Attending UIFI was one of the
best and most empowering learning experiences I have had so far. Not only did I
get to meet awesome leaders in the Greek community from all over the country
and have the opportunity to learn from them, but it helped re-shape how I view
things about myself and things that I stand for.
On the first day, we took
time defining leadership and the definition we were taught was leadership is
what we do and why we do it. We then looked at Greek Life as a whole and
established the idea that we are values-based organizations and that we need to
define our values as what we do. Listening to the leaders of UIFI define words
that we throw around all time in ways I never really would have thought, was
extremely insightful. It made me evaluate what my organization does and if we
are living up to these definitions and our potential as a group. In addition to
these terms, UIFI also made me rethink about the role I play in my chapter, the
role my chapter plays in Greek Life at Lehigh, and how those roles then play
into the Lehigh community and Greek Life on a national level. It made me
realize that what we do as individual chapters isn’t just affecting us because
we are just a small part of a number of larger communities.
This really hit home for me
when we participated in a debate about whether Greek Life was a benefit or a
hindrance to our society. During the debate it was powerful to hear about all
the opportunities given and bonds formed when people chose to be members of
Greek Life, but to also hear about the number of indiscretions committed by
members of our organizations. At the end of the debate the student panel voted
that we are a hindrance to society. After hearing all of this I couldn’t help
but question how we could be so proud to be a part of something that even its
own members feel is hurting our community. The leader of the program then
talked about how his job was to fight for the existence of Greek Life and that
despite the negative attention, we truly breed the best leaders when we do
stick to our values. It was at this point in the experience that people started
to wake up and realize that we contribute to the reason that something that
made our college experiences so great, may not be here for others to experience
if we continue to let the negatives define us. UIFI was a wake up call to the
fact that we know what we are doing wrong and we are the only ones that can
make the necessary changes. My experience at UIFI gave me the encouragement and
tools to start making a difference and to start acting on my values to be the
change in my community so that I can give back to something that has already
given me so much.
Madison McGahan
Zeta Tau Alpha, President