Feature Friday Staff Profile: Emily Kile, Office Administrator

The National Panhellenic Conference has five full-time staff members and interns who work daily to advance the sorority experience. Here we will introduce each staff member and let them tell you who they are and what they do in the office. 

Today is Emily Kile’s last day working for NPC before she heads to law school at the Indiana Maurer School of Law in Bloomington this fall. Emily started as the marketing and communications intern at NPC in the fall of her junior year at Butler University. As marketing and communications intern, she worked extensively with marketing and managing TheSororityLife.com initiative and with various other NPC communications projects. In May she graduated and began work as the office administrator for the summer. Emily is also the Fraternal Government Relations Coalition intern. As the FGRC intern, Emily has been working on developing a social-media strategy for the FGRC and has prepared various toolkit items for fraternities and sororities to use to promote the work of the coalition.

About Emily: I am from Greenfield, Indiana, but I consider Indianapolis my home. I am the oldest of four siblings. My younger brother Erik will be a junior at Wabash College this fall, my younger sister, Erin, is a senior in high school and my youngest brother, Ethan, is a freshman in high school. I also have two dogs—a golden retriever named Emma and a mixed breed named Ellie—and a cat named Wilson.

At Butler University I majored in English literature and minored in strategic communications. I was a student worker in the Office of Admission for four years and loved it. Among other responsibilities, I gave tours to prospective students. I joined Kappa Kappa Gamma as a freshman and served on various committees throughout my four years as an active member. I also served as vice president of standards for a one-year term.

I’ll be in law school for the next three years. I’m not entirely sure what area of law I want to practice, but I’m looking forward to starting that next adventure and figuring it all out. I am hoping to move back to Indianapolis when I graduate and practice law somewhere in the city.

Fun facts: I had braces for seven years, and I have never broken a bone.

Q&A:

1. What do you most enjoy about working at NPC?
The people who work here are so inspiring. We all work here because we love what we do and we believe in the sorority experience. It is so powerful to be surrounded by people who share your values and who understand where you’re coming from. Even though we all have different sorority affiliations, our experiences and attitudes are pretty similar. I learn something new every day.

2. Describe what your perfect day would be like?
My perfect day would start with a homemade breakfast on my porch while reading the news or catching up on whatever book I’m reading. I love to cook for my family and friends, so the day would feature a huge barbecue at my parents’ house, including hanging out by their pool and ending with cooking s’mores in their outdoor fire pit. I also love driving my convertible, so my perfect day would have to include a drive somewhere with the top down in weather that isn’t too hot or too cold.

3. What is one of your favorite quotes?
“There are nine innings in a baseball game.”

It sounds silly and obvious, but this one comes from my dad. He’s a huge baseball fan, and his mantra is that no matter what the score is in the 6th or 7th or 8th inning, it doesn’t matter because nothing is over until it is really over. It’s my motivation to keep trying when things get difficult. Until the 9th inning is completed, you never know what can happen.

4. What is your favorite restaurant in Indianapolis and favorite dish to get there?
Napolese Pizzeria! I love the whole Patachou family line of restaurants, but Napolese is my current favorite. I usually try a different pizza every time I go, but Elliot’s Pie is one of my favorites.

5. Favorite place to vacation? 
My family loves Disney World! We go there pretty often. My family also loves baseball, so I have been to almost every Major League Baseball stadium in North America.

6. What have you most gained from being in a sorority?
I feel like I am part of something much bigger than myself. I come from a very Panhellenic family and knew about sorority life growing up, but it wasn’t until I joined one myself that I really started to understand what sorority membership is all about. Working at NPC has helped me with that, too. Now, when I get together with my family and everybody starts talking about their fraternity and sorority memberships, I feel like I’m a part of that, even though we don’t all share the same affiliation. 

Sorority life has made me a better person. I have been held to a higher standard because I belong to something bigger than myself. My sorority membership has made me more aware of my potential and of my actions and their impact.

Feature Friday Staff Profile: Jenny Greyerbiehl, Training and Curriculum Design Coordinator

The National Panhellenic Conference has five full-time staff members and two interns who work daily to advance the sorority experience. Here we will introduce each staff member and let them tell you who they are and what they do in the office.

Jenny Greyerbiehl, training and curriculum design coordinator, assists in the creation and revision of educational programs and resources for collegiate and alumnae members. Get to know who Jenny is inside and outside of the office.

  
Here's the serious stuff:

I have a bachelor’s degree in organizational communication from Alma College in Michigan and a master’s in college student affairs administration from the University of Georgia. I have served as a presenter and/or small-group facilitator for programs including NPC’s “Something of Value,” the North-American Interfraternity Conference’s IMPACT and UIFI, sessions of LeaderShape, Campuspeak's Recruitment Boot Camp, the Association of Fraternal Leadership & Values Central Conference, the South Texas Panhellenic Conference and Beta Theta Pi’s North Central Keystone Regional Leadership Conference. In addition, I have volunteered in many roles with my member organization, Alpha Xi Delta, and currently serve as the national academic director.

Here's the "fun" stuff:

• I live in Indianapolis with my Shih Tzu, Fibi.
• I have an identical, mirror, twin named Jessica.
• My favorite places to vacation are Saint Joseph, Michigan in the summer and Abacos, Bahamas, in the winter.
• I love the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Lions, but my favorite sports team is the Georgia Bulldogs (particularly in football). Go Dawgs!

What do you love most about your job?
There are so many things. I love developing programming in the hope that it will positively affect those who participate. I love my co-workers, especially my supervisor, Nicki: she is supportive and encouraging and inspires me every day.

What is one of your favorite quotes?
"You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them." — -Maya Angelou

If you had to work on only one project for the next year, what would it be?
Finding a way to survive by being a beach bum!

When you have 30 minutes of free time, how do you choose to spend it?
Reading a good book.

If you could go back in time, what year/event would you travel back to and why?
I would go back to my last overseas vacation, which was to Africa on a safari. It was hands down the best vacation I've ever been on. (Just for fun, I've attached two of my favorite pictures!)

You can see what the @NPCWomen staff is up to by following #npcstaffadventures on Instagram and Twitter.

Staff Profile: Kyle Fowler, Educational Support Intern Summer 2014

The National Panhellenic Conference has five full-time staff members and two interns who work daily to advance the sorority experience. Here we will introduce each staff member and let them tell you who they are and what they do in the office. 

Kyle Fowler, educational support intern, has just completed his six weeks with NPC, so learn about him and what he’s been doing. 

What you do at NPC:
I assist Jenny Greyerbiehl, training and curriculum design coordinator. I create learning objectives and assessment tests for online webinars, develop and design presentations for various presentations NPC delivers at conferences, and come up with new ways to deliver past presentations.

About Kyle: 
I recently turned 23. I was born in San Diego, but consider Plymouth, Ohio, my hometown as I lived there from the third grade on. I graduated in May of 2013 from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, with a degree in public relations and minors in marketing and psychology. I am a member of Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity. During my senior year and after graduation, I worked as an event planner for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation.

In the fall, I'll be attending Kent State University, Ohio, to pursue a master’s in higher education and student personnel. I’ll also be working at the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio, as a dual fraternity and sorority life and residence life graduate assistant. 

Fun fact:
I have a tattoo. It's on my shoulder, and it's the word "peace" in eight different languages that create a peace sign.

What do you most enjoy about working at NPC?
I learn several items every day I'm here, and working here never really feels like "work."

Describe what your perfect day would be like? 
My perfect day would be going downtown to the park to explore and hang out with my friends or going to the zoo. Love the zoo.

What do you expect out of the next two years?
For the next two years, I'll be in graduate school, so I expect to learn a lot about not only the profession but myself as well. I also expect to have my ways of doing things or thinking to be challenged and to grow from those experiences. In addition, I'm hoping by the end of the two years I'll have had several internships/experiences in the fraternity and sorority life world to help me learn more about some of the major issues and hopefully be working at a college or university as a fraternity/sorority advisor!

If you could pick one adjective to put on a resume to describe yourself what would it be?
Dedicated.

What are you most passionate about?
I'm passionate about having a positive impact on the fraternal movement. I'm passionate about educating and developing students in skills they can't learn in the classroom. I'm passionate about keeping fraternities and sororities around for a very long time. I'm passionate about Harry Potter and Halloween.

You can see what the @NPCWomen staff is up to by following #npcstaffadventures on Instagram and Twitter.

Sharing the Sorority Legacy

As the premier advocacy and support organization for the sorority experience, the National Panhellenic Conference developed TheSororityLife.com to provide potential new members and their parents with information about sorority life. Throughout May and June TheSororityLife.com shared legacy stories, both traditional and Panhellenic. Each year thousands of women go through sorority recruitment hoping to fulfill a family legacy or to begin their own. Many women join the same organizations as their sisters, mothers and grandmothers; but many women also join different organizations and begin a Panhellenic legacy. Each legacy story focuses on the personal journey and decisions a legacy makes during the recruitment process.

Caitlin Moulton, Zeta Tau Alpha

Marci Kolb, Pi Beta Phi

Sue Kingsley Robinson, Pi Beta Phi

Sophia Markowska, Gamma Phi Beta

Audrey Kate Vasina, Kappa Alpha Theta

Emily Oswalt, Alpha Omicron Pi

Megan Kline, Kappa Kappa Gamma

Kristen L. Soltis, Alpha Chi Omega

Jackie Isaacson, Phi Mu

Thank You Doesn’t Seem Like Enough

By Brandi Barber, Chi Omega

“Thank you” seems so insignificant to say to someone who believed in you when you didn’t believe in yourself. It doesn’t convey the same sentiment as “You made me, and every one of my sisters who knew you, a better person.” It’s not quite the same as “You were our steady foundation in times of uncertainty.” But I guess there are no words that could truly capture what Janet Ridgway meant to me and the rest of the Psi Mu Chapter of Chi Omega at University of Central Florida.

For over 10 years, Janet served the chapter through various roles, from personnel advisor to financial advisor. If you asked any Psi Mu member during that time what Janet’s role was, she would say that Janet was a mentor, a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen, a friend, a counselor, the heart of the chapter, the living example of Chi Omega’s symphony.

Thank you, Janet, for always being what we needed most.

Advisors like Janet are the reason the Greek experience is still great a one. Personally, I know I would not be where I am without her influence. Take time this month to thank the amazing advisors who have affected your life in ways you can’t even describe.

Thank You for Helping Us Rebuild

Lynnda Wolf Hoefler, Delta Zeta, NPC Budget and Finance Committee chairman

We didn’t have Advisor Appreciation Month when I was a collegian, and I don’t think that it is ever too late to say “thank you” to those who mentored us along the way.

I was part of a small recolonization effort for my chapter at Kent State University years ago. I clearly remember the struggles we had when we were without local chapter advisors. For awhile we were so blessed to have a wonderful graduate student, Sanni Tenkku, from our Gamma Alpha Chapter at Baldwin Wallace College as it was called at the time, serving as our chapter advisor. Sanni was a tall, beautiful, willowy young woman, and we just wanted to emulate her in every way possible. She provided so much guidance to us as we worked hard to rebuild the Delta Zeta chapter.

Among those early supporters was our house corporation president, Susan Little, from our Alpha Chapter at Miami University. We were in the little yellow house that slept seven in those days, and it seemed she was there to greet us when we moved in and there to see us off when we went home for the summer. She still serves in that same capacity for my chapter today -- but the chapter is 10 times larger and enjoys a much larger home for 30 women. Sue still takes care of that house like it is her own -- we owe her so much! And she continues to provide guidance and direction for the many collegians’ lives she touches daily.

And then there was Norma Andrisek, another Gamma Alpha, who was serving as the national vice president at the time. She assisted our chapter with our recolonization efforts and guided us through recruitment for many years. She was a very early mentor to me and is still there for me today. I was privileged to serve on her council when she was national president. We have been blessed to travel together to council meetings and conventions for many years. We will head off together again this summer for convention in Tucson, Ariz.

I have been truly blessed with wonderful Delta Zeta advisors and mentors in my life who have become some of my dearest friends. Although all of our experiences and the paths we travel are unique, there are key individuals and advisors in our lives along the way we will always remember with great fondness for the roles they played in our lives. I give special heartfelt thanks to Sanni, Sue and Norma.

Unsung Heroes

Carole Cordray-Syracuse

Donna C. King, Sigma Kappa, NPC vice chairman
  
During Advisor Appreciation Month, I would like to honor and say thank you to the many women who selflessly and tirelessly give of their time to support our collegiate chapters. One such woman is a friend and sister I work with daily. Carole Cordray-Syracuse juggles a demanding volunteer and professional schedule. Carole serves on the Sigma Kappa NPC delegation as an alternate delegate, as an NPC area advisor and as a collegiate chapter alumnae advisor at Ohio University. What makes Carole's story unique is the fact that she is an alumnae initiate of Sigma Kappa. As an undergraduate at Kent State, Carole’s studies precluded her from joining a sorority. Career and family took her to Athens, Ohio, Ohio University and Sigma Kappa. 
 
From the day she was initiated, she has continuously given her time, talents and gifts to Sigma Kappa collegians at Ohio University. She has provided guidance, education, support and a good listening ear to countless young women over the years who remain in close contact with Carole today.  
 
Carole represents a legion of women: our local chapter advisors who are often the unsung heroes of our organizations. They touch the lives of many, give countless hours of service, and deserve our deepest appreciation for the work they do daily. Thank you to Carole, and thank you to the countless women serving our organizations as chapter advisors. Please take the time today to say “thank you” to the women who support our collegiate chapters as alumnae advisors.