URI Greek system wins 11 awards, places second at regional conference
Chloe Thompson
Issue date: 3/15/07 Section: Campus
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03/15/07 - The University of Rhode Island's Greek community outperformed more than 75 other colleges by winning 11 awards at an annual leadership conference at the end of February, only placing behind Cornell University in number of awards.
"It's an experience where [the participants] learn different ways of the Greek community and how we compare in regards to other universities," said John Lauterio, president of the Interfraternity Council.
It was the senior's second time going to the Northeast Greek Leadership Association Conference in Pittsburgh.
URI's Panhellenic Council won five awards, while IFC won six.
The awards included academic achievement, leadership and educational development, membership recruitment, philanthropy, public relations, multicultural initiatives and risk reduction and management.
Seventy-nine other colleges and universities, including Drexel University, Bryant University and the University of Maryland, competed to win leadership and programming awards during the three-day stay.
Senior Mary-Kate McKenna, president of the Panhellenic Council, said it is a conference mostly for "upcoming leaders."
"We try to bring people that are going to take positions on the panhel[lenic] or IFC board," she said. "We need to have the people that are going to continue to make the community as successful as it is to go to these conferences."
Along with the awards ceremony, which was held on the last night of the conference, students heard success stories from various speakers, participated in workshops and shared ideas about how to improve each college's Greek community.
Both McKenna and Lauterio agreed that one important contributing factor to URI's numerous wins was the unity among the Greek chapters.
"We don't realize how advanced URI's Greek community is compared to other schools," Lauterio said. "At the conference, I met people from other boards where the IFC president doesn't know who the panhel[lenic] president is."
"It's an experience where [the participants] learn different ways of the Greek community and how we compare in regards to other universities," said John Lauterio, president of the Interfraternity Council.
It was the senior's second time going to the Northeast Greek Leadership Association Conference in Pittsburgh.
URI's Panhellenic Council won five awards, while IFC won six.
The awards included academic achievement, leadership and educational development, membership recruitment, philanthropy, public relations, multicultural initiatives and risk reduction and management.
Seventy-nine other colleges and universities, including Drexel University, Bryant University and the University of Maryland, competed to win leadership and programming awards during the three-day stay.
Senior Mary-Kate McKenna, president of the Panhellenic Council, said it is a conference mostly for "upcoming leaders."
"We try to bring people that are going to take positions on the panhel[lenic] or IFC board," she said. "We need to have the people that are going to continue to make the community as successful as it is to go to these conferences."
Along with the awards ceremony, which was held on the last night of the conference, students heard success stories from various speakers, participated in workshops and shared ideas about how to improve each college's Greek community.
Both McKenna and Lauterio agreed that one important contributing factor to URI's numerous wins was the unity among the Greek chapters.
"We don't realize how advanced URI's Greek community is compared to other schools," Lauterio said. "At the conference, I met people from other boards where the IFC president doesn't know who the panhel[lenic] president is."
