Inside Scoop on AST's Pilot Program

Everyone in a greek organization knows that being greek it's more than wearing cute event shirts and having a full social calendar. Being greek is about participating in something that is bigger than yourself, and helping that organization make a difference in the community. It's about embodying the noble values of the organization and self-growth. 

Nationally, it is very important for sisters of AST continue to grow in being Active, Self-reliant and Trustworthy. Because of that, in the past couple of years, Nationals has been working on a new program called "Pilot Program." Only a few chapters of AST were selected to test out this program, and Psi is very fortunate to be one of them. President Sarah Kauffman, Vice President Meghan Farrell, Membership Development Chair Elissa Edwards and Junior Panhellenic Delegate Caroline Crane all went to Indianapolis over the summer in order to be trained on how to facilitate this new program!

"We were taught about this program during a mastering facilitation course that was actually taught by a JMU alum. She taught us how to lead discussions and helped us get rid of our facilitation fears!"--Meghan, Alpha Xi.

Meghan, Sarah, Elissa and Caroline in Indianapolis during facilitation training for the Pilot Program!

The goal of the pilot program is to help AST sisters grow individually and as a group, by teaching skills you don't necessarily learn in a classroom such as communicating effectively, maintaining relationships and time management. The purpose of each session is to help sisters attain the skills they need to accomplish personal goals, better their leadership and management skills. 

"I’ve heard sororities and fraternities build better leaders, and that a lot of today’s most influential leaders were part of Greek life. I believe that by offering this leadership program AST is not only helping us prove that statistic, but also is pushing for women to reach their full potential!"-- Caroline, Alpha Omicron.

During one of these sessions, sisters can expect not only to get to discover things about each other that they may not have known before, but they can also expect to discuss ways to apply what they are learning to improve the chapter.

"Last year, the juniors had a communication/ social media program, and the things learned were immediately incorporated into chapter activities!"-- Elissa, Alpha Nu. 

This semester's first pilot program will be this Sunday, September 29th and these ladies cannot wait to put everything they learned in Indianapolis to make the program run even smoother than last semester! We are all looking forward to developing our personal skills and seeing how becoming better women will better not only our individual futures, but our beloved chapter as well!

"I think women in our chapter could gain an edge in the job search because the information and discussions that we have been taught to facilitate are extremely marketable to employers. For example, one program discusses how to innovate and manage change. Flexibility and handling change is important in any job as technology is being introduced into every corner of our society. Employers want to know you are ready for change!" --Meghan, Alpha Xi.