Work week went very well at Purdue! The girls worked very hard and made me feel very comfortable in their home! I am headed back to Purdue on Thursday and I will be there pretty much until September 8. Right now I am staying with one of the other ELCs, Heather, at her apartment at the University of Illinois. She is heading up the re-colonization efforts here.
We are re- colonizing our Kappa Chapter of Alpha Xi Delta. This is very exciting. We are coming back to the University of Illinois and starting a chapter from the ground up. This means we are working to recruit 150 freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors to be a part of Alpha Xi Delta. This is very exciting and I am honored to be a part of such an exciting task!
Laura, one of the other ELCs, and I have been staying with Heather since last Friday. Over the past weekend, we did a lot of PR work for Kappa. We spent most of Saturday hanging up signs in local businesses, to get the word out about an Alpha Xi Delta open house event. On Sunday, we participated in Quad Day. Quad Day is a huge event here at U of I. It is basically the time for every campus organization to get their name out there and recruit like crazy. There were thousands of students there, and we met a lot of potential new members. It was awesome. We were there from noon to 4:30 PM, so I got nice a sunburned, which I was not upset about, because I figured it might just be my last "sun tan" of the summer! : )
We also spent a lot of time this weekend baking cookies and putting together goodie bags for the Fraternities on campus. As part of our PR and recruitment efforts, we are delivering “We 'heart' ΑΞΔ” yard signs, informational flyers & cookies to the Fraternities on campus. The sororities have already been displaying the yard signs and they will continue to do so during formal recruitment. The Fraternities have also started to proudly display their yard signs as well. We delivered many of them tonight and we will deliver the rest of them tomorrow night!
The Greek community on this campus is amazing and incredibly supportive! It is very cool! We’ve met a lot of sorority and fraternity men who are very excited about Alpha Xi Delta and are eager to help us recruit in any way they can. It is so awesome to be exposed to such a unified Greek community!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
It’s Been Awhile…
Hello everyone! As I write this I am sitting in the airport in Chicago. I left Omaha this morning at 5:40, and I am headed to Purdue University in Indiana. I will be staying at Purdue during their Recruitment Work Week. I am very excited!
The past few weeks have been busy! Here’s what has been going on…
We headed to Atlanta, Georgia for a few days of training with my boss Elysia, and Gretchen, our Director of Membership Growth. Then, our entire ELC team road tripped it to Auburn University in Alabama to help the chapter prepare for recruitment.
While at Auburn I had the opportunity to put my “concentration in Fine Arts” and my theater background to use because Winter and I were put in charge of working on the skit. We “spiced up” the script with some humor, we offered ideas, suggestions and helped the women feel more confident in making it their own. We also insisted that every person in the chapter would participate in the skit in some way, and they did! Laura, Sam and Samantha were the “detail divas” (I just made that title up by the way), but they helped the women put together their costumes and worked with the dancers to perfect the dances. Everyone worked so hard and even though I was not able to see the final product, everyone who did see it said it was a success!
Auburn’s recruitment went very well. I am so proud of the women in that chapter. They have an amazing sisterhood and dedicated members and their hard work paid off! They made Quota, which is a HUGE deal! I am so happy to have been a part of that experience.
I was the first ELC to leave the bunch and head out on my own. On Tuesday, August 12, I headed to the University of Iowa, Sigma chapter, to work with them during their Recruitment Work Week. The women in the chapter really made me feel welcome. As much as I did enjoy the South, it was nice to be back in the Midwest. Iowa feels a lot like Nebraska, and I never thought I would ever say this, but it was nice to see wide open corn fields! I had a lot of fun working with the Sigma chapter! They did a great job working hard and keeping positive attitudes. They also really impressed me with their singing abilities! I am excited to go back and visit them again!
I was also very lucky because I was able to spend a lot of time with my grandparents this weekend. They came to my graduation, to my house that night and then to my mom and Caleb’s birthday. I am so lucky to have such supportive and loving grandparents and I wouldn’t trade them for the world! I am so lucky to have such a loving a supportive family! I love you all! I also want to say thank you to my parents for getting me through college. It means more to me than I could ever explain.
On Sunday, I was able to go to church with the family. Afterwards, my mom and I went to lunch with Andrea. It was great to catch up! After lunch we stopped my the Matis house. Jayme and Mary Beth had made a cut out of my face, which they took with them on the family vacation to Okoboji! When we stopped by their house last night, Jamie had made me a book of all of the places “I went” in Okoboji. It was pretty cute. It felt good to know that even though I was not able to physically be there, I was their in spirit and they took me with them the whole time. After the stop at the Matis house, we went over to Juli and Dave’s for Caleb and my mom’s birthday party. It was a busy weekend, but it was so nice to be home and to spend some time with the people I love!
I really love my job and I am so glad I have been given this opportunity. I learning a lot and building skills that I know I will use as a teacher. I am not the same girl who left Omaha on July 13. I am still Emmalie, but I feel so much stronger, more independent and confident. I had never done anything like this on my own. I have always depended on others, which I not a bad thing at all, but I had no idea how to be independent and depend on myself. In fact, the idea scared me. I have always been a happy person, but now, a lot of my happiness has to come from within myself. I have learned how to stand on my own two feet. I have the love and support from the people I love, and I carry that with me, everywhere I go, but I am now also carrying a stronger sense of self. I have to think for myself, think quick and make decision on my own. It is the strangest feeling to try and describe. I have always believe that God let’s everything happen for a reason, and I realize how true that is more and more, each and everyday.
The past few weeks have been busy! Here’s what has been going on…
We headed to Atlanta, Georgia for a few days of training with my boss Elysia, and Gretchen, our Director of Membership Growth. Then, our entire ELC team road tripped it to Auburn University in Alabama to help the chapter prepare for recruitment.
While at Auburn I had the opportunity to put my “concentration in Fine Arts” and my theater background to use because Winter and I were put in charge of working on the skit. We “spiced up” the script with some humor, we offered ideas, suggestions and helped the women feel more confident in making it their own. We also insisted that every person in the chapter would participate in the skit in some way, and they did! Laura, Sam and Samantha were the “detail divas” (I just made that title up by the way), but they helped the women put together their costumes and worked with the dancers to perfect the dances. Everyone worked so hard and even though I was not able to see the final product, everyone who did see it said it was a success!
Auburn’s recruitment went very well. I am so proud of the women in that chapter. They have an amazing sisterhood and dedicated members and their hard work paid off! They made Quota, which is a HUGE deal! I am so happy to have been a part of that experience.
I was the first ELC to leave the bunch and head out on my own. On Tuesday, August 12, I headed to the University of Iowa, Sigma chapter, to work with them during their Recruitment Work Week. The women in the chapter really made me feel welcome. As much as I did enjoy the South, it was nice to be back in the Midwest. Iowa feels a lot like Nebraska, and I never thought I would ever say this, but it was nice to see wide open corn fields! I had a lot of fun working with the Sigma chapter! They did a great job working hard and keeping positive attitudes. They also really impressed me with their singing abilities! I am excited to go back and visit them again!
On Friday, August 15, I headed home for my graduation from the University of Nebraska- Lincoln. I was coming from Iowa City, so I rented a car to make the trip. They ended up giving me a very awesome sports car, a Grand AM G-6. Silver, with leather seats and a sun roof, I pretty much felt like a rockstar driving that home! Saturday was a lot of fun! Even though I’ve been done with classes for a few months, going through the graduation ceremony made it all feel real. The ceremony went very quick, only an hour and forty minutes. Afterwards, we went out to lunch at Old Chicago, and Kim and her family met us their. Kim was my boss at the YMCA for three years. She was not only my boss, but she is a good friend, mentor and an Alpha Xi Delta sister! Her and her husband, Ben, and their kids, Mason and Alyssa, were like my second family this summer, and they let me stay at their house! So it was really great that they were able to hang out with us.
I was also very lucky because I was able to spend a lot of time with my grandparents this weekend. They came to my graduation, to my house that night and then to my mom and Caleb’s birthday. I am so lucky to have such supportive and loving grandparents and I wouldn’t trade them for the world! I am so lucky to have such a loving a supportive family! I love you all! I also want to say thank you to my parents for getting me through college. It means more to me than I could ever explain.
On Sunday, I was able to go to church with the family. Afterwards, my mom and I went to lunch with Andrea. It was great to catch up! After lunch we stopped my the Matis house. Jayme and Mary Beth had made a cut out of my face, which they took with them on the family vacation to Okoboji! When we stopped by their house last night, Jamie had made me a book of all of the places “I went” in Okoboji. It was pretty cute. It felt good to know that even though I was not able to physically be there, I was their in spirit and they took me with them the whole time. After the stop at the Matis house, we went over to Juli and Dave’s for Caleb and my mom’s birthday party. It was a busy weekend, but it was so nice to be home and to spend some time with the people I love!
I really love my job and I am so glad I have been given this opportunity. I learning a lot and building skills that I know I will use as a teacher. I am not the same girl who left Omaha on July 13. I am still Emmalie, but I feel so much stronger, more independent and confident. I had never done anything like this on my own. I have always depended on others, which I not a bad thing at all, but I had no idea how to be independent and depend on myself. In fact, the idea scared me. I have always been a happy person, but now, a lot of my happiness has to come from within myself. I have learned how to stand on my own two feet. I have the love and support from the people I love, and I carry that with me, everywhere I go, but I am now also carrying a stronger sense of self. I have to think for myself, think quick and make decision on my own. It is the strangest feeling to try and describe. I have always believe that God let’s everything happen for a reason, and I realize how true that is more and more, each and everyday.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Training in Indy is Coming to an End...
I can not believe it, but I haven’t updated this blog in over a week! We’ve been so busy! Here’s what I’ve been up to…
On Monday, July 21, we ended up going to that baseball game with all of the Greek consultants and ended up having an amazing time! We met a lot of consultants and made a lot of new friends. After the game, most of the consultants ended up at Broad Ripple to dance the night away. We had a great time, but the ride home was kind of scary because it was raining so hard, we felt like we were in a hurricane! Heather, who happens to be from Florida, was the driver and she did a great job getting us home safely!
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, we had training with Jen, our AD for the Midwest Territory. We learned a lot of great information. Thursday, we all loaded the car and “road tripped it” for four hours, to St. Louis, for the Volunteer Leadership Conference, or VLC, as it is called. VLC was a great opportunity for us to meet many of the volunteers for our organization. We were able to meet the National President and the members of National Council, and meet a few past ELCs. We also listened to very inspiring speakers, including Ginny Carroll, who is a product of our vision and an inspiration for all of us. We did work a lot during the conference, we helped with set up, clean up, registration, running errands, taking a few trips to the airport, and wrapping over 200 gifts. It was pretty cool to be so involved with everything, we kept saying we feel like Lauren and Hedi on the Hills! Our first night in St. Louis, our director, Elysia, and Jen, the AD who lives in St. Louis, planned an outing for our entire Member Services Team. We went to the St. Louis Arch and went out for dinner. We had a blast and it was a great way for us all to connect face to face, since we all work from different locations all over the country.
We were at VLC until Sunday. On Sunday, we drove back to Indianapolis. The Leadership Coaches, Mary and Margaret, road back with us, so we were able to spend more time getting to know them.
This past week has been all about workshops and conferences! On Monday and Tuesday, we attended Risk Management on the Road, a conference for consultants of all the women’s’ fraternities and sororities. We learned a lot during this conference about how to stay safe while traveling, how to handle any risk management issues we will encounter, and tips from second year consultants. It was very cool. On Wednesday and Thursday, we participated in How to Wow, which was a two day workshop on how to design and facilitate programs, workshops and retreats, when we are visiting chapters. It was VERY helpful, and we all are feeling a little more confident about this part of our job. Today, we will be going into the office for training a 1:00, so we are taking the morning to work on homework and pack. We will be doing a lot of that tomorrow as well. On Sunday, we will head to Atlanta for more training with Elysia, and Gretchen. Then on August 6, we will head down to Auburn. After that I will go to the University of Iowa, then home for graduation, then on the 18 I will head to Purdue, and then from Purdue to the University of Illinois, until the 28. I don’t know, yet, where I will be headed after that. My focus chapters this year will be the University of Iowa (which is driving distance from Omaha) and Purdue, so I am very excited about that.
The other exciting happening of this past week, was the Greek Consultant Social Event, Flip Flops & Friends, which we planned and hosted. For this event, we invited all of the other consultants in the area for paddle boating at the White River Canal in downtown Indianapolis. It was a beautiful location, and we provided snacks, lemonade, music and free paddle boating. We had a great turn out and a beautiful night!
Tonight, Sam’s parents are coming in town, and it is her mom’s 50th birthday, so we are going to go to dinner with them. This weekend we will be working on homework, packing, laying out at the pool and celebrating our last weekend (for a while), all together, in Indy.
I hope you are all doing well and I will see you in a few weeks!
Much Love!
Em
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