 was very eventful too...but you'll get the recap tomorrow. I'm a day behind, sorry friends.
NGLA 2012 Love,
Kristen
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