Real Leadership Experience

Last summer, I applied and was selected to go to Gamma Phi’s Real Leadership Experience, at the Psi Chapter of University of Oklahoma. For my four day stay, myself and 39 other gamma phis from all over the country got to learn and live together. Through mini workshops we learned about how to be a stronger woman and honed in on our leadership skills.

While the week can be summed up into just a few short sentences, the experience that I walked away with is one that will stick with me forever.

By some odd string of luck, Annabel Jones, the International President of Gamma Phi Beta, was my small group leader. RLE was hosted at the facilities of the Psi chapter, the same chapter Annabel was an initiated member at and walked the very halls of as a collegiate member over 30 years ago. There was a fire in her voice when she talked about Gamma Phi, a kind of love I don’t know if I’ve ever heard and that same love radiated from every sister that I met that week.

Every time someone describes an organization they are part of, they mention how they love that they can be a part of something far bigger than themselves. As cliche as it sounds, RLE showed me that our sisterhood at the epsilon theta chapter is only a small portion of the sisterhood that bounds two countries and 145 years. I fell in love with Gamma Phi Beta all over again and it was for the same exact reason as the first time- the love, the acceptance, and the trueness of the bonds formed. It was as if I was initiated into a second chapter of Gphi. Every day we text in our groupme updates from our chapters. We share the same excitement for bid day, big little reveal, and every thing life related.

I am so grateful for all the memories that I gained from RLE but I’m most grateful for my true and constant friends.

-Kristian