Week 4: Communication

Tonight's session started out with a discussion surrounding "What is communication?" Students were asked to take a communication quiz where they were instructed to read all of the instructions before they proceeded to answer the questions. Take a look at the Communication Quiz and see if you can see where many students made the mistake. After the quiz, the discussion was based around the importance of communication and what they thought were the most important aspects.

Students broke up into smaller groups and discussed how they think that they are perceived through their communication. The question was asked "Should leaders be held to a higher standard?" Following the discussion we created "The Big Debate: Should leaders hide their emotions?" The room was split into two groups with one side for and one against. During the debate, a few students were discretely asked to observe the tone, body language, articulation, and use of filler words (like, um). The students debated and the observers reported out what happened within their groups.

The final activity involved everyone pairing up with another person. One person had a picture of geometric shapes, and the other did not. They were instructed to sit back to back to each other. The partner with the drawing was to instruct, to the best of their ability, directions on how their partner can draw the picture. There was a small debrief about how it can be tough to hear people and easy to miss small details because even those can make a big difference sometimes.

Agenda
Evaluation
Communication Quiz
Communication Story
Geometric Shape Activity
Geometric Shape

Week 3: Time Management

Caroline Horste was our guest facilitator. She had the students identify all of the time throughout the week that they spending doing different activities. She then had the students rank them in order of importance and add them to their "priorities bucket."

The group talked about procrastination: the reasons why we put things off, and the effect it has on productivity. She ended the session giving some time management tips and strategies and a reminder to keep busy schedules balanced.

Time Management Strategies

1. Log your time
2. Stay organized
3. Learn to say no, or to delegate
4. Try out the "therapy hour"
5. Patero's Principle. What's your 20%?
6. Prioritizing using intentionality
7. Recognize when you're procrastinating
8. Be aware of your strengths as well as your weaknesses and come up with concrete strategies to address this

Agenda
Evaluation
Values Article
Carolines Presentation

Week 2: Values

Guest Speaker: Casey Krone

Week 2 is focused around the discussion of Values. We started the evening talking about where our values come from. Each person is different and have had their own unique life experiences and those experiences help shape each individual and their values. Family, Friends, Community, Neighbors, Teachers, and Religious Leaders are the most common to influence certain values in your life. Participants worked on figuring out what their most important values are. We then broke into small groups and came up with a "Top 3 Values" list.

When Casey came in she presented us with some Case Studies. The purpose behind the activity was to promote conversations based on how the values that we say we each hold play a part in the choices that we make, especially those of moral.

Agenda
Evaluation
Values Ranking
My Values System
Ethical Ranking
Instructions for Consensus and Ethical Ranking Activity

Week 1: Introduction

Quote of the Week:

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." -John Quincy Adams

Week 1 is an introduction to the Emerging Leader Series. Participants go through a general overview of the 8 week curriculum as well as the expectations of the facilitators as well as the participants. They also sign a learning agreement stating that they will hold themselves accountable with being on time, being prepared, and being "present."

The participants take part in an activity that is called "Tell Your Story." Each student is given a large piece of flip chart paper and asked to put their story, whatever and however that might be, onto the paper. We then go around and share our stories with the group enabling us to break some of the barriers and walls that may have been put up when entering a new environment.

There is a weekly self-reflection and evaluation activity that occurs where students think about that weeks session and the information obtained from it. This is a chance for the students to let us know what they like and what they didn't like and what they think works or doesn't work.

Agenda
Evaluation
Tell Your Story

Student Organization Homecoming Tailgate

Participation: 17 Organizations
Cost:
Dates: September 21st, 2013 
Location: Porter Park


The Student Organization Homecoming tailgate was earlier than previous years. However, even with the short time to advertise we had 16 Organizations participate in our tailgate. We had 10 tents and 3 reserved spaces for organizations this year. This year we allowed organizations to reserve a space without a tent in order to increase participation. We had 3 organizations that were willing to risk the weather, and their risk paid off. 

We also had a photo booth and a DJ. The photo booth was fairly successful and took over 300 photos of participants enjoying the day. 

Improvements for next year possibly having a counter to see how many students participate in the event. 


Tailgate forms can be found below:
Rental Form
Registration Form

Greek Life Service Trips

Greek Life Service Trip

October 2013

The EMU Greek Community held a community wide service opportunity on October 11th, 2013.  There were 9 participants, representing five different chapters.  We went to the Leslie Science Center in Ann Arbor, MI  to help with a gardent that is tended by the non-profit organization Project Grow.  The facilitator of the experience, Joet Reoma, taught participants about the local history of the Center and about organic farming.  Everyone's favorite topic was the German method of mound farming, called hugelkultur, that seeks to replicate the same conditions a fallen log in the woods creates naturally.  Participants dug up and relocated local perennial plants and weeded invasive species and other weeds.

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November 2013

This month, The EMU Greek Community held a community-wide service opportunity on November 15th, 2013. There were 9 participants representing 6 chapters from the IFC and the CPC. This month, the community helped out to sort donated clothes at the Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop, an organization who's profits go to support Ann Arbor Public Schools. Though the shop is not short of donations, they do need help sorting through the mountain you can see in the video below. Participants opened bags of donations and sorted out what was fit to sell and what is to be donated to a local homeless shelter. We all had a blast helping out a great cause.

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March 2014

Greeks chipped in to help raise money for Ann Arbor Public Schools Educational Fund by volunteering to help run the annual Ann Arbor Marathon. Twenty-Two volunteers from 4 organizations showed up on a frigid Sunday morning in March to help with the food tents, water tables, and passing out of medals and water at the finish line. 

Day 6: Staying in Action

Learning Goal for the Day:
Identifying strategies for sustaining momentum.

The process of experience of LeaderShape began with a firm foundation in core values and passions. From this personal place in our hearts, we moved into envisioning the future and created Stretch Goals, Manageable Goals, and Action Steps to bring that future into reality. We did all of that while adopting the philosophy of "a healthy disregard for the impossible."

Before the participants depart from the camp, we create a "Staying in Action" guide to remind us not only of what we learned at LeaderShape, but how to intentionally apply it on campus and in our communities.

The Day concludes with a commencement ceremony to celebrate and acknowledge the participation of all of the students and faculty throughout The 2013 LeaderShape Institute. Participants are given glass pebbles which represent the ripple effect that each participant will make in the world as each "commences" his or her leadership journey. The stones should be kept and cherished as a remembrance of The LeaderShape Institute and as a remembrance of the tremendous difference each and ever participant will make in their communities and campuses as they continue in their leadership journey.

Day 5: Living and Leading with Integrity

Learning Goal for the Day:
To recognize the value of integrity in successful, effective leadership.

The morning of Day 5 is spent  digging deeper into our values while spending some time focusing on how our values contribute to who we want to be- how we make choices and our behavior and the impact it can have on our relationships and ability to lead.

The day is centered around the question "Who do I want to be?" by focusing on the core values of each participant; what they are, how we live them, and what can happen when we're faced with difficult choices.

The main activity on Day 5 is one discerning ones own values. In order to participate in the activity, students are given a piece of paper with a blank t-shirt on it and then asked to decorate their t-shirt displaying their core values. The students then walk around admiring in and reflecting on the shirts of others. The purpose of this activity is to show the participants how just like we wear t-shirts that display organizations/causes we're proud to be a part of, or music we really like, we do that with our values by the way we live our lives and the actions that we make.



The day closes out with some very meaningful conversations and reflection about how we can live and lead with integrity. Taking an honest look at ourselves ad deciding who we want to be and recognizing that answering this question is often something that we cannot make alone. Our family, friends, spiritual beliefs, and society all influence us in one way or another so it is important to acknowledge these and decide how we want each of them to "show up" in our lives.

Student Organization Learning and Resources (SOLAR)

Student Organization Learning and Resources 

SOLAR

This year for SOLAR we decided in order to increase participation we changed up the traditional format of SOLAR. Instead of the 1 day 4+ hour program we have picked 12 different sessions. There will be 1 session held each month all on Tuesday nights from 7-9pm.

The first session was held on 9/17/13 and the topic was "Who's Who of Student Orgs." This session brought in 121 individuals which is up from last year so far. 
Students who attended this program heard from, Student Government, Accounting, and Campus Life. 
There was a short presentation given on Event Planning as well. 

After the event a survey was sent to all who attended and when asked, "On a scale from 1 to 5 please rate the effectiveness of the overall event." Out of the 19 responses there was a tie between 3 and 4 with 8 people each. The average was a 3.3 which falls under some of the information will be useful for my organization.

Session 2: Recruitment and Retention 
Session 3: Fulfilling the Organizations Purpose through Service
Session 4: Campus Safety  
Session 5: Personal and Organizational Branding
Session 6: Fundraising 

Emerging Leader Series

Emerging Leader Series

The Emerging Leaders Series (ELS) is an 8-week leadership program specifically designed for freshmen, sophomores and new transfer students at EMU. Each week, participants will focus on a different aspect of leadership through exercises, discussions, presenters and observing current events. Weekly topics include, but are not limited to: values clarification, connecting service to leadership, personality assessment, team building and communication, and building and working on interpersonal relationships. ELS students will expand their network of resources to support their personal and academic achievement at EMU.

"Be the change you want to see in the world."

- Gandhi

 

No prior leadership experience is necessary to participate; however, ELS has limited space so a brief application is required. Participants who successfully complete the 8-week program will be awarded a certificate of completion and Learning Beyond the Classroom (LBC) credit for the Community Service, Citizenship and Leadership requirement. Students must attend all meetings in order to receive Learning Beyond the Classroom credit and receive their certificate of completion for the Emerging Leaders Series. If students miss a session, they will have to make it up with the next class of participants.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

2013 ELS Flyer

Syllabus
Learning Agreement
Pre-Assessment
Post-Assessment
Community Contributions
Certificate of Appreciation

Fajita Fest

Fajita Fest 2013

Participation: 157 Organizations 
Cost:
Dates: September 2nd, 2013 
Location: Eastern Michigan University Student Center Patio as well as University Park

The annual Student Organization fair was held on the 3rd day of Fusion: First Four Orientation. We had 3 organizations with a combined total of 22 helpers to set up for Fajita Fest. This year we had 153 organizations sign up and a total of 157 participate in the opportunity to recruit. Each organization was given 1 pizza and 5 water bottles upon check in. This year for the check-in process we had 4 staff members assisting with making sure organizations had registered for the event, as well as assisting with distributing water and pizza. For future years consider possibly hiring a student organization to assist with check-in so the staff can handle organizations with paperwork to turn in or other complications. 

New this year to Fajita Fest was a photo booth and a performance circle. The photo booth proved to be very successful, but consider a different placement for the following years. A promising new portion of Fajita Fest was the performance circle. We utilized the amphitheater as a central location for performance organizations to show their stuff. A total of 3 organizations took advantage of the program, however, it was very successful and could possibly grow to large participation. 

At the closing of the event 3 different organizations had signed up to help tare down the tables and chairs. 
After the event a survey was sent out to organization contacts to give feedback about the program. Some of the feedback is below.

"Overall, a great event! Glad EMU has something like this to get student organizations 'out there'."
"It was much better and helpful to have assigned tables!"

Some constructive feedback was:

"I really liked the assigned tables but I wish that they were organized better. Like all the Greek life people in the same area etc"

 

Sorority Recruitment

Participation:
Cost:
Dates: September 16th - September 18th, 2013
Location: Eastern Michigan University Student Center

September 16th, 6:00pm -- Recruitment Kick Off
September 18th, 6:00pm -- Philanthropy Round One

September 19th, 6:00pm -- Philanthropy Round Two
September 23rd, 6:00pm -- "House Rounds"One
September 24th, 6:00pm -- "House Rounds" Two
September 26th, 2:00pm-6:00pm -- Post Office
September 27th, 6:00pm -- Preference Round
September 28th, 11:00am-4:00pm -- Big Day (held at University Park)

Sorority Recruitment is a two week mutual selection process that helps unaffiliated women interested in joining a sorority find the chapter they feel the most comfortable and at home in. 101 women joined 8 different sororities during formal recruitment.

Move-In Magic

Participation: Approximately 280 members of the Greek community from NPHC, IFC, and CPC and 4 staff members.

Cost:

Date: August 31^st, 2013

Location: First Year Residence Halls

Fraternities and sororities from each of the three councils help first year students and their parents move into the residence halls during Move-In Magic. Fraternities and sororities are able to use Move-In Magic both as a recruitment tool and as a service opportunity. Seventeen of the nineteen active Greek chapters were present at this year's Move-In Magic.