No Man is an Island -- Reflections from a College of Chapters Participant Geoff Willeke (Drury) was already sold on the value of College of Chapters when he arrived at the airport en route to Virginia this summer. As a LEAD facilitator he's familiar with the quality leadership programs that Sigma Nu offers its members, but that's an experience the other Sigma Nu undergraduates Geoff met at the airport had yet to encounter. He comments that they were less than pleased to be giving up a short week of their summer vacation for a leadership conference. They likely expected College of Chapters to be similar to other conferences they had attended in the past: long, boring,

uninteresting sessions among participants with whom they had little in common. They had no idea what was waiting for them when they arrived in Lexington.

Despite the feelings of his traveling companions, Geoff came to College of Chapters with a very different attitude. He says he arrived with high expectations, hoping to learn more about the current vision of the Fraternity and gain insight from his peers and facilitators about how to handle specific challenges that his chapter is facing. Early in the week he was already commenting on the value of the Phase IV workshops that gave him useful tools for effective communication with brothers and future prospective employers.

Even with high expectations and previous leadership training, at the end of the week Geoff says he came away with many new ideas and strategies. He says he grew as a leader in discovering that "the one way I do things is not necessarily the right way. You can accomplish more through synergy and the help of others than if you try to do it all on your own," he says. He also commented that being at College of Chapters with other brothers provided an environment in which they could learn from one another and rely on each another. "It helped me to know that I need a support team if I really want to be the best that I can be."

College of Chapters: Teambuilding Day 2, College of Chapters Thursday, June 16, 2005 College of Chapters is Sigma Nu Fraternity's biennial leadership development conference. It is an intensive, interactive program for our undergraduate members that focuses on leadership, teambuilding, and the core principles of Sigma Nu.

In the first few days of College of Chapters an afternoon is dedicated to teambuilding exercises. All 300 participants, in assigned chapter groups, rotate among five teambuilding activities that are intended to provide an active learning environment that will encourage communication, collaboration, problem solving and effective listening skills. The participants engage with each other in discovering and creating solutions to unusual problems that are presented to them.

History in the Making -
First-Ever Interfraternal Cruise Along the Mediterranean

History will be in the making this fall when Sigma Nu joins 26 other Greek organizations on the first-ever "all-Greek" Mediterranean voyage, which will combine rich history with scenic beauty along the coastlines of Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Sicily, Italy and Monte Carlo. Travelers will have the unique opportunity to visit places largely bypassed by the typical tourist, and the cruise will be made even more special because it will be in the company of Sigma Nu brothers and their families, as well as our interfraternal friends.