On March 8, members from West Chester University’s Greek community ventured to Sandy Cove Retreat Center in North East, Maryland for a long weekend of Impact, a leadership conference through the North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC). Impact offered an intense living-learning community experience through hands-on experimental activities and in-depth discussion based off the premises of the community. Council officers from the Black and Latino Greek Council (BLGC), Interfraternity Council (IFC), Inter-Greek Council (IGC), and Panhellenic Council (PHC) attended, along with all chapter presidents and one emerging leader from each chapter. Between 71 student leaders from the Greek community and 16 Impact facilitators from around the country, something amazing was bound to happen.
Ten years ago, Cara Jenkins, the Director of the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, served as a summer graduate intern to the office she now leads. That summer, she researched Impact for the community, which was then led by Charlie Warner. Given her history, she was especially looking forward to the leadership experience saying she hoped it would, “elevate the fraternity and sorority community” and provide an experience to “bring us together.”
Most of the students had never experienced the program before; initially it looked like the focus was going to be on individual leadership.
Each individual took the Kouzes Posnor Student Leadership Practices Inventory (SLPI). SLPI consists of 30 statements, in which the students rate one through five how often they engage in the behavior described. Through the inventory feedback, students identified their strongest personal ability and the behaviors required to make them successful in their styles of leadership. The five practices of exemplary leadership are as follows: model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act, and encourage the heart.
Student schedules for the long weekend consisted of general sessions and chapter meetings. During general sessions, everyone came together to discuss a certain topic. The conversation often grew from what others said and people’s reactions to video clips. It provided an extensive community discussion. Chapter meetings provided an opportunity to discuss in more detail what was said during the general sessions in a smaller group. Within these smaller groups, members of the Greek community were mixed up with people they did not know. In these chapter groups, members often found they had a lot of similarities.
Justin Foster, District Chief for District Six of Beta Theta Pi and alumnus of West Chester University, volunteered as a facilitator and explained, “The general session is meant to give the big idea while the chapter meeting is meant to have those in-depth, intimate discussions; these discussions are up to the students to lead.”
Facilitator Stephanie Danette Preston of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. believed the students were “able to talk more freely” and “speak one on one to learn more about one another.”
Throughout the weekend, the main topics of discussion were broken down into seven buckets: community, communication, Ritual congruence, leadership, motivation, risk management, and social media.
“From the very beginning of my term, I promised to improve our community and strive for unity,” said Jessie McNevin, IGC President. For the members of the Greek community to become a stronger community, they have learned they must begin to understand one another and the respective councils. Discussion revolved around inclusiveness, healthy rivalry, and membership. Preston shared, “the community needs more open dialogue of individuals knowing they are appreciated. It is crucial to embrace the other organizations of your community.”
Along with a large community comes a great need for communication. Within this bucket, Impact observed the communication council to council, students to administration, chapter to chapter, and community to borough. The members brainstormed ways to improve the communication step-by-step, originating with an agreement that if they better understood each other’s organization’s it would greatly aid the process.
“Impact helped everyone realize where we could be if we stick to our values,” said Mitch Paulinho, IFC President. Greek organizations are the only organizations set up, bound by Ritual. One activity required every organization to stand up and share their creed or motto. Members found this activity especially powerful, reinforcing the importance of the oath they took. At this time they questioned, could their problems be solved by their creed, which they then sought to answer- yes. Jack Sencindiver, brother of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, said “when we all shared our creed, it opened our eyes to show us that although all our Rituals may be different, we stand for the same principles; as Greek life we are actually pretty similar.”
A chart was reviewed that stated, “Leadership involves collaborative relationships that lead to collective action grounded in the shared values of people who work together to elevate an organization.” With that quote in mind, members evaluated who the leaders were in the community. There was conversation based on how leaders interact with their peers, in which egotistical was not a praised trait. Other highlighted topics were the differences in training and experience everyone has in their history.
During Impact Jeff Bruhn, brother of Sigma Pi, honestly addressed how we often say we will do something, but there is not a lot of action. The community held discussion on how to keep leaders from burn out and harness the same energy election to election. The ultimate decision was to take action in the moments that matter and hold true to one’s word. “Impact really opened our eyes to all the amazing ideas the Greek community has, and gave us the tools to give those ideas full life and help us reach our full potential,” said Bruhn.
To some, risk management may seem difficult. It is a challenge to understand the Fraternal Information and Programming Group (FIPG), which promote sound risk management policies and practices. Kirsten Cirelli, Vice-President Internal of PHC, explained, “through leading by example and sparking up conversations that needed to be had, we were able to confront our problems and talk about potential solutions.”
On the topic of social media, the community collectively agreed they wanted to represent themselves well. With that conclusive decision, there was open discussion about the brand of Greek Life at West Chester University. In a larger basis, Total Frat Move (TFM) and Total Sorority Move (TSM) served as examples of what does not represent what the members want to be on campus.
At the conclusion of Impact, each member had develo
ped their own plan of action for their chapter, as well the community. Through a blueprint format, they explored what they could do so these plans of action followed through when they returned to campus.
McNevin stated, “what I liked most about this experience was that we developed action plans as a community which definitely increases the accountability factor.”
When asked how Impact will influence the community moving forward, Foster responded, “Impact provides really great essentials for positive change. We gave you the tools, had the discussions; it is now up to you to live up to those commitments from the last day.”
Jennifer Bowers is a second-year student majoring in business marketing. She can be reached at JB758558@wcupa.edu.
Photo by Jenny Bowers