Baltimore Leadership Conference -- A HUGE SUCCESS!

Dear Sisters,

Wow, what a weekend. Baltimore, MD was the site of the first 2007 Leadership Conference for Communities 5 & 6 and it was a fantastic time. Executive board members from 26 chapters attended, sisters flew in from Florida, drove from Delaware, and everywhere in between, fraternity personnel attended from Kentucky, Boston, and New Jersey.

Friday evening started with a Philanthropic Recruitment event where fraternity personnel worked to recruit our collegiate women to join the Tau Beta ("The Best") chapter of Phi Sigma Sigma. Grand Archon Sandy Grossman served as chapter Archon and Foundation President Kim Hildred was our trusted chapter Advisor. This was a great opportunity for chapters to learn a new idea for philanthropic recruitment and we hope that many of our chapters will incorporate this into their next recruitment planning.

Saturday was a whirlwind day of ACHIEVE, officer round-tables, awards luncheon, an alumnae initiation, and finally, the Foundation dinner. The one thing we heard over and over was that there wasn't enough TIME!!! The women soaked up every opportunity they had to network, exchange ideas, and discuss best chapter practices.

Choosing a best moment of the day is nearly impossible, however, the alumnae initiation was a proud moment for many of us as we initiated into Phi Sigma Sigma two fantastic new sisters: former HQ staff member, Adrienne Lawrence and Theta Rho Chapter Key Advisor, Diane Cornett. The Foundation dinner was a smashing success and Communities 5 & 6 set the bar high for future Leadership Conferences raising $10K+. Just a word of wisdom, bring tissue to the Foundation dinner, the Transplant Games video is uplifting and emotional!

Before we knew it Sunday morning arrived. Where did the time go? We were so excited to see the enthusiasm of our collegiate women of the information they had to take back to their chapters all of the great ideas they had learned from the weekend. We only wished we had more time...but we are very excited for Conclave this summer at Disney World in Orlando, FL.

We would like to give a special shout-out to: all of the ACHIEVE Facilitators, Foundation Directors and Rosemary Straub, our OUTSTANDING Fraternity HQ staff, Supreme Council, and finally, to our amazing Chapter Key Advisor's that attend the conference! See you in July!

In Our Bond,

Vanessa Freeman and Katie Vlietstra

Community Archon

Community 5 & Community 6