UIFI was incredible!
 

UIFI was the best experience I've ever had within the greek system. Anyone out there who was in session 7?!!! I miss all you guys!
If you've never been... you're missing something amazing!
DL, Diane

I went to session one and I know exaclty what you're talking about. Maybe we should approach GC about starting a UIFI board.

great idea!
 

Ziggy, That's a great idea! How do you think we should do that?
I couldn't believe the effect UIFI had on me.... going into the week I was like, "yeah right, I hate this stuff...." but i couldn't stop hugging everyone good bye... and the entire flight home, I was CRYING!! I couldn't believe it!! The poor guy next to me was like.... are you okay?!!
haha

What is UIFI?
Just curious...

Nat

the UIFI Experience
 

Diane,
This is Kilo from Session 7!! To follow up on our experience at UIFI to the rest of you is difficult to explain in words. UIFI acts as a mirror and really tries to test you in all aspects of what you believe and value. Each minute you are constantly challenged in what you truly stand for and at the end of the week, you come away with so much. It is an experience that you can only attend to truly understand. If you are TRULY passionate about Greek life and your respective Organization you will find whatever way possible to make it to the UIFI Conference.

Furthermore, UIFI introduces you to people from all across the Nation that have the same passion for Greek Life as you do. They will be there with you to listen to your stories as well as share your own. Most of all, they will be there after the Conference is over because the friendships you make at UIFI are friendships you keep!!

UIFI is a once in a lifetime experience that is meant for all. Whether your new to Greek Life or a senior as I am. You will not regret going to UIFI and I hope to hear many UIFI stories from the people that went. If you want to know more, go to www.nicindy.org to learn more about UIFI!!!

-Kilo-
Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity
UIFI Session 7

I'm an alum of UIFI (Epsilon class) from the very first year it was offered! I still think it is one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had, and it's a big reason why I became a Greek advisor!

My colleague in the office next to me just got back from facilitating UIFI last week (Amanda) she may have been one of your facilitators! She said she had an awesome time!

Amanda Reiney? Yeah she was a facilitator for me.... session seven! I wasnt in her chapter though (i was chapter 6).... anyways, tell her that SHE IS AWESOME! and we all love her and miss her!!!

Re: great idea!
 

I think we should ask the mods, they might know, and if not they can point us in the right direction. One of my buddies who's a Sig Pi here at Clarion asked me a question after he got back from session 5 that got me thinking. "Why, did it take us only about a day to become brothers and sisters with these people who we spent 5 days with and yet it takes out New Members a whole semester to be come a brother or sister?"

hmm...
 

hmmm..... that's interesting! maybe that stuff could be applied to new member retreats or something!

Yea, apparently it's enough to change your entire life :D

I don't think there are enough people that ahve attended to justify an entire board.

However, you may want to create a thread in chapter operations about it.

Plus chapter operations gets little enough volume that it will be easy to keep the thread current. If you put it here it will get burried quickly.

actually, i disagree with you...... there were at least 100 people that attended my session and there are 9 sessions this year! uifi has been going on for over 5 years!
part of attending and returning home is to encourage others that havent attended to come experience UIFI.

I think it's really surprising that so many of us on this board have never even heard of it before????

I'd like to make it clear that my previous post was not insulting UIFI in any way or questioning it. Apparantly someone thought that I was because I received a PM accusing me of such.

I just don't recall ever hearing about it before, and it seems that there's a lot of us that haven't.

Actually UIFI started in 1991. It's put on by the NIC and is usually held at Indiana, Purdue, or Butler Universities, but they usually have one East Coast and one West Coast session each year.

I know this thread just reminded me to send out an email on my session and UIFI chapter list-servs/yahoo groups to ask let them know about GC and what a good tool it is. So we may be seeing more UIFI Grads on GC.

What do you do at these sessions? Can anyone attend? What do the letters spell out or are they secret?

Uifi
 

Hey ziggy i was in Fun session one chapter one it was a blast.
Uifi is one of the most incredible experiances. I even met my girlfriend there. Any body that is active in there chapter should attend a session and most of the time it costs you nothing most fraternities offer scholarships anyways gotta go good to see more people are hereing about it

I second this question.

It's great that so many of you are so inspired and loved it, but since a lot of us don't know about it- WHAT IS IT? ;) WHAT DO YOU DO THERE? HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? etc. etc.

No one's really gone into any detail or description, so the rest of us are here clueless

I mean that are also members of GC.

it's something that cant be explained..... (have you ever caught yourself saying that about greek life too?)
basically, it's a 5 day retreat that challenges your values and way you live your chapters ritual..... again, it cant be explained! trust me....
scholarships are available. normally, it's around $300 (remember that includes 5 days food, housing, tshirt, everything)

I wanted to go to UIFI so bad this year and didn't have to money to do it and the University couldn't pay for me to go....:( this was the only year I would've been able to go cause I graduate next spring so I guess I'll just have to live out UIFI through all of you!

How do you get involved in it? Can anyone go or is it something that you have to be invited to? If anyone can go where would I find out the info on when it is, where it is, etc. to apply b/c I know I'd love to go and I can thik of a few of my chapter sisters who'd love to as well.

I'm hoping that someone can give more information about it, just because it's really hard to hear several people saying how great it is, then having no basis for us to make any sort of opinion on that ourselves.

No one should ever invest their time and money in blind faith. If I knew more about it and if it was as worthwhile as it sure sounds you that have gone believe, i'd definately consider bringing it up to my undergrad chapter and to other KDs that I know. But with zero info on it, all of us who haven't had the "experience" are pretty clueless.

For a very random, gut-reaction, no-real basis, outsider-looking-in view, it sounds like one of those cult things ;) No information, several people just saying how great it is and that you HAVE to go.

*NOTE* *DISCLAIMER* (so I don't get any PMs accusing me of anything that i didn't do or mean to do) I AM NOT CALLING IT A CULT. I'm just jokingly saying that it seems like that because of no info on it. :p

Go to www.nicindy.org and then click on the big UIFI logo.

To get involved you simply go to www.nicindy.org and find out when the sessions for next year will be. Anyone can go and I would STRONGLY encourage younger up and coming leaders to attend but that's not to say that older members could not get something from it. I went as a senior and it truly challenged everything that I had learned. Most of your questions have been answered by others threads so read some of the earlier posts. The costs of the conference is between $300-400 but most Organizations give away scholarships but I know our IFC and Panhell also gave away a couple of scholarships.

I know it's frusturating to hear how great of a conference it is from all of us but it is TRULY something that you must experience. It WILL challenge everything you stand for in regards to what YOU believe, YOUR founders believed, and what your CHAPTER believes. It creates an atmosphere that gives you such a Greek Life "high" that you just want to change the world! You learn about ethics, emotions, teambuilding, and values. You learn about other Chapters and other Greek's stories. You go in "blind" but come out so "seeing the whole picture" if you will.

I could talk for hours about the benefits of UIFI! Just trust not only my word but all the other people who have attended. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED! If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

-Kilo-
Delta Sigma Phi
UIFI Session 7

"Ohhh Big booty, big booty, big booty...oh yea...BIG BOOTY!!!"-one of many UIFI memories!!

At these sessions you have a large group meeting where they focusa on mone main point. Some of the points include, but are not limited to, values based decision making, figuring out your particular values, community building, a debate on greek life, living ritual and the difference between that and your actual ritual, which is the ceremony, and emotional IQ. My Greek Life Advisor has a saying that 10% of the chapter usually does 90% of the work, well there you will be with other people who are in that 10%.

Anyone can attend, but to do so you must apply at NIC .

The letters stand for Undergraduate Inter-Fraternity Institute.

I remember that one of the things that was so awesome for me about my UIFI experience (12 years ago :eek: ), was just being in the presence of so many other Greeks from all over the country who are so passionate and committed to Greek Life. I remember thinking just how awesome if you had this many truly passionate people on one campus! The content is a bit different now from when I attended, but the learning-format is exactly the same. Most fraternities and a lot of the sororities offer at least some scholarships to attend. Check out the website, and speak with your school's Greek Advisor (they should receive information on this every year).