Here are some thoughts and reflections from recent UIFI attendee and 2016-17 MGC and Lambda Theta Alpha President, Kristen Mejia:
UIFI was
truly an amazing experience that I am so thankful I was able to be a part of. I
had entered UIFI solely thinking that I needed to work on my position as MGC
president and LTA president, but in all honesty, I have so much more work to
do. I was able to connect and collaborate with so many other UIFIers and our family
cluster leaders. I was surrounded by like-minded, determined and passionate
individuals who see and fight for the main purpose and goal of each of their
organizations. We live within our values every single day and strive to better
the world that we live in through our sister or brotherhoods. My confidence as
a Greek leader on our campus has doubled because of UIFI. I know that I have the
power and passion to make the change that I wish to see on our campus.
Through the
curriculum, activities, and conversations that we had daily, my view of what being
a Greek leader on a university campus has transformed and molded into something
even greater. Previous to this experience, I did not fully understand the
privilege that comes with being a member of the Greek community, let alone
being a leader within the Greek community. Every day we were asked to take off
our “cool caps” and fully dive into the experience. Thankfully, that was
exactly what I did and I had gotten so much more out of the experience than I
expected. We were asked to check our privilege, return to our values, serve our
community, ask burning questions, learn from each other, build our own vision,
and so much more. If I were to have to talk about the one major lesson that I
had gotten from this experience, I would say that we each have more power than
we think. We have a voice and though we may feel small or alone, we have our
line sisters, our chapter brothers, our area members, regional leaders, our
WHOLE organizations, our council members and our Greek community to back us up
as well. Though all three councils may have many more differences than
similarities, we are all here to make a positive change on our campuses and
find our homes.
I am so thankful that Lehigh had sponsored me to go to UIFI. It was a truly amazing experience and I hope that others are able to attend as well in the future.