By Living This Motto

November kicked off with a trip to the University of North Florida, where Alpha Delta Pi was invited give a presentation on colonizing this fall. The university, located in Jacksonville, has a picturesque campus, strong academic and flagship programs, and a thriving Greek life.

Before our campus visit, the team got to enjoy the Jacksonville beaches in the morning! One of our Grand Council Members offered her beach home to stay in during our visit, so this Leadership Consultant hit the jackpot with this visit. The UNF expansion presentation team spent the afternoon and evening on campus participating in tours and meetings, and polishing our presentation. I enjoyed getting to know the many Panhellenic women who attended our meetings and presentations in the search of the perfect fit for their community. I also loved getting to spend time with the International Officers and Expansion Team members who were on the visit!

From Jacksonville, I flew to Lafayette, Louisiana, for a reunion with my two consultant sisters, Savannah and Nicole, and more importantly, for the Installation activities for the Alpha Delta Pi colony at the University of Louisiana! The weekend was spent preparing for Diamond Days, Initiation and the Installation banquet. The Theta Phi Chapter was installed on Saturday, November 8^th as the 152^nd active chapter of Alpha Delta Pi! I was able to attend an installation banquet as a collegian, but this installation was even more special. It’s a one-of-a-kind experience that clearly shows the dedication of advancing of our sisterhood – it’s when you can see the partnership between Grand Council, International Officers, Executive Office Staff, advisors, campus administrators, campus leaders andthe new collegian members. Not everyone gets to be a charter member of their chapter, so this is a distinct honor bestowed upon exceptional young women who rise to the challenge to create and mold a sisterhood.

I was incredibly proud to be an Alpha Delta Pi that night, and every day of the year. I was proud of the support that our alumnae give to our collegian members, often volunteering their time on top of professional and other commitments. I was proud of my two consultant sisters, Savannah and Nicole, for their hard work this semester – marketing to colony recruitment, bid day to Diamond Days. How wonderful it is to work with them and to be a part of a program that is dedicated to leadership and development of our members. I was proud of the campus support from administrators, student affairs leaders and members of the Greek community. But most of all, I am proud of the newly installed officers of Theta Phi Chapter and their charter members.

After Installation Weekend was over, we helped with the new officers’ training workshop and finished up some odds and ends. Our last day in Lafayette including a little pampering, movie time and, of course, attending Chipotle’s Grand Opening in Lafayette.

In all, it was a wild, crazy busy, exciting ten days in Florida and Louisiana working to expand and strengthen Alpha Delta Pi! As sad as I was to say goodbye to UL and Savannah, I know that she is going to do an amazing job bringing this new chapter into its next phase of development! Nicole and I arrived back in Oxford for Delta Sigma’s Diamond Days on Wednesday, and we started the countdown to Thanksgiving Break, to our return to Executive Office in December and to Christmas Break!

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!

BOOM BOOM and Welcome Home!

I rounded out the last of my fall recruitment visits back at Ole Miss! As Delta Sigma took on their first formal recruitment since recolonization, I got the chance to work with collegians, advisors, International Officers and my fellow consultant sisters – past and present – as we supported Ole Miss.

Formal Recruitment at Ole Miss is serious business! It’s not only competitive, but it’s also held during the school year, which adds challenges of its own. I was so proud of all the officers and Delta members’ hard work throughout the week. We had our share of challenges – during recruitment, you learn to expect the “speed bump.” I will say that a torrential downpour and a venue change was not exactly what I prepared for, but the story of the “great recruitment flood” will always be a standout when looking back on this year.

Delta Sigma welcomed home a new Alpha Class of 167 members on Bid Day and quickly introduced their new members into the ADPi life. Their “Sweet Home ADPi” Bid Day was a perfect cap to Formal Recruitment 2014.

Since then, I’ve been keeping busy with meeting with officers, Deltas and Alphas during the week! The chapter held their Diamond Dates Sisterhood Event leading up to Diamond Sister Reveal, and have several swaps scheduled over the next couple weeks. I even got to experience my first Ole Miss game with my sisters! I must say – it felt good to be back in the college football world!

What are my future travel plans? During October, I’ll be staying on with my sisters in Mississippi after taking a mini-vacation in Atlanta! I’m looking forward to a weekend away cheering on the Crimson Tide as they take on the all-too-familiar Ole Miss Rebels!

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!