This past weekend the Panhellenic and Interfraternity Councils traveled to Costa Mesa California for the West Fraternal Leadership Conference put on by the Association of Fraternal Leadership and Values (AFLV) and the National Cultural Greek Leadership Conference (NCGLC). Thursday morning we met in the sub parking lot at 4:45 to start our journey. After an eventful flight we arrived in California and waited near baggage claim at LAX for Moe to get a van. During the time we were waiting we were able to really immerse ourselves in the Los Angeles culture through people watching and added commentary. After some vanning, In-and-Out, tweets, delirium, laughter and more vanning we arrived at the hotel in Costa Mesa to relax and enjoy a little sun before the evening’s programming. It seems like we brought the PNW with us, it rained most of Friday, so I think it was alright with everyone that we were inside attending sessions all day. Later Friday night the weather improved, and we went to a Dodgers game:
The gang outside of Dodger Stadium; photo credit: Hannah Whisler
Saturday we had sessions all day, followed by an awards ceremony, and a failed ice cream excursion that ended with gas station ice cream bars.
It was so great to have the opportunity to discuss the importance of our Greek values and to learn how to talk about them more regularly in my chapter and community. Interacting with Greek students from large California universities, like UCLA, or even Washington State was interesting, and I admit a little intimidating as well. I don’t think that those other councils knew how to deal with us, between having a campus smaller than their Greek communities, and our constant laughter over who knows what (usually with a tweet and a Moe pun immediately following and contributing to said laughter, and probably followed by more laughter). Something else that was pretty awesome was exposure to the concept of cultural fraternities and sororities was awesome, since we don’t have any chapters on our campus, the concept of cultural Greek organizations is new to me. I was amazed by the passion and dedication that all the other students had for their chapters, their councils, and their universities. We also got the opportunity to meet David Stollman and TJ Sullivan (student affairs speakers extraordinaire and co-founders of CAMPUSPEAK).
Our University’s councils from last year are absolutely amazing, they applied for several awards during their term, and it paid off. The Panhellenic Council won the West Fraternal Panhellenic Council Community Involvement award and the West Fraternal Legacy award, and the Interfraternitiy Council won the West Fraternal Interfraternity Council award; further more our Greek community was recognized for our academic achievements for the past semester. Being at this conference, I have never been more enthusiastic about being Greek, especially on our campus. Here are the councils with the awards:
Both Councils with Moe after the Awards Ceremony; photo credit: Jane King