Seven Ohio State students and their advisers traveled to Chicago last weekend to represent the greek community at the Mid-American Greek Council Association, a conference held annually to strengthen and develop leadership abilities of greek councils.”It was a great opportunity to learn about the national greek community and make connections with other national officers as well as students and advisors from other universities,” said Danny Shaha, coordinator of greek affairs at OSU.Nearly 2,000 student representatives from universities in 17 states attended the conference. OSU was represented by the presidents and vice presidents of both the Women’s Panhellenic Association and the Interfraternity Council, and the representative greek councils of fraternities and sororities on campus.The conference consisted of educational sessions and speakers on a broad range of leadership topics and issues facing the greek community. The goals of the conference were to enhance leadership skills, discuss and exchange ideas and meet other members and professionals in the greek system.Conference participants discussed upcoming issues, such as alcohol-free programming for 2000, member recruitment and strengthening the greek system and its image.Heather Brandon, graduate advisor for OSU’s greek councils, believes the conference was a success for the OSU students who attended.”It allowed both councils to talk with other student leaders from other universities to gather enthusiasm about our greek system and share programming ideas,” Brandon said. “Overall I feel it was a great inspiration for our students.”Interfraternity Council president Chris Papadakis, a senior industrial engineering major, agreed.”We returned with a lot of ideas for changes we would like to make in our current system,” Papadakis said. “The ideas and information we received from sessions and other students helped us to develop our own plan for success.” An awards banquet at the conference recognized the achievements of greek councils, honoring outstanding community service, academic achievement, self governance and other examples of leadership. The OSU Women’s Panhellenic Association received the Kaleidoscope Award, given for the first time at this year’s conference. The women were applauded for the design and execution of an innovative formal recruitment program, started in 1998. The award will continue to honor universities for original ideas and programs deserving recognition.Lisa Yonka, president of the Women’s Panhellenic Association, was proud to accept the award.”It was the work of previous councils who put time and effort into the creation of the program that earned this award,” Yonka said. “We appreciate their hard work and are very honored that our success as a council is being recognized.”Shaha was also pleased with the results of the conference.”It motivated us and gave us a lot of great ideas,” Shaha said. “It not only helped us to see our strengths and weaknesses, but also to bond with each other and other members of the greek community.”