Be The Change

Friday, February 24th, 2017

Today has been one helluva day. It was a long, very informative, impactful, and educational day to say the least! The opening keynote, Joshua Fredenburg, caught everyone's attention. His presentation, "Be the Change YOU Wish to See in the World", was very encapsulating and extremely motivational. He emphasized the importance of impact, setting measurable plans of action to make an impact, the qualities of a leader, surrounding yourself with a "Dream Team", and having a sense of "courageous faith". These words were so powerful especially his last statement of the keynote stating, "There is a superhero in all of us, you just need the courage to put on your cape".

Later on, I attended my first NGLA institute session "Motivating the Middle" and took back some great advice on how to get the middle members of the organization to contribute and progress within their ranks as student leaders and members of the organization. All of this was based on levels of engagement within the chapter. You have the top, middle, and bottom levels of engagement that each member falls into. The top are the leaders that attend conferences like NGLA or hold these significant positions in chapter, the middle are balancing their share yet aren't taking on challenges, and the bottom are just there for the free t-shirts. In order to motivate the middle, you need to give them a job, a chance, and an opportunity. Work with them because what motivates most might not motivate all of the members and they will make mistakes just like you did - don't get pissed at them. Finally, members are just as busy as you are with their other priorities, give these members get out of jail free cards, they need them and you need to understand that their priorities come first to them - so be it.

The second NGLA institute I attended was on the "Art of Science and Manhood" which was around the structure of masculinity and frankly I didn't enjoy it too much when the presenter talked about the aspects behind masculinity. I personally already knew a lot about the topic and felt like it lost the purpose I was hoping it would have on myself and the rest of the audience.

We attended lunch and I made at least 3 sandwiches and tried butternut squash soup, it was pretty good. A little bit too thick in my opinion, but all-in-all good.

After lunch, I attended the third institute session, "New Member Education: The Juxtaposition of being made to feel special & recognizing privilege". THIS WAS INCREDIBLE. Tina VanSteenbergen and James Robilotta are such good facilitators working off of one another and the crowd was so engaged in conversation about the controversial topic. It was very informative and very impactful. All in all, with whatever privilege you have, do not stay silent in times of injustice. Doing nothing is unacceptable.

The last session of the day I attended was "The Fraternity Closet" where we discussed the position of sexuality in the chapter and in the greek community. The facilitators played very good few videos and provided some great information to those in attendance that knew nothing about the topic. It was very good at giving the basis for the existence and understanding of a heteronormative society and cultural focus. I knew quite a bit about this topic and felt like this was not as informative as it could've been!

After these sessions, we all went back to our rooms to change and get into some comfier clothing for dinner. We went to the Black Bear Pub for dinner and I ordered a tricked-out burger. It was delicious.

Then we headed back to the hotel after a sketchy walk through the Hartford streets. Once we got back to the hotel we all went to the late night gathering in the hotel ballroom and everyone danced with neon foam tubes and necklaces. It was great. It was in fact SO great, that when I got back to my room I passed out and missed the pajammy jam. :(

All in all, great day, great people. Looking forward to tomorrow!