How many greeks can you stuff into one elevator?

My alarm clock playing "The Circle Of Life" at 7:15am started off the first day of the NGLA conference. After strolling out of bed we made our way down to Starbucks to get our energy for the day. One Venti latté and a shower later I was ready to listen to our keynote speaker. David Stollman took a very unique approach to his presentation, Buy In or Get Out. He started out talking about the very blunt sorority and fraternity stereotypes. He then turned those stereotypes into how greek life is portrayed in the media and on college campuses. The moral of Davids presentation was to try and ween out the members of your organization who are just in it to wear the letters, and the members that are the reason those stereotypes exist. David ended his presentation with a philanthropy video showing different events that chapters put on to raise money for things like providing children with chemotherapy or building unfortunate families houses with Habitat For Humanity. This video was so inspirational to me, it just goes to show how much our philanthropy events can make a difference in someones life. After the keynote speaker ended, the whole conference split up into small groups to do a problem solving workshop. I really enjoyed the small groups because it was interesting listening to all of the different struggles each chapter faces at their own school. Some I could definitely relate to and others were completely new to me. My small group basically bounced ideas off of each other and talked about different ways each chapter deals with issues that they run into. I took so many new creative ideas away from this workshop that I can't wait to propose to my chapter at Bridgewater. After the small group workshop we all reconvened for lunch. Immediately following lunch we all broke off again to divide and conquer almost all of the sessions that NGLA had to offer. I chose to attend Whose Looking Out For You: The Sam Spady Story, The Power Of Personal DECSIONS, and Appetite for Strength. If I could video tape each of these sessions and bring them back to Bridgewater with me I would. Each of these sessions were so inspirational to me and I took so much out of each of them. My favorite session of the day was The Power Of Personal DECISIONS. Andrea Mosby told her moving life story that started with the decisions she made to create the best life she could for herself and her son. She then used the word "decisions" to give each of us the necessary tools to change our own lives. This session really hit home for me and I honestly left that room with a completely new perspective on life. After our information filled first day of NGLA came to a close the Bears ventured into Hartford to eat dinner at the Black Bear Saloon and have a night of games and good ol' greek bonding. I did not know the other BSU Greeks attending the conference very well when I first arrived. I am so glad this conference has given me a chance to get know some people that I may have never gotten the chance to know on my own. NGLA has already exceeded my greatest expectations and its only the end of the first day! I cannot wait to see what day 2 has in store. Greek Love! Nichole