UIFI

This year, rising senior Hannah Stroud and rising sophomore Hayley Geis were given scholarships and the opportunity to attend the UIFI leadership conference in Indiana last month.  While there, Hannah and Hayley were placed into different small groups to encourage them to reach out and make new connections with Greek leaders from across the country. Today's post is all about the invaluable experiences from UIFI that helped shaped them into even better leaders for our sorority, told by each of their individual perspectives.

Hannah (far right) with her UIFI friends from LSU, University of Washington and University of Iowa

"So, this may come as a shock to those of y’all that know me. I’m not sappy…some say I may not have tear ducts. Well surprise, I do. And writing about my whole experience may actually bring on some of those emotions. Here we go.

APPLYING

Woohoo, an opportunity to travel to a new place over the summer and learn something? I’m in. When I was applying for the Eve Woods Riley Scholarship to go to UIFI, I honestly had no idea what I was signing up for. It took a little over a week to fill out and go through the application before I finally submitted it—partly due to my lack of organization, and partly from my undiagnosed ADD. A few weeks later I was excited to find the ‘Congratulations!‘ email in my inbox, but still didn’t know what I had signed up for.

STALKING THE UIFI FACEBOOK GROUP

What? This is like the Freshman year Facebook group all over again… everyone’s like “Write where you’re from and your chapter”. I was way too casual for that until I started realizing that people were coming from all over the country—heck, one kid came from Mexico. So I did my stalking and some of the kids looked kind of cool, some more interesting than anything. I figured it would be a large group of power-hungry, unrealistic Greeks eagerly waiting to “change the face” of their organizations, at best.

Hannah with sisters from University of Cincinnati and University of the Pacific at Bowling Night!

AIRPORT AND SHUTTLE RIDE

Yes, it was just like Freshman orientation. I was greeted at Baggage Claim 4 by what was clearly a group of college Greeks—the giant letters on their shirts may have given it away. Don’t get me wrong, I was in my Deltas too, and I was all about the small talk and asking if we knew people from the same school. As we all sat and talked for an hour or so waiting on the shuttle, I met kids from Washington, New York, Arizona, and Louisiana—people in letters I had never seen before. Everyone seemed a lot more down to earth than what I had expected. We all talked about how this experience was supposed to “change our lives” so we could “make a difference.” Oh, okay.

Hannah with a Delta Gamma friend at the airport!

IU CAMPUS

Geez, those Greek houses were big. One thing I found interesting was the difference in the Greek culture from school to school…they didn’t even have a grassy knoll? We set up our rooms and beds and met for a big group meeting. It consisted of around 100 fraternity and sorority men and women who knew only surface level things about each other. No one knew what the five days would bring.

MEETINGS

Some negative and some positive things were discussed. I sat there in awe of the experiences that people have had. All in all, the big meetings were to bring back ideas from the smaller group meetings, the great ideas. We shared philanthropy thoughts and great function themes, to name a few.

COMMUNITY SERVICE

We had a day where a few hours were devoted to community service. Yay. Some jobs were harder than others. But there was a point. Our core values that we were founded upon, back in the ol' 1800s, represent why we give our service. I pulled weeds at a natural water filtration duct for several hours…yes, hours. That’s self-sacrifice if I’ve ever seen it. You should have seen some of the monsters we pulled out of the ground. One we named the “hell bush” because of the spikes that tore through our gloves. Knowing that the 15 of us assigned to that site did the work in two hours—that one man would have taken a week to do—is powerful. It’s the little things we do that make a huge impact on the lives of others. Also, we had to do it all in the 90 degree weather while staring at a Steak and Shake across the street—which may have been the ultimate challenge.

THE FOOD

I’m not too picky, but the food was great. We even had a taco day, which seems to be a hit no matter what school you represent. That is all.

GRADUATION

I cried, yes. Small tears that only two people saw, but they were there. At that moment, I realized the impact of this experience. I didn’t want to leave these awesome people that I had gotten to know, but we keep in touch and plan to do so throughout our lives.

POST UIFI

I never thought I would say this after a leadership conference, but I have been changed for the better. ~cliché~ I know, but the goal of the Undergraduate Interfraternity Council is to shed a positive light on our Greek community and develop awareness, leadership, and responsibility within our chapters. The time we shared allowed us to be real with each other; get to know people on a deeper level. I have some awesome ideas for the chapter, and although sometimes we don’t want change, it won’t be all that bad. I realized how proud I was to represent my larger chapter, discuss our philanthropic achievements, brag about the friendships I’ve made, and chat up the school I represent. Many of us—including me—still have a long way to go. I have made lifelong friends and really learned what it means to be a Greek, no matter what the letters. So if you have made it this far, I hope you’ve had a laugh and get the pure enjoyment I gained from this trip. I strongly encourage anyone in the chapter to go—I mean I’m the music chairman and I was all about it. So I’ll leave you with this quote, because all great blogs end with one, right? “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” -Thomas Edison. I’ve learned to take every opportunity that I can to make a positive name for my organization, no matter the obstacles or how great the challenge.

DL,

Hannah Stroud"

Now, for Hayley's perspective:

"When I arrived in Indiana, I had no idea what to expect. I was nervous because I didn't know what I was getting myself into, and I didn't have a single familiar face by my side.

Hayley at the Tri Delta house at Indiana University

Those nerves quickly faded away into excitement, and then excitement turned into love. Love for the program, love for all of the people in the program, and love for my sorority. I walked away from UIFI with courage, strength, ideas, a deeper understanding of who I am as a leader, and most importantly, a new family from across the country.

Hayley with her "small group" of leaders from universities across the country!

The relationships I formed at UIFI will last a lifetime, and the lessons each and every person taught me go through my mind every day. I was so lucky to meet two amazing Tri Deltas at UIFI who redefined my understanding of sisterhood and gave me so much to aspire to. I wouldn't trade this experience for the world, and looking back on it, it's funny to think I was ever nervous. 

Hayley and her newfound sisters--Tri Deltas from West Georgia and Nebraska

DLAM, 

Hayley Geis"