Gaby Montes gets a second guest blog as she shares about her AFLV experience!
The Association of Fraternal and Sorority Values Conference was an amazing, re-energizing, eye-opening, and transformative experience. I am so grateful that I received the oppurtunity to attend! Honestly, this experience reminded me of why I decided to become a member of Greek Life in the first place. I was greatly energized after meeting many sorority sisters and brothers from all over the country who shared similar passions and with whom I instantly connected. It was also re-energizing to be surrounded by and have conversations with various Greek leaders that represented many different organizations, campuses, and states. These leaders shared unique experiences, but we all connected through our similar yearning to bring positive change onto our campuses. Not only did this experience introduce me to individuals from around the country, but it brought me closer to the fellow AFLV attendees from Lehigh that represented all three Greek councils. We greatly bonded through the experience in a way we would not have had the opportunity to otherwise. This is true Greek unity in my eyes.
Aside from the networking and bonding aspect of the conference, I learned a large amount about myself, more effective ways to lead, creating change in the world, unifying the councils, and helping my organization to succeed and accomplish its mission. I already find myself implementing many of these lessons into my chapter and daily leadership. GEM taught me to view leadership as a process rather than a title/role and I believe that AFLV contributed a lot to my leadership development and process as a whole. I attended workshops that ranged from being a high achiever and preventing burning out, motivating members, delegating, calling people out properly, feeling one does not deserve the opportunities they earned, and being a cultural Greek at a predominately white institution.
I found myself fully awake and engaged in each workshop and felt myself growing as a result of it. Since the conference, I have been delegating more, trying to take more time for myself to prevent burn out, and utilizing strategies I learned to make my chapter, council, and campus as strong as it can be. Overall, AFLV truly empowered me and filled me with the energy I felt I was running low on. Afterword, I was ready to continue to motivate positive social change. Who knew that one weekend conference could have such a large impact?