Virginia Tech fraternity and sorority community honored for achievements
Members of Virginia Tech's fraternity and sorority community, and their advisors, pose with the awards they received at this year's SGLA conference.
It was a busy February for Fraternity and Sorority Life at Virginia Tech as three of the four councils and one outstanding community member in particular received international and regional awards at events in three states in the span of a few weeks.
Abbi Hanson Allen, acting director of Fraternity and Sorority Life, touted the recent wins as a sign of positive trends in their community. “Our member organizations excel in their academics, recruitment, member development, programming, philanthropic efforts, and many other areas,” she said.
“These awards serve as validation of our councils’ contributions to the campus and community as well as the quality of their work,” said Chandler Crean, assistant director for Fraternity and Sorority Life. He added that they also provide a morale boost to individual members, reinforcing their commitment to the work they do for the community.
At the Association of Fraternal Leadership & Values Central gathering in Indianapolis, both the National Pan-Hellenic Council and Panhellenic Council received Council Compass awards from the Association of Fraternal Leadership & Values. These awards recognize councils’ growth and achievement in four areas — accountability, collaboration, education, and innovation — at up to a three-star level.
The National Pan-Hellenic Council received Council Compass awards for accountability, education and innovation, all at the two-star level, while the Panhellenic Council received a Compass Award for education at the three-star level.
Ally Hessenius, a junior who serves as the director of academic initiatives on the Panhellenic Council executive board, said this award “means that we have been recognized for achieving our goal of wide and wise human services through our educational programs.” She said it demonstrats the impact of the council's work beyond Virginia Tech’s campus and that members “hope other universities can look to us as an example."
Members of Virginia Tech's NPHC community show off the three Council Compass awards they received at this year's Association of Fraternal Leadership & Values Central gathering.
During Virginia Tech’s first year of attendance at the Southeastern Greek Leadership Association annual conference in Atlanta, the National Pan-Hellenic Council made further waves, winning both an organizational and an individual award.
There, the council received the Campus and Community Relations Award, which recognizes councils that have a positive impact on the relationships between a Greek community and its university’s administrators, law enforcement agencies, and other campus and community organizations.
In addition, senior Colin Roberts, member of the Theta Iota Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., won the National Pan-Hellenic Council Member of the Year award. This award recognizes students who demonstrate exceptional leadership skills and exemplify the values of their organization.
“I have committed myself to a life of service, which is one of the main foundations of my fraternity, so to be given this award in recognition of [my work and efforts] truly meant a lot,” said Roberts. “It meant a lot for my chapter as well, too, because it shows our efforts to be leaders not just within our community, but also to other communities as well too.”
Two students from Virginia Tech also competed in the case study competition held by Order of Omega, a leadership honor society for undergraduates in fraternities and sororities. Olivia Esch, chapter president for Alpha Omega Epsilon, and Renay Harris, chapter president for the Theta Phi chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, took home third place in the competition.
Interfraternity Council members pose on stage with their 2023 Outstanding Interfraternity Council award.
And at the most recent IMPACT retreat, hosted by the North American Interfraternity Council at Smith Mountain Lake, the Interfraternity Council of Virginia Tech received the 2023 Outstanding Interfraternity Council award. This award is given to councils that demonstrate a committed effort to having a positive impact on their member chapters as well as the larger fraternity and sorority and campus communities. A vice president from the North American Interfraternity Council was on-site to present the award.
Senior Zack Feldman, the Interfraternity Council's vice president for health and safety at the time of the award, and senior Kyle Harris, then the group's president, both emphasized that this was from the efforts of the entire Interfraternity Council community. They cited the fraternal community’s combined efforts in health and safety initiatives as well as the relationships have developed with the Blacksburg Police Department as reasons for its success.
Winning this award “showcases our ability to come together as a community to reach goals beyond what was thought possible and allowed us to continue moving forward for a better, safer community,” said Harris. “This is a group award because it took the efforts of all members, chapters, and advisors to achieve this level of success.”
“The win shows that the council is growing and succeeding here at Virginia Tech. It shows that the community is an area for personal and professional growth as young adults,” Feldman said. “We are pushing the boundaries of student advocacy and ensuring that fraternity men are having a successful college experience.”
Four governing councils make up the Virginia Tech fraternity and sorority community and provide coordination to the chapters they represent. Each governing council is unique in its operation and serves its chapters according to its own philosophy, purpose, and values.
National Pan-Hellenic Council is a collaborative organization for the nine international greek letter sororities and fraternities often referred to as the Divine Nine. The organization stresses a lifetime commitment to the goals and ideals of each of its respective organizations and focuses on community awareness and action through educational, economic, and cultural service activities.
Panhellenic Council is the governing council for the 13 National Panhellenic Conference women’s fraternities and sororities. It is responsible for the implementation of educational programming, coordination of annual sorority recruitment in January, leadership development initiatives, and philanthropic and service events.
Interfraternity Council is the governing council for 30 of Virginia Tech's men’s fraternities, most of which are associated with the North-American Interfraternity Conference. It plans and implements various educational and leadership programs for its chapter members while also providing guidance for policy, procedure, recruitment, academic issues, and governance.
United Council of Fraternities and Sororities brings together Virginia Tech’s culturally based and academic interest fraternities and sororities. It plans and implements opportunities for chapters to work collaboratively and support other umbrella organizations on campus in which their organizations have membership.
