Kearney participants create unity, implement ideas for local chapters
Meghan Wiedeburg
Antelope Staff
The University of Nebraska at Kearney’s Panhellenic council and Interfraternity Council (IFC) members traveled to Indianapolis, Indiana, Feb. 2-5 for the Association of Fraternal Values and Leadership (AFVL) Conference.
The AFVL Conference is held once per year and is the largest gathering of undergraduate Greek students in the United States. The event brings in thousands of participants, creating the ultimate setting for networking and idea sharing.
“Greek life can sometimes get a bad rep, but it has had an incredibly positive impact on me throughout my college career.” -Meghan Wiedeburg
Four Panhellenic and three IFC representatives made the trip to Indiana. Panhellenic is made up of sorority leaders from various chapters, while IFC represents the fraternity side of Greek life.
UNK faculty members Heather Wolf, assistant director for Greek affairs and student activities, and Brooke Poppe, student union office associate, traveled with these student leaders.
Wolf said witnessing the growth in student leaders that are lucky enough to attend is her favorite part of her job. “On campus they grow in their positions so much, but being exposed to over 200 other campuses and working with their student leaders is an experience that will change the way that lead and develop their skills much past college.”
Greek life is a huge part of our university and UNK’s active chapters pride themselves on providing members leadership development, academic support, community service and alumni networking opportunities. The Greek community at UNK represents over 650 diverse men and women belonging to the different chapters across campus.
Greek life can sometimes get a bad rep, but it has had an incredibly positive impact on me throughout my college career. I’m hopeful that the ideas being brought back from this conference will continue to strengthen our Greek community for years to come.
Clark Pohlmeier, IFC president who attended the recent conference, said he gained a greater understanding of the different types of Greek communities across the nation. “It’s also great to converse with other schools and see what is going well and not so well on their campuses,” he said.
As an active member of Greek life here on campus, I’m excited to see what ideas our representatives received from this conference.
Being able to mingle and gather ideas from other universities is a great opportunity for us to learn and grow as a Greek community.
Panhellenic president Kylie Kennedy said, “Each of us came back highly motivated and ready to start our chairmanships and encourage our other council members. I’m excited to start working with those on other councils and truly begin to have events and activities for ALL of the councils together. Our Greek Week may have some new elements as well, and it’ll be exciting to see where that takes us as a Greek community.”
“I attended multiple sessions in regards to how to be an effective leader. I learned SO much about how to tune into everyone’s leadership styles, how to be an effective Panhellenic president, and how to set efficient goals for the council. Also, learning about the others on Panhellenic, IFC and MGC was so fun, and I know our friendships moving forward will support the entire Greek community,” Kennedy said.
Lainey Russel, Panhellenic’s vice president of external recruitment said, “Throughout the conference and UNK’s councils, there was a lot of talk about the desire for community and unity, and that will be carried throughout IFC, MGC, and NPC. I absolutely looking forward to that. I am also looking forward to the atmosphere we will be creating among Panhellenic and throughout the sororities on campus. Unity, bonding, and building of connections and our community will be a main goal through new activities and opportunities.”
What Russel said stuck out to me, as it’s easy for different chapters to be divided and almost have a sense of competition with one another. Creating more unity and connections between chapters will make for an effective, strong and positive Greek community at UNK.
