GRAND POLEMARCH'S MESSAGE
Our portfolio also re ects how serious we've become about ensuring that we actively cultivate tomorrow's campus, community and fraternity leaders. The Undergraduate Leadership Institute (ULI) is a prime example. Not only does ULI demonstrate how far we've come since the 1961 C. Rodger Wilson milestone, it shows how dead serious we are about building leaders.
household.” Building on ULI, LEAD Kappa
tional and relationship gap that some- times exists between undergraduate and alumni brothers. Their strategy was to help mold area students into the out- standing leaders that their progress and potential had indicated. Their collegiate protégés represented the four chapters that Queens oversees: Mu Omicron (State University of New York at Old Westbury), Mu Pi (St. Johns Universi- ty), and Xi Omicron (Long Island Uni- versity- Post) and Pi Rho (Stony Brook University). One of the workshops centered on lead- ership training and presented separate tracks that coincided with the positions found in Queens Alumni, including Po- lemarch, Keeper of Records, Keeper of Exchequer, Guide Right, Social Action and Fundraising. Queens closed the event with a clothing etiquette session that highlighted do’s and don’ts for pro- fessional attire. The younger brothers even learned to tie a bow-tie, mastering the full Windsor knot. You can call that mentorship and guiding right, but it also reflected leadership at one of the most root levels. Also documented in recent Kappa history is Beta Eta Chapter’s delivery of leadership basics through its “Chris Cooper: Motivation for Success, Achieve Your Dreams College Tour.” Held at the University of Cincinnati, this program featured Chris Cooper, a motivational speaker and 2004 Atlanta Alumni initiate. Brother Cooper at that point had been a consultant for an
illustrious roster of Fortune 500 compa- nies, with IBM, AT&T, General Motors, Home Depot and Texaco among them. The U.S. Marine Corps sponsored “Chris Cooper” through the facilitation of Sergeant Andy Smith III and Captain Jason Smedley, also fraternity members. More than 80 students attended. As Kappas, we must never take for granted our responsibility to help our undergraduates maximize their poten- tial and become outstanding leaders of tomorrow. Kappas always have been called to lead, and so many have demonstrated their proficiency at it in every field of human endeavor. There- fore, I call on alumni members to make leader development of undergraduate Kappas a personal and chapter priority.
launched in 2013 at the 81 st Grand Chapter Meeting in Houston. As you can see, our fraternity offers significant leadership development opportunities during conclave years as well. LEAD (Leadership Enhancement and Devel- opment) Kappa is a four-day, 50-hour training session that positions under- graduates to improve their professional knowledge, skillsets and capabilities, with leadership underscoring everything that takes place. Like ULI, LEAD- Kappa enables these brothers to apply the concepts covered, fostering critical thinking, which is the best way to learn and grow in today’s workplace. I’ve told you before but I cannot say enough how fulfilling it was for me to see recent graduates return to LEAD Kappa at the 83 rd Grand Chapter Meeting in Orlando and give back to that group of aspiring young leaders. These alums expressed how their time in LEAD Kappa even- tually paved the way to their successful entry into corporate America. Now, I must emphasize that Grand Chapter is not the only level where there has been innovation in providing leadership opportunities for our under- graduates. Local chapters have forged ahead quite boldly and impressively in countless ways. In fact, I recall a few years back that Queens (N.Y.) Alum- ni Chapter produced a series called Collegiate Development and Leadership Workshops. The chapter set out to seal the age-old (and unfortunate) genera-
Yours in the Bond, Thomas L. Battles, Jr. Grand Polemarch
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