I almost forgot to tell you where I am going this semester! Here are all of the chapters that I get to visit:
the University of Wisconsin in Madison,
Michigan State in East Lansing,
Ohio Northern in Ada,
Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, PA,
Allegheny in Meadsville, PA,
University of Deleware in Newark, Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC,
Lawrence College in Appleton, WI,
the Univ. of Iowa in Iowa City,
the University of Montana in Missoula,
Hanover College in Hanover, IN, Fresno State in Fresno, CA,
Clemson University in Clemson, SC!
I don't quite know the times or dates yet but I will keep you all updated! :)
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Busy Busy Busy
Wow! It sure has been busy! We have yet to have an entire day off from training, so we are all pretty tired and our brains are on Theta overload. I really hope that I can remember all of this info! We did have this morning off and didn't have to go in to work until noon so we all took advantage of sleeping in! There has been a lot going on. I will give you the highlights:
On Friday (17), we had training at Headquarters on the Kappa Alpha Theta foundation and it was incredibly informative. It is so interesting to see how a non-profit organization functions. It is also amazing how much the Theta foundation does for the women of our fraternity. If it was not for the foundation, I would be unemployed, as the foundation funds 60% of our ELC program. I highly encourage everyone to check out the foundation's website, http://www.kappaalphathetafoundation.org/. Read about some of the ways in which the foundation helps assist members through troubling times, with money for college, and with funding to make a difference. It is truly amazing.
On Saturday (18), the District 5 Administration District Director, April Biddix flew to Indy all the way from Georgia to facilitate Administration training. We learned all that there is to know about Theta elections, bylaws, and officer structure. I feel like Administration information is seeping out of my ears.
From Sunday (19) until Tuesday (21) we attended the Fraternity Executives Association Field Staff Training Conference on the University of Miami campus in Miami, OH. Many sorority and fraternity field staff attended this conference. It was a great conference that covered pretty much everything there is to know about life on the road for a field consultant. The conference featured wonderful speakers on all things Greek. Not only was this conference informative, but it also gave us a wonderful opportunity to mingle with field staff from other organizations, specifically the male organizations :) Believe me, we all needed a little testosterone in our lives after spending every waking moment together for the last week! After the conference, some the Beta Theta Pi fraternity consultant gave us a tour of their headquarters in Oxford and let me tell you, it is amazing!!! They have a HUGE HQ with a gigantic front yard! We all want to marry a Beta, just so the wedding can be held at the HQ Estate. The yard is literally like a pasture surrounded by trees with a beautiful pond, a bridge, and a walkway that leads to the building! So Pretty!!!
On Wednesday (22), Ginny Carroll, who owns iNGinuity, facilitated professionalism training and gave us the DISC profile. She was a lot of fun and very energetic! Later in the afternoon the Fraternity Vice President College, Amy Kates flew to Indy from New Orleans and hung out with us for the afternoon. We all got to ask her questions about the chapters that we were visiting and about Grand Council. It was just so strange to be chillin' with a member of GC! It's incredible how much Theta knowledge she has!
On Thursday (23) we got an archives tour from Noraline, Theta's archivist! She showed us some really awesome stuff! I'll post some pics later! She also pulled stuff from our own chapters, so I got to make a copy of the first letter Pearle Monroe wrote to Grand Convention petitioning for a Theta chapter at UND. It was dated 1911! What a great piece of history!
Also on Thursday, we had Panhellenic training with Theta's Panhellenic delegate and former Fraternity President Mary Jane Beach. She is a peach of a gal and lives in Iowa City, so I am definitely going to visit her when I got to the University of Iowa! We also got a tour of National Panhellenic Conference's Headquarters in Indy. It was a shock to see how small it actually was! There are only 3 full-time ladies that work at NPC HQ and the office is so little! Never the less, it was so neat to see where all of the behind the scenes work goes down!
On Friday (24) we continued with Panhellenic training but we were all itching for the business day to be over because the Beta Theta Pi consultants came to Indy and we had a fun get together, with a neon/80's theme. Let me tell you, those Beta's sure know how to work a thrift store! In fact, some of their 80's gear was so unattractive that we were not allowed into 2 establishments in downtown Indy! :) It was a fun night and I have some really great pictures of our ridiculous costumes!
Today, we got to sleep in! Yay! Then, at noon we met with the District 5 Membership District Director, April Dupree, for Membership training. I actually really enjoy the Membership aspect of sorority life, mostly because I enjoy party planning! It was a lot of fun to hear her recruitment stories (District 5 is all of the frilly southern chapters) and to get some cool recruitment ideas to pass on! It was a fun day! Tonight, we are all glued to our computers trying to schedule flights, contact chapters, and update our friends and family about our lives. I really wish that there were 5 more hours in a day, believe me, I need them!
I will post some pictures up later of all of our amazing adventures! Things are busy but wonderful!
~A
On Friday (17), we had training at Headquarters on the Kappa Alpha Theta foundation and it was incredibly informative. It is so interesting to see how a non-profit organization functions. It is also amazing how much the Theta foundation does for the women of our fraternity. If it was not for the foundation, I would be unemployed, as the foundation funds 60% of our ELC program. I highly encourage everyone to check out the foundation's website, http://www.kappaalphathetafoundation.org/. Read about some of the ways in which the foundation helps assist members through troubling times, with money for college, and with funding to make a difference. It is truly amazing.
On Saturday (18), the District 5 Administration District Director, April Biddix flew to Indy all the way from Georgia to facilitate Administration training. We learned all that there is to know about Theta elections, bylaws, and officer structure. I feel like Administration information is seeping out of my ears.
From Sunday (19) until Tuesday (21) we attended the Fraternity Executives Association Field Staff Training Conference on the University of Miami campus in Miami, OH. Many sorority and fraternity field staff attended this conference. It was a great conference that covered pretty much everything there is to know about life on the road for a field consultant. The conference featured wonderful speakers on all things Greek. Not only was this conference informative, but it also gave us a wonderful opportunity to mingle with field staff from other organizations, specifically the male organizations :) Believe me, we all needed a little testosterone in our lives after spending every waking moment together for the last week! After the conference, some the Beta Theta Pi fraternity consultant gave us a tour of their headquarters in Oxford and let me tell you, it is amazing!!! They have a HUGE HQ with a gigantic front yard! We all want to marry a Beta, just so the wedding can be held at the HQ Estate. The yard is literally like a pasture surrounded by trees with a beautiful pond, a bridge, and a walkway that leads to the building! So Pretty!!!
On Wednesday (22), Ginny Carroll, who owns iNGinuity, facilitated professionalism training and gave us the DISC profile. She was a lot of fun and very energetic! Later in the afternoon the Fraternity Vice President College, Amy Kates flew to Indy from New Orleans and hung out with us for the afternoon. We all got to ask her questions about the chapters that we were visiting and about Grand Council. It was just so strange to be chillin' with a member of GC! It's incredible how much Theta knowledge she has!
On Thursday (23) we got an archives tour from Noraline, Theta's archivist! She showed us some really awesome stuff! I'll post some pics later! She also pulled stuff from our own chapters, so I got to make a copy of the first letter Pearle Monroe wrote to Grand Convention petitioning for a Theta chapter at UND. It was dated 1911! What a great piece of history!
Also on Thursday, we had Panhellenic training with Theta's Panhellenic delegate and former Fraternity President Mary Jane Beach. She is a peach of a gal and lives in Iowa City, so I am definitely going to visit her when I got to the University of Iowa! We also got a tour of National Panhellenic Conference's Headquarters in Indy. It was a shock to see how small it actually was! There are only 3 full-time ladies that work at NPC HQ and the office is so little! Never the less, it was so neat to see where all of the behind the scenes work goes down!
On Friday (24) we continued with Panhellenic training but we were all itching for the business day to be over because the Beta Theta Pi consultants came to Indy and we had a fun get together, with a neon/80's theme. Let me tell you, those Beta's sure know how to work a thrift store! In fact, some of their 80's gear was so unattractive that we were not allowed into 2 establishments in downtown Indy! :) It was a fun night and I have some really great pictures of our ridiculous costumes!
Today, we got to sleep in! Yay! Then, at noon we met with the District 5 Membership District Director, April Dupree, for Membership training. I actually really enjoy the Membership aspect of sorority life, mostly because I enjoy party planning! It was a lot of fun to hear her recruitment stories (District 5 is all of the frilly southern chapters) and to get some cool recruitment ideas to pass on! It was a fun day! Tonight, we are all glued to our computers trying to schedule flights, contact chapters, and update our friends and family about our lives. I really wish that there were 5 more hours in a day, believe me, I need them!
I will post some pictures up later of all of our amazing adventures! Things are busy but wonderful!
~A
Friday, July 17, 2009
This is our Professional Photo! Soon to be published in the Theta magazine! Front: Justine Fowler from Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, Whitney Scott from University of Florida
Middle: Taryn Dorfman from Univ. of Central Florida, Lauren Misiewicz from Purdue, & Jennica Prescott from Washington State
Back: Hilary Holmes from Ohio Wesleyan, ME, Jill Werner from Univ. of Kentucky & Mallory Butts from The Ohio State University
Training
Hello from Indy!
It has been a crazy, but fun week so far! All of the new ELCs arrived in Indy the afternoon of Sunday the 12th and our new journey started! After picking up everyone from the airport we went to Theta Headquarters, had some supper, then piled in our vans and traveled to Bradford Woods for a Retreat. Bradford Woods is owned by Indiana University and houses a camp for kids with disabilities called "Camp Riley" as well as a place for company retreats. We had a great time doing team building exercises, getting to know each other better, and eating s'mores of course! It was an awesome time, but we were all very tired at the end of the day.
On Tuesday (14), we got back to Indianapolis and got our ELC binders that included information about our apartments, our schedule for the week, and other random information about Theta and HQ. Jenni also surprised us with new Vera Bradley totes! Then in the afternoon we moved into our apartments which are really nice! We have two apts one with 4 girls and one with 5. That night we all got settled in and then went out for sushi! It was the first time that I had ever had sushi and it was pretty good!
On Wednesday (15), we arrived at Pride Photography in what seemed to be the ghetto of Indianapolis to do our professional photos. Needless to say, we were all a little skeptical, but the pictures turned out really well and we got out of there ASAP! :) After our pics we went back to HQ and did a characteristics test called "True Colors" with our Foundation President, Wendy Goshert. This is a test that catagorizes our characteristics into four main "colors." We have
done this exercise in our chapter before and it will be no surprise to the Alpha Pi's that I am all Gold...again! We also had the privilage of going to lunch with Wendy! She is so nice and interesting!
Thursday (16), was a super exciting day! We got our new computers!!!!! The best part about the computers is that we get to KEEP them after we are done!!!! The only bad part is that they are Dells, but I think I can handle it! We were also supposed to receive our entire visit schedules for the semester, but unfortunately, there are a couple of District Presidents that still have not gotten back to Jenni with their chapter's needs. The good news is that we did get our first couple of visits. We will all go to Auburn University to help out with their formal recruitment. Auburn was re-established this past spring, so this will be their first formal recruitment. (Thetas: check out the new KAO mag for more info) After Auburn, another ELC, Justine, and I will head to Clemson University in South Carolina! I am excited to see a frilly southern recruitment filled with lots of singing and chanting! It will be a lot different than UND! After our day in the office we all went home and were pretty much glued to our computers. We didn't have facebook for 4 whole days, so we were all going through withdrawl. That night I met up with my friend from home Kodee Gartner who is a consultant for Alpha Gamma Delta and is also in training for their LC program. It was great to see a friendly face from home.
Today (17) we had Foundation training in the morning and our first round of finance training this afternoon. Finance was not as bad as I thought it would be because today we went through policies and procedures, the numbers come later. After training a couple of our girls went out to dinner with some of the men's consultants from Tau Kappa Alpha at Rockbottom Brewery. It was fun to meet some other consultants and we all needed some male interaction :)
Needless to say, this week has been crazy busy! I have learned a lot about Theta and love all of the other ELC's! Today, I mentioned that it's awesome that we are all getting paid to be friends! I will let you know more about all of them later, because I think I may set the record for longest blog ever if I keep writing!
Until Next Time!
Alyssa :)
It has been a crazy, but fun week so far! All of the new ELCs arrived in Indy the afternoon of Sunday the 12th and our new journey started! After picking up everyone from the airport we went to Theta Headquarters, had some supper, then piled in our vans and traveled to Bradford Woods for a Retreat. Bradford Woods is owned by Indiana University and houses a camp for kids with disabilities called "Camp Riley" as well as a place for company retreats. We had a great time doing team building exercises, getting to know each other better, and eating s'mores of course! It was an awesome time, but we were all very tired at the end of the day.
On Tuesday (14), we got back to Indianapolis and got our ELC binders that included information about our apartments, our schedule for the week, and other random information about Theta and HQ. Jenni also surprised us with new Vera Bradley totes! Then in the afternoon we moved into our apartments which are really nice! We have two apts one with 4 girls and one with 5. That night we all got settled in and then went out for sushi! It was the first time that I had ever had sushi and it was pretty good!
On Wednesday (15), we arrived at Pride Photography in what seemed to be the ghetto of Indianapolis to do our professional photos. Needless to say, we were all a little skeptical, but the pictures turned out really well and we got out of there ASAP! :) After our pics we went back to HQ and did a characteristics test called "True Colors" with our Foundation President, Wendy Goshert. This is a test that catagorizes our characteristics into four main "colors." We have
done this exercise in our chapter before and it will be no surprise to the Alpha Pi's that I am all Gold...again! We also had the privilage of going to lunch with Wendy! She is so nice and interesting!
Thursday (16), was a super exciting day! We got our new computers!!!!! The best part about the computers is that we get to KEEP them after we are done!!!! The only bad part is that they are Dells, but I think I can handle it! We were also supposed to receive our entire visit schedules for the semester, but unfortunately, there are a couple of District Presidents that still have not gotten back to Jenni with their chapter's needs. The good news is that we did get our first couple of visits. We will all go to Auburn University to help out with their formal recruitment. Auburn was re-established this past spring, so this will be their first formal recruitment. (Thetas: check out the new KAO mag for more info) After Auburn, another ELC, Justine, and I will head to Clemson University in South Carolina! I am excited to see a frilly southern recruitment filled with lots of singing and chanting! It will be a lot different than UND! After our day in the office we all went home and were pretty much glued to our computers. We didn't have facebook for 4 whole days, so we were all going through withdrawl. That night I met up with my friend from home Kodee Gartner who is a consultant for Alpha Gamma Delta and is also in training for their LC program. It was great to see a friendly face from home.
Today (17) we had Foundation training in the morning and our first round of finance training this afternoon. Finance was not as bad as I thought it would be because today we went through policies and procedures, the numbers come later. After training a couple of our girls went out to dinner with some of the men's consultants from Tau Kappa Alpha at Rockbottom Brewery. It was fun to meet some other consultants and we all needed some male interaction :)
Needless to say, this week has been crazy busy! I have learned a lot about Theta and love all of the other ELC's! Today, I mentioned that it's awesome that we are all getting paid to be friends! I will let you know more about all of them later, because I think I may set the record for longest blog ever if I keep writing!
Until Next Time!
Alyssa :)
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Ready to Go!
Hey everyone,
I created this blog so that you can follow me on my journey as an Educational Leadership Consultant for my sorority Kappa Alpha Theta. An ELC serves as a liaison between college Theta chapters and Theta's international headquarters. Either we visit college chapters and support them in accomplishing their goals and objectives or we are based at a college campus and help develop a new Theta chapter on that campus. There will be more to come about what I do for my job, but this is a basic overview!
Right now, I am preparing myself to get started on this new adventure in my life. I have had some Theta homework to do to prepare myself for training, I have been packing and trying to figure out what to bring (who knew I had so many clothes!), and basically getting my ducks in a row! On Sunday, I will fly to Indy and start training for about a month, then will be off to my first ELC assignment! There I will meet the other 8 ELC's who come from all over the United States. I am so excited to start this new chapter in my life, and am glad that you can follow along!
Well here goes nothing! Keep in touch!
Alyssa :)
I created this blog so that you can follow me on my journey as an Educational Leadership Consultant for my sorority Kappa Alpha Theta. An ELC serves as a liaison between college Theta chapters and Theta's international headquarters. Either we visit college chapters and support them in accomplishing their goals and objectives or we are based at a college campus and help develop a new Theta chapter on that campus. There will be more to come about what I do for my job, but this is a basic overview!
Right now, I am preparing myself to get started on this new adventure in my life. I have had some Theta homework to do to prepare myself for training, I have been packing and trying to figure out what to bring (who knew I had so many clothes!), and basically getting my ducks in a row! On Sunday, I will fly to Indy and start training for about a month, then will be off to my first ELC assignment! There I will meet the other 8 ELC's who come from all over the United States. I am so excited to start this new chapter in my life, and am glad that you can follow along!
Well here goes nothing! Keep in touch!
Alyssa :)
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