I realize it is now February and we are one month in to 2012, but this blog is more of a reflection of one’s past year and how it impacts one’s future so the Tennyson quote seems right on. I was sitting in a yoga class toward the conclusion of last year and I had an epiphany of sorts. My instructor was asking us to set our intention for the particular hour together and shared her own insight about the “No’s” in her life; those desires that she had that did not come to fruition and also the boundaries that she personally had to set with certain relationships that were seemingly unhealthy. She shared with us how she had come to discover that when there is a “No” in one’s life, the law of balance ensures that a “Yes” will follow. All we have to do is be open to it. Perhaps this means that setting a boundary (a “No”) in a relationship allows for the relationship to change for the better or become less important, and not getting the job offer after several interviews means that there is a different opportunity that is a better fit for us in relation to where we are in our lives.  It seems simple … out of a “No” comes a “Yes”.

My epiphany came in the form of a discovery as to what my role is as a parent to my four children, in particular my daughter who is embarking on her final semester of her junior year.  As she has matured, gaining momentum in her career and academic pursuits, she has attempted to become involved in various experiences whether they be internships, running for a sorority office, mentoring relationships, honor society memberships, etc. She has been chosen to participate in some of these yet not been selected for others. There is obvious disappointment amidst some feelings of success.

I have learned my role to be one of encourager, inspirer and processor. Encouraging the taking of risks and living wholeheartedly, inspiring my daughter to see her strengths and possibilities, and processing the “Yes’” and, more importantly, the “No’s”.  Aha!  This I can do! This is my epiphany!  Perhaps for our daughters their disappointments might include a relationship ending, a leadership opportunity not to be, being passed over for an internship and so on. As parents we can fill in the blanks with the “No’s” for our own children and also point out the “Yes” that they may not be able to see (a new friendship or free time to explore another interest, selection to an honor society or campus organization where one will meet new faces, a different work experience in a different city … you get the idea.)

I reflect on all my own personal “No’s” and “Yes’” and see their connectedness. I am grateful for this awareness so I can pass this on to my daughter as she is faced with her own. Now that Mary Claire has 5+ semesters and some summer school under her belt, I can look back at a bigger picture and see the semesters that were perhaps more challenging academically or more of a heartache for her emotionally. I can point out to her the peaks when she was “on fire” about school and life and what was going on and when she pulled back a bit in retreat.  All of these experiences are necessary for growth and maturation.  This is our role as a parent of a college age daughter or son:  To encourage, to inspire and to process. Blessings to you in this new year of parenting …

The only thing that isn’t small stuff, is the reason you’re on this earth in the first place: to find that portion of the world’s lost heart that only you can ransom with your love…

-author Sarah Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

But Panhellenic women are offered a valuable option – through scholarship. Last year, NPC member groups awarded $2.8 million in scholarships to more than 1,600 members for undergraduate and graduate studies.

To put those numbers in perspective, average tuition and fees at public colleges rose 8.3 percent this year and, with room and board, now exceed $17,000 a year, according to the College Board. Approximately 28 percent of full-time private nonprofit four-year college students are enrolled in institutions charging $36,000 or more yearly in tuition and fees.

This February, NPC celebrates the “Month of the Scholar.”

We first began recognizing academic achievement with the Month of the Scholar initiative in 2000. NPC also provides a special planning resource to members to make sure academic excellence is top of mind throughout the college year. You can download “Academic Excellence: A Resource for College Panhellenics” on our website.

All NPC member groups stress academic achievement as a core purpose and set minimum standards for performance. According to NPC survey data, the average Grade Point Average (GPA) for reporting NPC member groups in the spring semester of 2010 was 3.18 on a 4.0 scale. For the fall semester of 2010, the average GPA for reporting NPC member groups was a 3.16 on a 4.0 scale. Most NPC member groups require their leaders to have higher GPAs in order to be elected or appointed to a position within collegiate chapters.

Rewarding our Panhellenic scholars on campus is accomplished in a number of creative ways – from publishing campus newspaper ads recognizing women with top grades to offering resume and job fair prep sessions. At some colleges, Panhellenic women with 3.5 GPAs or higher are recognized with a special half-time ceremony at basketball games or provided a free drink ticket to a local coffee shop.

While academic excellence is a founding tenet for the National Panhellenic Conference, all 26 member groups have resources in place to assist women headed to college providing yet another incentive for women to consider sorority life. The source of scholarship funding is also diverse from individual donors, local chapters, alumnae groups and member organizations. There is no bottom to the well of generosity that NPC women seem to deliver routinely for their sisters, especially if it means providing financial assistance to graduate.

If you can donate to a scholarship fund this month, we encourage you to do so. It may mean all the difference to a young woman’s potential contribution to the world.

Jane H. Sutton
Chairman 2011-2013

But let me backtrack a bit. Yes, Ruthie has finished her first semester of college and on the whole, it was a great semester.  Lots of new friends for her, the fun and joy of being a part of the Zeta Tau Alpha organization, dates, parties, and oh, yes, the studying.  Yes, you really do have to study in college.  It’s quite the lesson to learn that college is NOT a continuation of high school, isn’t it?

For me, it’s been quite an education having two daughters in college.  Wow, I have learned a lot.  Walking the line between two daughters in different sororities, not comparing schools, giving my youngest more freedom, no pushing my oldest to hard … I promise you, it has been quite eye opening.  And I am not so sure that I have been successful at being the mom of two college women.  Have I given them the tools they need to face grownup situations?  Can they really make it without me?

And now the second semester is underway at Millsaps for Lane and Ruthie starts back in a week.  Time to gear myself up for all the fun ahead.  Wait … am I ready for another semester of two in college?? Standby… I’ll let you know quickly!

NPC has now made one of those stops as easy as friending on Facebook.

Our organization has launched RecruitmentPrep, an online tool that should make the process of recruitment simple, friendly and easy to follow.

While there are many recruitment guides that exist, none have been done in partnership with the NPC – the one reliable and valid source of information by sorority women and for sorority women.

As we’ve expanded to reach targeted audiences in recent years with targeted messaging, this has been long on our “to do” list.

A standard guidebook already in print may cost $20 – the same cost for our online tool. But those texts are not generated by the one and only organization steeped in 110 years of sorority history. With that foundation, NPC is constantly updating and repurposing for today’s young women.

Pushing out to pilot campuses across the nation this upcoming recruitment season, the site will become even better as we engage our participants to provide feedback and help us fine tune this important tool.

As times change, NPC changes. We advance sorority with every decision made by women. Join us as the recruitment season begins anew in 2012 on campuses across the nation. And stay with us as we plan for the next adventure.

Jane H. Sutton
Chairman 2011-2013

Though, I’m no longer blogging for SororityParents.com on a regular basis, I just wanted to share with my readers how proud I am as a Panhellenic parent. My daughter Emily was elected Panhellenic President at Appalachian State University!  Here is the article in the paper and a picture we took at her installation. Thanks for letting me share our journey with you.

http://www.theappalachianonline.com/campus/8308-interfratenity-panhellenic-councils-elect-new-executive-officers

I was the first generation in my family to join a sorority and it led me to paths of personal fulfillment and professional achievement. It led me to becoming the NPC chairman, an international role that puts me in the front line of advocating for women – all women.

In the next two years, we’ll be encouraging anyone who shares this path to reach “our” potential.

Note that we say “our,” and not “my.”

Our potential is vast and almost immeasurable. Harnessing the power and strength of women who followed in the footsteps of our founders 109 years ago is no accident of history. The founders who foresaw “our” potential then are the women who saw well beyond the limitations of their time.

Today NPC is also looking well into the future.

Recently at the NPC annual meeting in Austin, I shared that “our” potential is as personal as was your choice to join a sorority.

For some, it means moving boldly in the direction of their dreams. For many, it’s a challenge to build better lives for your families, your college communities and your world.  Different individual meanings – one collective calling. Ultimately, it all comes down to the sister on your right, and the sister on your left.

How will they help you realize your potential? And how will you help them?

To learn more about our desire to advance sorority by tapping the collective potential, please take a moment to listen to our NPC Podcast and also share our new video “Our Potential. Your Move.”

You’ll note that we begin our video story as we bring this message: You either know me, or you’ve heard the stories.

So the next time a high school girl considers her college choices and her future, remember this: You can help her make the decision of a lifetime by sharing “our” potential with her.

Share our three-minute message often. Use it as your holiday card, or use it as your calling card. Honor, integrity, respect. All together, we know they mean sorority.

Now, what are you going to do in 2012 to help us reach “our” potential?

Jane H. Sutton
NPC Chairman 2011-2013

There are so many factors, ones she can control and ones she cannot. Factors she can control: How she provides mentoring and role modeling to those younger than her, the amount of time she invests in the chapter and its goals as a current member, how she manages her time, how she relates to a variety of her sisters on a daily basis, and the amount of time she invests in those relationships. Factors she cannot control: Others’ perceptions of her time management, strength of relationships or leadership competencies, and whether or not sisters make judgments on another’s actual abilities to lead in a certain role versus unrelated bias such as just “liking” someone better or being more familiar with someone else.

Encourage her to have an open mind regarding what type of leadership she might provide her chapter. If she only has one specific office or responsibility in mind, she may be shortsighted and unknowingly be eliminating herself from an overall experience in working with an incredible group of women. Remind her, too, that the chapter is made up of many strong leaders, and, if an opportunity to lead her chapter internally is not given to her, there are so many other ways she can represent her sorority and provide leadership through involvement on campus and in the community externally.

The blessing of having the election process take place near Thanksgiving is that there is a break from the process; from the dynamics that can sometimes be emotional or intense. With some rest and unconditional love from her family, she can return back to school renewed and ready to take on whatever responsibilities she has been called to carry out within her chapter, or on campus within her college community.

Wishing everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday…

Fast forward to the first weekend in November.  Back at Union for Homecoming and the Zeta Mother/Daughter/Father weekend.  Great time!  Got to go to the Zeta Open House and the Kappa Delta Open House.  It’s really cool on a small campus how each group supports the other, regardless of Greek affiliation or lack of.   And at the Homecoming halftime activities, Zeta and KD ruled the school.  Miss Union and the Homecoming Queen were a Zeta (the same girl) and lots of KDs on the court.  And I got a new KD button for my collection (yes, I have some strange collections!).  The Zeta banquet was a great time.  Such a small world we live in…sitting at the table with some of Ruthie’s sisters and their friends led to many conversations about where people were from which led to conversations about “do you know?”  Loved seeing Ruthie interact with all her friends.  I am a proud, proud Mama.

And don’t forget Lane at Millsaps.  She is just working, studying, working, studying…okay, not all the time but she is a busy girl.  It’s been a fun time in KD for Lane with new members, lots of philanthropy events (she’s the photographer) and football games and Homecoming.  But the big news is she is turning 21 on November 10! What? How in the world did that happen?  I can’t have a child that is 21, right? Okay, so I do…and what a wonderful daughter she is.  But let me tell you…girl drama.  Yes, girl drama.  You know, one friend dates one boy then they break up and another friend starts “talking” to that boy and after months, they decide to stop dating and then the first girl gets mad and yes, you got it, Lane caught in the middle!  Oh, if girls could only realize they hurt themselves with all the boy drama.  But it’s a part of growing up…just one I wish my babies didn’t have to go through.

But back to the topic of time flying…how could it be that Lane has 5 weeks of school left and Ruthie has 5 weeks left?  Where has the time gone?

This past spring, when a community was leveled by devastating storms, our students pooled their resources like the best trained emergency responders. They gave quickly – of themselves. And they continue to give from their base of operations this fall at the University of Alabama.

Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was the scene of havoc when tornadoes hit with unprecedented force. For scores of students at the University of Alabama there was little to do but stay put, organize, cook food, provide shelter and raise money. They exhibited the best of what we’ve come to expect in emerging student leaders who are representative of sororities and fraternities across the nation.

The UA Greek Relief effort is our “Spotlight on Philanthropy” in NPC’s 2011 annual report, a feature that we hope to repeat in upcoming years.

You can also listen to our NPC podcast with the lead student organizers, Ashley Getwan, Chi Omega, and Patrick Morris, Delta Kappa Epsilon.

This dynamic duo can tell you in their own words how a few students opening up their kitchens to share food turned into a massive relief effort branded as UA Greek Relief, which is still going strong and has now evolved into a grant-giving board for ongoing community efforts.

Even local government officials applauded the effort. A city councilwoman shared with us that amidst the chaos and confusion in the aftermath, our students were “on the ground within hours” doing what needed to be done.

Please share this story and shine the light on the extraordinary efforts of those who stayed the course. And please remind your sorority sisters as the giving season is upon us to do what they can – as they can.

Jane H. Sutton
Chairman 2011-2013

As our membership continues to reflect phenomenal growth with new undergraduates year over year — including a more than 6 percent increase this past year — we are working to ensure the sorority experience remains relevant for today’s college women and alumnae.

NPC now offers more realistic volunteer and leadership opportunities. By streamlining our governance, we’ve become a more flexible organization, which is a must for the career women of the country who are represented in the workforce in record numbers.

Our volunteer committees, driven by strategic goals and a Long Range Plan for 2011-2014, are developing measurable benchmarks with staff so we can provide real-time data to guide our decision-making and advocacy. NPC’s new data focus includes a six-campus pilot project to review membership, retention and graduation rates of sorority women.

By reaching out to new partners, we also extend our public reach to remain an influential voice for women. This year alone, NPC has partnered with diverse organizations engaged in a number of important issues, including Vision 2020’s goals of achieving pay equity and increasing the number of women in senior leadership positions in American life.

NPC also remains committed to an annual and recognized presence on Capitol Hill by engaging scores of students and alumnae to speak directly with members of Congress. Our organization finds a new avenue for advocacy with its involvement in the Fraternal Government Relations Coalition.

Our energetic and unstoppable undergraduates will be singled out in the soon to be released NPC annual report for the incredible effort undertaken and ongoing in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where they continue to aid and repair local communities ravaged by unprecedented storms.

As our annual report details, NPC continues to be in an extraordinary position to do right by the women of this nation, whether we’re focused on critical federal legislation needed for safer campus housing or by educating women about health issues through our partnership with National Women’s Health Week.

We extend a special thanks to our members, our college administrative partners and our interfraternal partners for their help in making NPC’s 109th year a memorable one.

As I close out my chairmanship for the NPC, I hope you take time to appreciate the women around you – including those who serve on teams and those who serve as team leaders.

We will be sharing good news this fall and our upcoming annual report will document our many milestones and achievements. Looking forward, we welcome incoming Chairman Jane Sutton as we pass the gavel in our organization’s leadership to an Alpha Xi Delta woman.

Not only has it been my privilege to serve you as a Tri Delta woman in the historic rotation of NPC women and leaders, it has been an honor and true delight.

Eve W. Riley
Chairman 2009-2011