Western LEAD Provincial Conference 2016
This year's Western LEAD Provincial Conference was held in San Jose, California from February 26th to February 28th. Lambda Sigma was fortunate enough to have over fifteen collegiate brothers and several alumni attend the event.
On Friday, many of our brothers carpooled to San Jose and made the most of the six hour trip by bonding over their experiences in Delta Sigma Pi and listening to music together. Others flew to the bay, visiting Brother Cassandra Cacao's family before LEAD officially started. The chapter reunited after a long journey at Koja Kitchen to try the restaurant's unique Asian fusion rice patties. They did not disappoint!
Following dinner, everyone checked in at Holiday Inn. Theta Chi was gracious enough to host a mixer at San Pedro later that night,which many of our brothers attended. Chapters from all over the Western Province came to mingle and network. Our chapter met brothers from Santa Cruz to San Diego all the way to Hawaii. Over twenty members of the Rho Chi Chapter flew out from Manoa for the conference! The event allowed all the brothers to wind down and get to know each other better.
On Saturday morning, Lambda Sigma woke up bright and early at 7 AM to attend the introduction ceremony. The special guest speaker, Adam Carroll, motivated everyone to aim higher and achieve more, explaining how people are only limited by their mindset. After his engaging speech, everyone split up and attended different workshops of their choice. From "Winning Interview Strategies" to "The Habit of Volunteer Leadership," there was an important lesson for everyone to gain from. An especially noteworthy workshop was "The Power of Positive Thinking," hosted by National Collegian of the Year (2014), Nick Rizzi. He touched on the effects of a positive attitude in the workplace and how it led him to success.
Afterward, everyone headed out to lunch, hosted by Springleaf Financial. Before entering the room, every individual was assigned a different table, so they could utilize their time to network and learn more about brothers from other chapters. At lunch, Grand President Onuka Ibe gave an inspiring speech about his passion for the fraternity and appreciation for the Leadership Foundation. Lunch allowed the brothers to reenergize themselves and learn more about the different cultures in every chapter. For example, Gamma Psi from Arizona took 23 of their pledges to LEAD which seemed like a great hands-on approach to learn more about the fraternity.
Some of our brothers took to exploring the city after lunch while others continued attending breakout sessions and regional meetings. Brother Prerana Gutla was surprised to learn at the "Risk: Manage It, Avoid It" session that many chapters face the same issues as Lambda Sigma. Through teamwork and innovative brainstorming, however, her breakout session was able to create practical solutions to these problems.
To conclude the day, everyone attended the dinner and awards program. Brother Andrew Hernandez was extremely proud for his Big, Brother Viethoa Tran, to receive Chapter Collegian of the Year. It was a sweet ending to an incredible weekend.
The Western LEAD Provincial Conference will be an unforgettable experience in all our minds where we learned to improve ourselves professionally and personally. Lambda Sigma built connections with chapters all across the province and hopes to maintain these relationships for years to come. Everyone in the chapter agreed that LEAD is definitely an event that everyone should attend at least once in their collegiate experience, so we hope to see even more brothers come out next year!
