Chapter Advisor
 

As of this past Wednesday I was asked and accepted the position of Scholarship Advisor for my college chapter, a position I'm quite honored to have.

I was wondering if any Thetas here are or have been a college chapter advisor and if they have any tips or words of wisdom to pass along to me. :)

Congratulations on accepting an AB position! I'm currently and adviser for my chapter and advise the VPD, Social Chair, Ritualist and Service chair. I've only been doing it for a few months, so I'm fairly new as well. So far I've found it to be a really great experience.

Congrats and thanks for volunteering for Theta.

Touch base with your EDD (Educational District Director). She will be a great resource for you as Scholarship Adviser.

have fun!

Lesson Learned
 

I learned kind of a hard lesson my first year as Advisory Board Chairman so I thought I'd share.

I got to know the Recruitment Chairman and really all the officers really well. I got pretty attached to them - just like to friends my age. We had a "discipline" issue - kind of a big one - that involved some of my favorite women and the little sister of the Recruitment Chair. I was devastated that some of the girls I was really impressed by had been involved in this whole ordeal and it made it hard for me to separate my personal feelings for these women from what was best for the chapter. And when we tried to handle the case of the RC's little sis, she and I ended up in a screaming match during which she was unbelievably disrespectful to me.

So I learned to be very careful about the nature of the relationships I form with the chapter members. I try to make sure I keep a step back and stay more of an advisor and less of a friend. I made sure they all knew how much I really felt blessed to be working with them and that I would do anything to help them but that my primary role was making sure the chapter was doing everything by the book.

Good luck to you and thank you for giving of your self so that other women can experience what we have! Being an advisor can be both challenging and very rewarding!

Re: Lesson Learned
 

Yeah, I'm still on my chapter's campus earning a second degree. I try to keep conversations limited from the actives on campus and those that I have classes with, as well as not hanging out on the floor. For the same reasons you've mentioned I dont want personal feelings to have to get in the way of making decisions about officers who didnt make grades and those on scholastic probation. Plus I dont want to get accused of favoritism either because it lowers chapter morale.