There are many different types of leadership, and soon potential leaders from the Greek community will be meeting together to find their own. The Emerging Leaders conference will take place on Oct. 16 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Illini Union.
The event is organized by Panhellenic Council, the governing and policy-making body for sororities at the University of Illinois.
“It’s a conference promoting leadership — members of fraternities and sororities in each council build leadership skills to bring back to their houses,” said Michelle Plutz, senior in LAS and the vice president of development for Panhellenic Council.
100 members from all four Greek councils will attend the conference. Each chapter sends two members, usually freshmen or sophomores, to the conference, Plutz said.
At the conference, attendees will have a brief group discussion about leadership, followed by breakout sessions discussing the different models of leadership. The breakout sessions will include guest speakers and group discussions led by facilitators.
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“They take a student leadership practice inventory, and it helps them to decide what leadership skills they have and define what kind of leader they are,” she said.
The guest speakers are current leaders in the Greek system, while the facilitators consist of executive members from Panehellenic Council and Interfraternity Council.
“The purpose of speakers is to give them examples of what they can do and how far they can take leadership and how far they can get involved,” said Melissa Edmonds, senior in Business and the vice president of public relations for Panhellenic Council.
“It really kind of shows them there’s just so much more they can do then to have executive positions within their chapter, but they can really be leaders within the whole Greek community.”
For Edmonds, this will be her third year attending the event.
“I’m kind of looking at it from a third perspective, because I’m helping to plan the event a little bit, and just acting as a facilitator which I did not do last year,” Edmonds said.
As a sophomore, Edmonds was elected by her chapter to participate in the Emerging Leaders conference. As the president of her sorority last year, Edmonds volunteered at the event.
“I volunteered at the event because I knew I would be running for the Panhellenic executive board,” Edmonds said. “I just wanted to network a little bit and get my feet wet on what the Greek community really does, and look at it from a different perspective.”
Edmonds said one of the most rewarding things about attending the event has been the relationships she has formed with the other participants.
She said that at the event last year, she had met a girl a year younger than she that also went on to become the chapter president of her sorority.
“I can easily relate with her and now we still maintain relationships, and I’m encouraging her to run for Panehellic Exec.,” Edmonds said.
Brandon Common, the graduate assistant in the Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, who has been advising the Panhellenic Council executive board on the planning of the conference, said he was pleased with the work that the students have done.
“As a newcomer to the Greek community here, I’m looking forward to meeting more students, getting a chance to work with future leaders on this campus and the Greek community,” Common said.
