A World Where There Are Octobers

October brought a month with Mississippi chapters! After my break in Atlanta, I traveled back to Oxford for stint with Delta Sigma. We spent October improving chapter operations, continuing Alpha Education for their new members and preparing for upcoming officer elections and transitions. My Ole Miss sisters didn’t get me too much grief after Alabama’s loss at the hands of their football team, but I’m already looking forward to a rematch next year.

Enjoying October Break in Atlanta!

After a couple weeks in Oxford, I returned to Starkville to spend Diamond Days with the Epsilon Eta chapter at Mississippi State. (I’ve made several jokes that I seem to bring the football good luck to all the chapters I visit!) I enjoyed seeing these women again, especially in a very different setting than formal recruitment. I’ve had so many encounters with this chapter over the past couples years: from participating colony recruitment, bid day and installation as a collegian to my first chapter visit, first formal recruitment and first Diamond Days as a Leadership Consultant. I look forward to working with them more in the future!

From MSU, I traveled back to their rival school, Ole Miss, where I finished out October. My last couple weeks included more election preparations, planning for the chapter’s Diamond Days, a Hocus Pocus sisterhood event and another game day in the Grove (where we were all able to united our football interests and cheer against Auburn).

The month would not be complete without another strange encounter with the Mississippi weather, although this time I was very thankful the monsoon rains came before a social event instead of during a recruitment round!

What’s next? I head off to Jacksonville, Florida, as a member of the expansion presentation team at the University of North Florida. Afterwards, I fly to Lafayette, Louisiana, to reunited with two of my consultant sisters, and assist them with the installation of the Alpha Delta Pi colony at the University of Louisiana! It’s another month and another adventure on the road developing and strengthening our sisterhood!

The North Carolina Chronicles: Part Two!

From Zeta Psi’s Bid Day to Zeta Mu’s Spirit Week all in under three hours!

My Zeta Mu sisters picked me up in Greensboro and drove me across the state of North Carolina to Boone for my next chapter visit. I was greeted by the women currently living on the ADPi floor at the Appalachian Panhellenic Hall as the official kick off to my week of meetings, spirit week and other recruitment preparations! I was so thrilled to be with Zeta Mu, home chapter of my wonderful consultant sister Kathryn. It didn’t take long for me to see how fabulous this chapter, and why they are so special to my Kitty!

Zeta Mu made sure the week wasn’t work all the time. I got plenty of chances to eat some of the yummy local food at Melanie’s, Our Daily Bread, Cilantros, Sunrise Grill, Come Back Shack, The Rock… and Chipotle! I even hit up Klondike for some amazing cheese fries at Kathryn’s suggestion.

I also got a chance to visit the charming city of Blowing Rock when foggy weather cancelled our hiking trip to Rough Ridge!

The week was busy for the chapter, as they prepared for recruitment and hosted their Pie-a-Pi philanthropy event for Wounded Warrior, but these women worked so hard to make me feel welcomed. I treated a couple members to a late night trip to Cookout for some much needed milkshakes to keep us going the night before recruitment started! It was the perfect way for me to say THANK YOU for being wonderful hosts.

Overall, the week went by way too fast! I was sad to say goodbye, but I was happy I got to be there for the first day of recruitment. Can’t wait to hear about the newest Alpha Class at Zeta Mu, and I’m looking forward to staying in touch with these sisters!

The North Carolina Chronicles: Part One

Goodbyes were said to my lovely Delta Sigma sisters before I jetted back to Greenville for my first break! It was a wonderful (and jammed-packed) weekend complete with family, friends, wedding festivities, a day-trip to Atlanta and some college football. Before I knew it, I was back at the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport on my way up to UNC Greensboro to visit Zeta Psi Chapter.

These women quickly won be over by taking me to Chipotle for my first meal of the visit (it was my first time eating there in more than a month!). The beginning of the week whirled by in a series of officer meetings and final preparations for formal recruitment.

Zeta Psi began recruitment Thursday night with the Sisterhood Round. They choose “ADPi Country” as their recruitment theme for the week! Philanthropy Round and Preference Night followed in rapid succession. The late nights, various mini-crises (involving tables, hay, chairs, and lots of glitter) and months of preparation were worth it when they welcomed home 34 Alphas on Bid Day! Zeta Psi has by far my favorite bid day theme – All-American Football! The chapter was after my own heart with that.

Thanks Zeta Psi for a wonderful week! I don’t think I’ll ever get a whole apartment to myself again, or beautiful sisters insisting on feeding me every hour. I’ll never forget my week with y’all. On to my next visit at Appalachian State, home of my Zeta Mu sisters and consultant sister Kathryn!

P.S. Thanks Han for my wonderful care package!

“We Made It To Land”

The 2014-2015 Leadership Consultants are almost done with one week of training! We all headed to Atlanta last Monday to officially begin our LC year. My consultant sister Kara and I traveled together from Charleston on a flight complete with high turbulence and a very rambunctious toddler. After our flight touched down (or as our toddler friend assured Kara, “We made it to land”), we met up with our consultant sisters and executive office staff members to enjoy a welcome dinner in Atlanta.

From there, we hit the ground running. It’s been a whirlwind week covering topics from reports and Pi Portal training to “house keeping” items, before kicking off the weekend with our #RMDivas.

Our Recruitment & Marketing Directors and trainers spent three days with us not only covering Formal Recruitment, but also emphasizing the importance of 365 marketing and recruitment for Alpha Delta Pi women. We learned more about the statistics and tabulations that goes into Release Figure Method. Did you know a Panhellenic woman from MIT created the program and system behind RMF? Now that’s something all NPC sisters can be proud of! Our Recruitment and Marketing training would not have been complete without a couple spirit breaks and ice breakers, courtesy of Rebecca Gentry and Delaurah Minzenberger. (I think we can all agree that videos concerning social media trends and pep talks are always relevant!)

Today, we started membership education with our TME and Ritual directors! It’s been amazing to see the behind-the-scenes planning and time that is put into helping our members “achieve a rich and useful life” and live the Creed of Alpha Delta Pi everyday for the rest of our lives.

Wrapping up Recruitment & Marketing training!

I want to take a moment and brag about all of our EO Staff, International Officers and trainers. What a wonderful comfort it is to come into a new job, and have immediate support and connection! These women work so hard for the advancement of Alpha Delta Pi, and most of them are volunteers. Thank you for all you’ve done for this year’s consultant class so far! We are looking forward to working with you over the next year and as a volunteer many years in the future.

Overall, it’s been an awesome first week! Great local food (and a couple trips to Chipotle!), lots of caffeine and fabulous company have made us feel at home at Memorial Headquarter. We’ve also enjoyed a night at the Braves game where my consultant sisters got to meet one of my chapter sisters. Thanks for coming to hang out for a night Hannah!

Special shout out to our Recruitment & Marketing trainers for winning our hearts with YouTube videos and to our TME trainers for winning over our stomachs with some good home cooking! And a BIG HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY to my consultant sister Meg! Can’t wait to see what week two brings!

Birthday rides around Kroger!

P.S. Hi Mom & Dad , Sissy (and Tay)! I’ve gotten your calls/text and I love you!