2013 Chicago Regional Summit Recap

–This post was written by Zenobia Bey, President of DePaul University’s Golden Key Chapter–

The Region 5 Regional Summit hosted by Golden Key International Honour Society’s DePaul University Chapter was held in Chicago, IL at the Hilton Garden Inn Magnificent Mile on February 8, 2013. One of the highlights of having the Summit in the Magnificent Mile area of Chicago was that our guests had the opportunity to visit a variety of restaurants, entertainment, sightseeing and tourist attractions. Region 5 members enjoyed meeting other members and advisors from various universities within the surrounding states (Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana) and our visiting state (Kansas).  We had the pleasure of interacting with Holly McCaleb (Director of US University Relations), Ted Ross (Associate Director of Region 5), Lenora Oeters (Manager of US Chapter Development), Jean Ann Miller (Council of Advisors Representative, Region 5), and Nadiya Sorych (Council of Student Members Representative, Region 5).
Day 1: During our welcome event, members showed their school spirit and represented their chapters by participating in a school spirit contest. I found it to be a wonderful addition to the Summit welcome event as an icebreaker. We were honored to have our first keynote speaker, Doug Bruno, DePaul University Women’s Basketball Coach. Each chapter had an opportunity to exchanged school t-shirts with other universities. I must admit that I love my Wayne State University t-shirt!!!
Day 2: Participants enjoyed a delicious early morning group breakfast, followed by a collaboration of events by showing our team spirit in a daily icebreaker, participating in an array of workshops, Officer/Advisor roundtables, info sessions, networking opportunities, member engagement, idea sharing, etc.  I really enjoyed being a roundtable presenter. Not only did I enjoy sharing my experiences as a leader, I also gained insight from other leaders as well as event ideas.  Being a presenter is beneficial for collaborating in a team environment, public speaking and presentation skills development.  Everyone had fun working on our service project that consisted of chapter members acquiring winter gear  (i.e., gloves, hats, scarves, ear muffs, and leg warmers) to be donated to homeless shelters. During the Summit’s closing dinner and group photo, everyone looked great in their cocktail dress attire. We were honored to introduce a dynamic keynote speaker, Kelli Ballard, who is an attorney, DePaul alum and a GK member. Kelli gave a very motivating speech and the standing ovation that she received was well deserved.  We ended the night with a group photo followed by many members going out for a night on the town.
                          
Day 3: On the final day of Regional Summit, some of us slept a little late, while others either met with Ted Ross for one-on-one meetings or headed home. A few of the DePaul University chapter officers delivered the donated winter items to the Salvation Army Emergency Shelter and Pacific Garden Mission Emergency Shelter organizations.  Administrators from both shelters were extremely excited to receive our donations and many thanks were given to all participating chapters and Golden Key as a whole.
Overall, the regional summit was a big success! I would like to personally give a very special thank you to our Regional Associate Director, Ted Ross for organizing/facilitating our summit, a big thank you to the Golden Key Headquarter staff, speakers, workshop presenters, and chapter participants for your contributions and attendance! A special thank you also goes out to the DePaul chapter officers who provided unwavering support and assistance at the Regional Summit.