“Applying for national awards provides our councils with the opportunity to assess where we stand against other Greek communities across the country. It provides us with the opportunity to become stronger than we are today, challenging us to become better.”
Greek Life at the University of Arkansas recently attended the Association of Fraternity Leadership and Values and was honored through several national awards.
Fifty-six UA Greek Life students attended the conference where they took in educational workshops, community time, and a Unity Stroll-Off.
During the week, Greek Life received the following achievements:
Gamma Sigma Alpha, the National Greek Academic Honor Society, received the Outstanding Scholarship Fall 2015 for Top Greek Community in the region.
Panhellenic Council received awards for Academic Achievement, Council Management, Membership Recruitment, Philanthropy and Community Service, Public Relations, and Self-Governance and Judicial Affairs.
United Greek Council received an award in Council Management.
National Pan-Hellenic Council received awards in Council Management, Leadership and Educational Development, Philanthropy and Community Service, and Public Relations.
Interfraternity Council received awards in Council Management, Leadership and Educational Development, and Membership Recruitment.
UA Greek Life received 2nd place in the Unity Stroll-Off Competition.
Paul Adams was recognized as the 2016 recipient of the AFLV Wilford A. Butler Outstanding Alumnus Award. Adam advises the Omega Psi Phi chapter, as well as mentoring many other Greeks within the UA Greek community. Because of Adams’ commitment to Greek life and his outstanding example of inter-fraternalism, UA Greek councils donated $1,000 in his honor to the AFLV Foundation as a way to give back like he has done for so many others.
Parice Bowser, director of UA Greek Life, said participating in the AFLV conference is about more than just competing for national awards.
“AFLV provides our students the opportunity to learn, grow, network and connect with other Greek leaders from around the country who are working to advance the fraternal experience,” Bowser said. “Each year, our students bring back a wealth of knowledge which has helped our overall Greek community become stronger as we lead together.”
Bowser, who is also the Chair of AFLV leadership, said just applying for AFLV national awards is a job in itself for the councils.
“Applying for national awards provides our councils with the opportunity to assess where we stand against other Greek communities across the country,” Bowser said. “It provides us with the opportunity to become stronger than we are today, challenging us to become better.”
To apply for AFLV awards, Greek Life students have to compile binders, cataloguing information about their activities and council standards to present to the AFLV committee.
“While it is always nice to be recognized for doing something well, the true value of AFLV awards lies in the way they are designed.The specific requirements for an award are designed to help councils learn to better manage themselves, which in turn helps us to have an even larger impact on our communities…These awards give us a chance to be recognized for the things we do well, but also help to point out to us the places that could still use a bit of work.”
“Our students save documentation throughout the year and meet weekly to review the various criteria for each award category to keep track of their progress,” Bowser said.
Cole Anthony, Interfraternity Coucnil president, said while the recognition of the awards
“While it is always nice to be recognized for doing something well, the true value of AFLV awards lies in the way they are designed,” Anthony said. “The specific requirements for an award are designed to help councils learn to better manage themselves, which in turn helps us to have an even larger impact on our communities. I think it is important for our councils to apply to these awards because they provide a benchmark against which we can compare ourselves. These awards give us a chance to be recognized for the things we do well, but also help to point out to us the places that could still use a bit of work.”
Anthony has attend the conference two years in a row and said experiencing AFLV has affected him as a leader on the U of A campus.
“Between the gifted presenters and high-caliber attendees, AFLV provides a great opportunity to improve yourself as a leader, while also helping others to grow,” Anthony. “Most importantly, however, AFLV offers an opportunity to form lasting relationships with other young leaders, which allows us to be even more effective back in our communities.”
“This year, AFLV was centered around Greek unity, as well as scholarship and education. My favorite part of AFLV was getting to know and form deeper relationships with those leaders from our own Greek Life. I learned a lot about how each of the councils run and what works well for them, and how to adapt that to my own council.”
Mackenzie Lantefield, Panhellenic Council president, said one of her favorite parts of the conference is getting to know
“This year, AFLV was centered around Greek unity, as well as scholarship and education,” Lantefield said. “My favorite part of AFLV was getting to know and form deeper relationships with those leaders from our own Greek Life. I learned a lot about how each of the councils run and what works well for them, and how to adapt that to my own council.”
One of the opportunities for UA Greek Life student to get to know one another more was through the Unity Stroll-Off competition. Members from all councils came together to perform in the competition at the conference and received 2nd place.
Jervae’ Franklin, National Pan-Hellenic Council president, said the councils spent more than a week preparing for their performance and that practicing for the stroll-off brought the councils together even before the conference began.
“There was one workshop that I attended that was set up as a town hall meeting for multicultural greek organization. We discussed different issues that we had faced on campus, like campus racism and discrimination. Some of the councils were really affected by and pushed down by racism, and it made me feel really grateful for my support system here and for the University’s strong stance on diversity and equality.”
“The Unity Stroll-Off was definitely one of my favorite parts. It brought all four of our councils together to one, unifying us and giving us an experience that brought us closer as a community,” Franklin said. “It really made the trip more enjoyable because it allowed us to all be more transparent and to truly get to know each other because those social barriers were already broken.”
Pamela Aguilar, United Greek Council president said being able to dialogue with other councils not only allowed them to learn from others experience but helped her to appreciate her campus more.
“There was one workshop that I attended that was set up as a town hall meeting for multicultural greek organization,” Aguilar said. “We discussed different issues that we had faced on campus, like campus racism and discrimination. Some of the councils were really affected by and pushed down by racism, and it made me feel really grateful for my support system here and for the University’s strong stance on diversity and equality. It was great to know that we do share some experience with other multicultural greek organizations, but in many ways we don’t.”
For Aguilar and the other council presidents, attending AFLV is not just about competing for awards, but a way to check their progress and continue to improve their mark on their own campus.
“We as United Greek Council really want to feel like we’re doing something for our community,” Aguilar said. “To feel like we’re making some sort of change or some sort of recognition that Latinos are on campus, and that we’re very loud and very proud. If the awards come with it that’s great, but that’s not our main goal.”