We are Values Based Organizations

NGLA- Day 2!

The morning began with our keynote speaker, Kim Novak, who's session was titled "Let's Really Talk Values!". She spoke about how our organizations were founded on a certain set of values and how our actions should represent those values. We know that we hold a certain set of values dear to our hearts, but those who are non affiliated do not understand that unless we show them.

Another key point that Kim made in her speak is how we sometimes are so structured and rules based that we forget that orginally we were found based on our values. Yes, the rules are their to keep our community safe and we need them to function. However instead of hiding behind the rules, we should be teaching values. Simply, we should be taking the opportunity to remind our members about the values we were founded on and explain how our actions should always reflect that. Kim's speech was a great way to kick off a day of learning because it reminded everyone of why our organizations were founded by our founders.

Next, I attended my NGLA Institute Group to kick off the day. This session was kind of a debriefing on what to expect throughout the day and got the ball rolling. In my perticular group, we focused on the current challenges that Greeks face on their campus. Surprisingly, several other Greeks face the same challenges that we face at BSU. For example, we are not the only ones who have trouble reserving spaces on campus larger enough for our chapters. My presenter then challenged my group by asking " Who are the people that are going to overcome these obstacles?" and the answer was us, the Student Leaders in the room. This session was informative because it reminded me that there is only going to be a change is if Student Leaders like us advocate and work towards it.

My next session was titled " Living Your Mottos: Going Back to Basics". The session began by quickly going through the history of how Greek life came about. I was not familiar with the complete story so it was interesting to learn about where our organizations came from. Gamma Phi Beta was also mentioned for being the ones to coin the word "sorority" in the presentation as well! The conversation progressed in to how you can remphasize the meaning and importance of your values and rituals in to your member. We were given worksheets which had us focus of what our chapter was doing well, what we needed to improve upon, and how we were going to do this. I have learned how important it is to take an honest look at your chapter. A chapter is never going to improve if you can not identify what is not working. Overall, I took away from this session that it is important to constanlty reflect on what your chapter is doing and if it reflecting your beliefs and values.

I also had the opportunity to attend a session that was primarily focused on supporting the Panhellenic community through extension. BSU's Panhellenic is starting the conversation of possibly looking to extend our sorority community so this session really hit home for me. Basically, the session went through in depth the entire process of extension which was lead by National Panhellenic Council Staff. I can not wait to bring back the information that I learned to the Panhellenic community and support our members as we begin this process! Yay Panhel love!

My last session was also lead by Kim Novak and was focused around Risk Management Programming. It taught you how to decide when a program was right for your community and also how to evaluate if it was successful or not. I found this idea very interesting because often we put together a program and hope that our Chapters see the positive message and change their behavior. However, I learned that is actually not the case at all. Kim focused on how you need to have data to support what you think the problem is and then decide how you are going to address it. You can not simply address an issue without having concrete facts to explain why it is an issue. Next, you have to decide what you want the outcome to be. There are four potential outcomes; reaction, learning, behavior change, and long term change.

Are you looking for a reaction from members? Do you just want to increase their awareness about a topic? Or are you trying to make a long term behavior change within your chapter? It actually makes alot of sense when you think about it. How can you really resolve an issue if you dont know what an issue actually is or what you want the outcome to be? This information definately pertains to our Greek Life community because we are always creating programs that will strenghthen the wellness of our community as a whole. However, if we take the time to follow these guidelines then we will have a better understanding of whether it was effective.

So needless to say that I learned alot of great information today! The day ended with me taking a ride of a mechancial bull ( I'm serious) and a pajamma jammy jam party with all the BSU bears. Although my pajammas did not win, it was the overall concensus that they were the "happiest" pajammas of the evening.

Have a great night everyone and keep following the Blog please! There alot of great things happening at NGLA 2013 you won't want to miss :)