Traveling for the Fraternity over the past two years, hopping around from campus to campus and city to city has been nothing short of a once in a life time opportunity. For weeks, I have been toying with topics in my mind of what to write for this post. Nothing came out right and everything seemed like it would have short-changed my experience. To be honest, I even think this post cannot begin to explain what I have encountered in the last 24 months.
As I write this post, I am sitting in the library at Northwest Missouri State (Missouri Theta). It is my last visit that I will be making as a leadership consultant, and I think it finally hit me that I’m done. Rather than ramble on about my experiences, I think I will take the list approach. So here it is, the Top 6 Memories of the Past Two Years.
6. Getting to know more about myself – With all that time traveling alone in a car or on a plane. There was a lot of self-reflection. Fortunately, I didn’t go to the crazy ends of beginning to hold full conversations with myself. But seriously, I was able to really question some of my motives and thoughts while traveling. Honestly, I think more people need to just slow down, be quiet and take some time to think.
5. Learning more about Phi Delt – Obviously, working for the Fraternity has provided me with many interesting facts and anecdotes that I love to share. Being initiated at a younger chapter (2001 to be exact), there was not a lot of history that surrounded my chapter. I have really enjoyed being able to go through old roll books, copies of The Scroll and looking at some very cool pieces of Fraternity history.
Texas Gamma, Missouri Beta and Kansas Alpha have some great pieces that I really appreciated them sharing with me.
4. Working in Oxford – Okay, so what other job will you get to work for that allows you to live and work only yards away from where “It all started”. The history, the town and the ability to think what it might have been like in 1848 was awesome!
3. Building relationships – Traveling in the same region for two years has allowed me to get to know many of the guys in the chapters that I have consulted with. I have had the opportunity to meet hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals. I think over half of the friends I have on Facebook are from traveling or working for Phi Delt. Honestly, there are some people that I have a better connection with than some of the guys that were in my own chapter of Pennsylvania Pi.
2. Making a difference – I would like to think that in my two years I have been able to make a small difference in someone or some chapter. Every semester, I would travel to a few chapters and be really impressed with how they had completely turned around from my first visit. Seeing that might have helped me get through the two years, knowing that I had at least a little bit of an impact.
1. Traveling – With 5 states, 33 chapters and over 45 cities; I have done a lot of traveling. Every three days being in a different location, a different bed, meeting different people. Traveling was a huge part of the job with a lot of time in the car by myself. In the last two years, I have traveled to some campuses in some places, I never thought I’d be nor will I ever have a reason to go to again. This job is truly unique for that reason, if no other. I mean what other job can you be among “friends” everywhere you go, eat at a restaurant only few people experience or hang out and truly immerse yourself in a variety of cultures in over 45 different cities?It’s hard to believe I will be done in just a few short weeks. It seems like yesterday Jesse Moyer, former Director of Chapter Services, gave me a call to find out more about this kid from Pennsylvania Pi he had never heard of. As everything comes to an end, I am looking forward to my future Phi Delt experience; working with undergraduates or attending conventions and reconnecting with everyone I had met.
Kevin is a Senior Leadership Consultant and works with the Chapter Services team traveling the South-Central Region. He graduated from Robert Morris University, receiving a Bachelor’s in Marketing and a Master’s in Instructional Leadership. Kevin is a native of Pittsburgh, PA.
