Second Day

Saturday Morning we had a keynote speaker who talked about Branding and how we need to recruit based on why we are here and not what we do. We need to promote our inner reasons and motives rather then just stating 'oh we throw the best parties on campus'. I followed up the key note speaker with my second RBC (Recruitment Boot Camp) session with David from Campus speak. He talked to us about Branding as well. David stated that there are 5 parts of successful branding; 1.Message, 2.Simplicity, 3.Consistancy, 4.Repetition, 5.Integrity.. David also talked about how we need to advertise our why rather than our what or how. We discussed how everyone in the organization know what we do, some in the organization know how we do it, but few actually know why we do it. One quote that I took away from this session with David is that "The goal is not to do business with those who need what you have but rather those who share why you do it." I found this strong because this essentially went back to the key note speaker who said we need to recruit on our values. Essentially our values are why we do what we do. David also mentioned how we can advertise with facebook ads and how easy it actually is. Overall a wide variety of interesting facts about how to brand and how to establish that brand exactly catered to the target market. I followed up my branding session with a session called the anatomy of power, where we basically explained different types of power and importance of every aspect in a leader. He broke down Power into 4 steps. Mental power; To know what we are talking about, Be able to admit you're always learning and not always right. Emotional Power; Approachable and relatable, beliefs in one's mission, compassion.Physical Power, demeanor and physically taking care of one's self. and Spiritual Power; Beliefs, morals, values, perseverance. After this I attended a session called Money, Money, Money which was all about collecting Dues and creative steps to follow when fundraising.

My Final Blog Post

What a long strange trip its been.

I never would have guessed on Thursday at 1PM just how weird our group of Greeks was capable of being. That being said, I wouldn't have had it go any other way. The whole BSU delegation was great, and I'm really glad we were all able to get along and share the experience together. I especially want to thank Maribeth for being our fearless leader, as well as the always supportive BSU community, and everyone at NGLA who worked to put together a great program.
      Before I went to NGLA I considered myself to be more of a quiet, reserved leader who led by example, but now I feel I have a better idea of when to speak up. I normally prefer to sit back and listen to problems before I set to work with a written action plan, but my experiences this weekend have really opened my eyes to the fact that people within my chapter often look to me for answers, so I need to be more proactive and act before any problems arise.
     I was able to attend a multitude of educational sessions on topics ranging from alumni relations to officer training. I'm still in the process of refining my many pages of notes into organized packets for all of my brothers to study and learn from, but everyone already seems excited about the new ideas coming their way. NGLA has inspired me to push my brothers to levels they never thought they were capable of reaching. I may have been the Kappa Delta Phi delegate, but to me that only means its my responsibility to transfer knowledge to them.
      What I'm most excited for now that I'm back in Bridgewater is working with our eight new pledges. Each one of them has expressed interest in becoming more involved on campus and eventually taking leadership positions. Their pledge process is really going to pick up some steam this week, and I want Kappa Delta Phi to exceed their expectations of what a brotherhood is. In the next four weeks they'll be bonding together as a pledge class, and learning how our chapter operates. Our pledge counselor has done a great job of communicating with them, and putting together the educational programs, but some of the sessions and speakers at NGLA made me realize that the entire fraternity should really be more involved in pledging. I think that by the time the pledges are initiated they feel comfortable with every brother. If they are familiar with the entire fraternity, and see us acting out our values on a daily basis it will prove to them that they made the right choice in joining Kappa Delta Phi.
     Four days of fun and learning experiences away from school was awesome, but now its time to become grounded in reality again. I've got a messy room to clean, midterms to study for, events to plan, and of course new initiatives to put forth within my chapter. It's been real NGLA, but I'm signing off of the blog for the last time. Once again, thanks to Maribeth, and everyone involved for making the best of a good situation, and congratulations to my friend and tour guide buddy Jesslyn Lowell on her Greek Leader of Distinction award.

Goodbye NGLA blog

Dylan (The Dragon Slayer) Curtis
AKA DC
AKA The Comic
AKA PT

NGLA: The Big Picture

NGLA: The Big Picture

This morning as we got on Route 84, I could not help but reflect on how disappointed I was that the NGLA 2013 conference was over. NGLA was the best experience that I honesetly could have imagined.

For three days, over 900 Greeks across the Northeast gathered and talked about way the could make their Greek communities better. We talked about how us as Greeks could adhere to our values and uphold the visions of our founder. I learned something informative from every interaction and presentation that I was fortunate to have throughout the weekend. This conference sparked my ideas and drive to bring the information back to our community and make it even better than we already are. These past couple of days also reminded me of the gift we have been given; the gift of fraternity and sorority life. It is a gift. I know that I can honestly look back and say that it was the best decision that I have ever made. I know that I would not have half of the relationships and accomplishments that I do if I have chosen not to accept my bid to Gamma Phi Beta. After attending NGLA, I learned that it is the Student Leaders and members of the community who are responsible for caring for the gift that we have been giving so that we can continue to share it with those who come after us.

I undoubtedly would reccommend attending NGLA or a conference similar to it for those who are affiliated with Greek Life. It doesn't matter if you are a new member, an upcoming leader, or are an established leader. NGLA is great opportunity to connect with people who share the same belief and love for Greek Life that you do. Although I am sad that the weekend is over, I am extremely grateful for have been able to have and share this experience with everyone who attended from BSU.

I would also like to thank everyone who supported BSU being able to attend the NGLA conference this weekend. I would like to thank BSU faculty and administrators, students, and everyone who participated in the Greek Bowling Night  fundraiser which funded us being able to attend. I would also like to send a special shout out to our Greek Advisor Maribeth Johnson- Flakes who is the reason that any of us were there in the first place. It is because of here genuine belief in our community and in our student leaders that we were able to attend this weekend. Please be sure to give her a special shout out when you see her too!

Lastly, I would like to end my post with a quote that I heard this weekend which really impacted me.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens could change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

NGLA 2013: The Staff Side

Hi Friends!
I am so excited to be able to blog about my 2013 NGLA experience! This year I was given the oppurtunity to attend NGLA as a Student Staff Volunteer. I applied for the job back in Fall and I can not believe it is over. These past 5 days have been some of the most amazing/ eye-opening/ and rewarding days of my life :)
The weekend began when I arrived to Hartford on Wednesday afternoon. I was immediately introduced to my roommate Michele and we immediately started sharing our Greek Life stories and experiences. As the rest of our roommates began to arrive we all started bonding! We eventually were introduced to the rest of the staff, and I can honestly say that the rest of the staff were some of the most amazing people I have ever met. It was awesome to be able to get to know people who were both Undergraduate and Graduate College students who were all interested in Greek Life and all wanted to help better our schools, Greek Communities, Chapters, and ourselves as leaders. I think the whole groupd bonded when we were stuffing over 800 envelopes with Conference information, and we all got a lot of paper cuts :(
As the weekend continued we went through training, and Greeks from all of the Northeast began to arrive. I may have suffered from even more papercuts on Thursday when we were organizing all of the envelopes by school and by conference participant but it was worth it when all of conference attendees began to arrive. I was so excited when the BSU delegation arrived and got to see me in my spiffy vest :) The conference officially kicked off Thursday night with a presentation from Phired Up! I love seeing them present because they are a reminder of the importance of recruitment and everything that comes along with it :)
On Friday the rest of the keynote speakers began as well as the breakout sessions. I was excited because not only was I given the oppurtunities to introduce the session speakers and see speakers I was interested in, but I also got to see sessions that I otherwise would not have. Through the breakout sessions I learned a lot about multicultural organizations, which I previously knew nothing about. It was an eyeopening oppurtunity to see how even though these organizations may be different than what I know they are amazing organizations and bring something amazing to the Greek world.
Friday night was really fun because I got to go to dinner with BSU and there were plenty of laughs and bonding had by all! I'm just saying though, it's really cold in downtown Hartford at night!
Saturday kicked off the beginning of the end of NGLA 2013. The day was begun at roughly 1:00 AM when my alarm went off after my 1 hour nap for duty. After duty was over I got another few hours of sleep, and then the day was spent attending more keynote speakers, breakout sessions, and eventually the Awards Banquet. BSU was lucky enough to be recognized for as a Honorable Mention for Service and Philanthropy and our very own Jesslyn recieved the Greek Leader of Distinction Award!
This morning we had our goodbye brunch, and it was pretty hard to say goodbye to the people who became my family this past weekend. We bonded over our similarities, our differences, and all became better people and leaders together. I am so thankful to have met the NGLA 2013 staff and for all of our experiences these past few days. Also, thank you to everyone who has supported me through this experience, especially Maribeth and the rest of the BSU delegation :)

Greek Love,
Sadie

"If you don't listen you'll never advance." NGLA Reflection

While arriving back to the Bridgewater State campus it really hit me about how amazing our Greek Community is. After spending a weekend with representatives from every organization I was able to hear about their values and their thoughts about this weekend. The general consensus was that NGLA is awesome and the majority of us would love to go back. The special thing about being selected to go to NGLA is that we had the opportunity to learn different leadership strategies and information to bring back to our chapter. This is extremely important because I know that the individuals that Maribeth and other Greek life members picked, chose us because they knew that we will most bring all of these amazing tools back to our organizations. It is so important to take advantage of every opportunity you can get in your life, and this is definitely one of the best opportunities I have been given. As a new president for my organization I have learned so many things that I believe will work for my chapter. While I was transitioned I think that hearing different perspectives from student leaders on other campuses really helped me think of all the positive things my chapter does and how we can definitely keep improving. A few sessions really stood out to me. 

The first one was Be an ACTion hero. I blogged about this a few nights ago but I keep replaying one quote in my mind. This quote is "What is your excuse for not having a win win situation." This quote is so important because why waste your day thinking about all of the things that could go wrong instead of thinking how amazing your life is and how everyday is just another day to change your life or even someone else's. As chapter president I think its almost easier to pinpoint the bad things about the chapter but if I just focus on all of the amazing things my chapter has done over a timespan of three years I can't wait to see what it may be in ten years. As a member of the Beta Class I have already seen such a growth but I know we're still learning. Being able to see Gamma Phi Beta and Phi Sigma Sigma get honorable mention for philanthropy projects really motivated me to get my chapter to be in that position, where were coming up with ideas and having events that are recognized by Greek life all over the Northeast. This is my win win situation because while I could think about how were new and why we maybe shouldn't win something WHY CAN'T WE come up with a great idea.Why can't we be that organization or individual that gets up and accept and award. I think as leaders you often have to motivate the other members of your organization.

 This brings me to a few points I learned in another session titled Inspire Integrity. This session was all about how your truly have to live your life with optimism. A quote that stood out in my mind from this session was when the speaker talked about the definition of hustle. The definition of hustle is to try harder than you are currently trying. While I maintain a good grade point average here I understand it could always be better, there are so many things I could try harder in but I find myself content with what I am doing. After this session it made me start to think of how would trying harder in my life make me a better student, leader, and sister. In a sorority most girls have a core group of friends but instead of sitting with those same people everyday what if you tried harder to be friends with everyone. I understand that this may be a hard task but even learning about their backgrounds, why they joined your organization, even something as simple as their favorite color can build a better relationship. Even though it is a little late in the game my resolution for this year is to try harder. Try harder in every aspect of my life, because if you don't try harder we will never get the raise or that higher up position and after all, we are student leaders so we are already better than we were when we first started at BSU. 

I also think that it finally hit me this weekend that I have been a member of Delta Phi Epsilon for 3 years now and next year will be my final year. All of the amazing experiences I have had here at BSU would not have happened if I didn't take a chance in greek life and I can truly say "because I knew you I have been changed for good."

Caroline

The End and The Begining

As I sit here in my dorm doing my laundry from the weekend, I can't help but contemplate on the weekend. It feels so strange blogging from the dorm and not in the Starbucks lobby with my delegation.

There is no amount of words for me to express my gratitude for Bridgewater State University, Panhellenic and Maribeth for picking me to attend NGLA.

While my time at NGLA is over, I am thrilled to begin to improve my chapter using the new tools I have learned. The memories that we made are ones that can never be forgotten. I am going to encourage my sister to apply to future NGLA gatherings and other similar leadership experiences. I hope that in the future our school and organizations will be able to implement the ideas that we have learned at the conference.

I am now not focusing not on what my chapter does badly but what we do right. By focusing on the positive things that we exemplify we can improve our organizations much better than when we fixate on the negative issues. Instead of asking people to join a bunch of people who wear letter look for people who want to join a group of people who share the same values, “lead with your values not your letters”. I am looking forward to meeting with my Leadership Team and my Membership Development Team, to give an update about my weekend and how I think we could start to implement what I learned.  I am so glad to return to campus to start sharing what I learned. I am going to be a rockstar in my chapter and the Greek community by making us organizations to be looked up too. Greek Life shouldn’t be disconnected and a separate entity to the campus community, Fraternity and Sorority members should be helping to enrich the campus community and other organizations.  

Thank you once more to everyone who helped me to attend NGLA, you have given me a gift that will never be forgotten. I love Greek Life, you love Greek Life, we love Greek Life. GREEK LIFE ROCKS!!

NGLA Wrap Up: The things I have learned :)

Now that NGLA has finally come to an end, we were all asked to sit down and think about all of the things that we have learned during our time here. I want to take some time to share with you all some of the greatest lessons I have learned in the last few days. To be honest, there are so many things that I want to share but I feel like there are a few things that particularly stood out to me. I am hoping that the entire Bridgewater Greek Life Community can benefit from these small but incredibly valuable pieces of information. After a lot of thought, I am going to try and explain this all as best as I can! So here it goes!! :)

1. The first thing I learned has to do with recruitment. The presenter gave us all a challenge. Yes, a challenge! She said that while recruiting new members, "We need to stop selling what we do. Instead, we need to sell who we are." At first, I couldn’t really see the difference between the two. Isn’t what we do a huge part of who we are? The answer is yes but I think we often get caught up on which part is really important. I never really noticed the difference until it was explained during the session. During our recruitments, we tend to recruit new members by telling them all of the things that we do. We try to impress them with things like our commitment to community service, our pride in our organization, our close bonds with one another and the social events we host but although those things are all important, they are all things that other Greek organizations do as well. I do not know of a single Greek organization that does not hold those same values. Those are all things that are expected from a Greek organization. That is their purpose. We need to find the things that set us apart from everyone else and what makes us unique. We need to stop selling what we do and find a way to sell who we are. Everyone expects us to tell them about things like community service and in all honesty, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that we are social. We are called SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS!!! Yes, we need to inform them about these types of things but more importantly we need to focus on what is really important and on what makes each one of our organizations unique. That is what we need to stress during recruitment. It would help us recruit a unique group of members that truly embody our values and not just someone who is interested in community service or attending socials. (They can get that no matter what Greek organization they join) After attending this session, I will now look at recruitment in a different light and try to figure out what makes people want to join OUR Greek organization and not simply a Greek organization.

2. The other piece of information that I learned is equally as important and it pertains to how we manage problems within our Greek Community. The presenter led a conversation about how we need to hold ourselves accountable for the issues that our community faces every single day. These are not just issues within our individual chapters, but issues that Greek life faces as a whole. Some of these issues include things like alcohol abuse and hazing within our chapters. Now before I go on, I just want to say that I personally feel that Bridgewater Greek Life has done an amazing job when it comes to fighting off these stereotypes. But no matter how great we are, we must realize that we are currently part of a culture that still has a long way to go. Issues like hazing and alcohol abuse may not seem like a large issue for Greek life on our campus, but unfortunately this is not true for Greek life across the board. Unfortunately for many chapters across the country, these activities are actually incredibly common on campus.  And what is even more unfortunate is the fact those are the types of activities that people choose to remember. Before NGLA, I did not realize how many Greek organizations still took part in activities like hazing and alcohol abuse and I personally found it sickening when I learned just how many Greeks do not yet see the problem. I always thought that Greek Life as a whole was constantly trying to fight the stereotypes and it saddens me to think that many members are not willing to change their negative behaviors. In the end, those behaviors affect us all whether we like it or not. No matter how much we try to fight against the issues, we are still only as strong as our weakest link. We continuously blame others for these problems and often say that the issues are simply stereotypes that other people use to label us. We tell ourselves that we are looked at in this way because others do not understand us. In reality, we use the term stereotype as a way to place the blame on others so that we simply do not have to confront the situation. This is because we do not really consider it to be our problem. We must admit that even if it is not a huge problem on our campus, it is still a problem that the Greek community faces. That alone makes it our problem. As a member of this Greek community, we have a responsibility to recognize that we are a part of this negative image. That also makes us a part of the solution. Everything we do is a choice. Everything we do is a choice that can either make us or break us. At the end of the day these are the decisions that will determine the future of Greek life.

3. The presenter then went on and talked about how we can deal with problems like these. Her explanation sounded a little bit like this. She explained that some people think that in order to fix a problem, they have to step back and redefine the situation. In the beginning, this approach sounded reasonable to me. It made sense that if a problem was found within the organization, one must locate the source of the problem, eradicate it and rebuild. The presenter said that many people in our society feel that Greek life must be redefined in order to get rid of the issues that are imbedded within it. In other words, some sort of radical change must occur. Up until this moment, I completely agreed with everything. If there was a problem within our chapters, shouldn’t we attempt to make radical changes? It made sense to me and it seemed like a more than reasonable way to respond. Then she told us why radical change was completely unnecessary and would do nothing but waste our time. She explained that there was no reason to redefine our system in order to create change. It is not a problem within our organizations themselves. It is a problem with our members. She then used a quote that finally made it all make sense. She said, "Organizations do not change but rather people change. Everything we need to be successful has already been written out for us. Our founders outlined the solution to these problems for us when they created our organizations because if we constantly embodied the values that we swore to uphold, these problems would fail to exist." I feel that within our own chapters, we often feel that in order to fix problems within our organizations, we have to redefine them or come up with some new policy that will make magically make everything better.  Sure it might work for a semester or two, but changing the organization is not the long term solution. We must change our own attitudes and simply remember the goals and values of the organizations that we committed to during initiation.

These are just a few of the lessons that I learned throughout my time spent at NGLA. I hope that we will be able to use some of these lessons to improve Greek life on our campus.  Spending the weekend at NGLA was an incredible experience and I am so happy to have been given such an awesome opportunity. Thanks NGLA!!! J