Members of greek community gather to focus on team building, collaboration at IMPACT retreat this weekend

Future leaders of the greek community will gather for three days of collaborating and communicating this weekend.

Seventy representatives from each Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Association as well as from the Multi-Cultural Greek Council and National Pan-Hellenic Council will come together at Bradford Woods in Martinsville for the spring IMPACT retreat.

From Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, participants will take part in team-building exercises and educational programs related to greek issues, said Pan-Hellenic Association Vice President of Leadership Development Natalie Layton.

“It’s an intense weekend to challenge and inspire leaders,” Layton said.

The North American Interfraternity Conference, an organization that aims to promote cooperation between greek organizations, created the curriculum for the retreat.

College campuses across the country host IMPACT retreats, Layton said.

“We alter it to IU to make it more fitting and adaptable to our students,” Layton said.
During the weekend, the North American Interfraternity Conference sends facilitators from all levels of greek life.

Small group sessions focus on everything from the importance of rituals to competition and rivalry within the greek community, according to the organization’s Web site.

At the end of the second day, groups create “action plans” to address the most pressing issues in the community, according to the Web site.

Each house is permitted to send up to two people to the retreat.

“When I approach chapters, I ask them to pick someone they could foresee in a leadership role in the future,” Layton said. “We want to develop those leadership qualities.”

Pan-Hellenic Association President Annie Raeder said one of the highlights of the weekend is the participants themselves.

“You meet at least one person from every single chapter,” Raeder said. “You’re putting a face on the chapters.”

Raeder said when she attended the retreat in the fall of 2007, she loved doing team-building activities, but also remembers the people she met there.

“It’s nice to see them now as leaders of the greek community,” Raeder said.

Besides developing new leaders, Raeder said the unique focus of the weekend is what makes it valuable.

“It’s one of the cooler things you can do in the greek community,” Raeder said. “You take it back to our values and rituals in a different context that you usually don’t get to.”