October 26, 2017 by Elizabeth Seidel

Shouting from the rooftops!

First of all, THANK YOU!  Thank you for engaging with your members, faculty, administration, and school communities. Your hard work and dedication to the success of your chapter is the passion in the driver seat of our organization.

What I learned from you.

You guys slay social media.  From freshman ice cream socials, lunch and learns with professionals, and firm tours to kick starting mentorship programs. You guys are on fire! 🔥 You are so dedicated to growth. Growth not only in the form of membership gains, but also in the personal and professional aspects of your lives. We often talk about ‘personal and professional development’ but what do those phrases mean?

Visiting with chapters, holding conference meetings, scoping out the social-meeds, and the ever-prevalent Snapchat volleys has shown me what those words mean to you. Let’s take a look at some of the events you hosted throughout the month and where they fall.

Professional Development is anything that improves your skillset grounded in the profession.  Some of the events we saw you publicize were these:

Lunch and Learn Sessions

Mentoring Events

Networking Gatherings

Peer Workshops

Firm Visits

Professional Panels

Meeting with faculty and administration

Multi Chapter Meetups

Being able to describe what AIAS is and how and why we do it.

Personal Development is a little harder to pin down as it is directly tied to personal goals and willingness to think critically of one’s self. These growth events are often tied to learning how to facilitate the events listed under Professional Development.

Improving self-awareness

Improving skills and learning new ones (such as public speaking, meeting facilitation, and technical skills)

Building self-esteem

Enhancing your lifestyle (learning to be balanced between life and school)

Building your employability

Improving social skills

Time management

Emotional intelligence

Putting your chapter on display allows us to understand the current culture of our organization. These displays in conjunction with participation in national committees and hub hangouts or quad pods tell me, tell us at national, what is important to our generation. I have been delighted to see chapters shift their culture from the end of last year.  These fresh beginnings are what keep us relevant and cutting edge.

Behind the scenes I have been privy to working with chapters through board conflict, struggles with faculty advisors and the lack of motivation found in general student body populations.  Please know that these struggles are universal and you can conquer them.  These situations are what truly grow us as individuals and push us to be leaders in the profession. I am so proud of you!

Keep being loud.

Keep being proud.

Continue growing you wonderful people! You challenge me daily.