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The Greek Advisor
I work strange hours... and more often then not I work a lot more hours then I am actually getting paid for by the college. Like this weekend, I spent my Sunday taking our Organization for Latino/a Awareness to a Latino festival in Ypsilanti. It was a lot of fun, and I even saw some Betas and Gammas there which was great. I spent Sunday night at two fraternity chapter meetings. Monday night I visited four more fraternities for meetings and one sorority mixer.
So today (Tuesday) is sorority bid day. I wanted to try and make some changes to make things better. So we talked about it a lot, voted a few things in, and really I think came up with some exciting new things which will make the process more fair. I know so far it has required a lot more work on my side, and also now involves me in informal recruitment more then ever. So for next year we will need to see how worthwhile the changes were and if we want to continue them.
The recruitment drama... is not what made my week. I did talk to Novali last night, it was great, we talk more often now so that does make my day. But something even cooler happened this week.
I am not gonna get mushy... but I really love my job. I have the opportunity to help create meaningful learning experiences for people. Last week I did a work shop for one of my sororities on recruitment and sisterhood. It went great and they really got excited about recruitment, which is something they normally hate. Times like that make a difference... or when I hear that the fraternity houses are finally not propping their doors... sounds like a small thing, but I made that difference and helped make their homes safer.
The real cool thing I have heard in the last week is that several students are thinking about going into higher education. Some Albion students, some GVSU ones, and some of my Brothers have all expressed this to me lately. The best part is that one of them recently said that it has something to do with me, and the kind of work I do with students. That they want to impact people they way I do... I guess I don't always stop and think about it like that, or the impact I do make.
Since those students told me that I have taken the time to reflect on some of the things I do teach them. About why holding each other accountable is important, why rumors are a bad thing to spread, but an important thing to confront, how to lead by example, how to raise the bar, how to motivate, how to do something you hate, but do it cause it needs to be done, and how to learn from life's failures. Whats funny, is that most of the time I am learning those lessons, or at least being reminded of them right along with them...
It just gave me a nice smile to think I mean enough to someone that they would want to be in my roll. I doubt any little kid will ever want to play "Greek Advisor" instead of a fireman or policeman... but it is cool that someone wants to be like me. I hear a lot that people want my job cause it looks fun, or I work with cool people, or that my hours are flexible (I doubt they realize how much I work), or working at a college must be awesome. But this time someone articulated that they wanted my job because of the difference I get to make... it made my night meetings seem not as long, and reminded me why I eat Captain Crunch for dinner at 9:30pm sometimes.
It reminds why I am sitting in my office tonight until 9pm. The sorority new members are coming here to turn in their Bid Acceptance Cards. New women, ready to join a sorority, and it is my job to make sure they have a positive and educational experience. Well back to work...
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