PBLI Spring 2015- Orlando, Florida

This weekend a group of 32 brothers went to Alpha Kappa Psi's annual Principled Business Leaders Institute in Orlando, Florida. The event was held at the Rosen Centre Hotel.

The Principled Business Leaders Institute is designed to further professional growth for brothers by hosting a variety of activities and speakers to teach important business skills and facilitate discussion of brotherhood best practices.

The event began Friday night with an opening ceremony that featured guest speaker Kostya Kimlat, a keynote speaker on magic and business. Kimlat gave a presentation on "the magic of personalities," which taught us about how to recognize different personality types to best foster collaboration and success in groups.

Brothers then started their interactive Saturday at 8 a.m. with a regional meeting that rallied the spirit of all the chapters in the Southeast region. Throughout the day, we had breakout meetings to discuss the five building blocks to becoming a principled business leader and various educational blocks featuring topics such as choosing the right path, planning your future, and how to stand out.

While the Saturday was a very long day, all brothers were excited to learn so much valuable information that would better their future success within the brotherhood as well as in the future with potential internships and careers.

But that's not it... Four brothers from the Alpha Phi chapter participated in the case competition team and won 3rd place out of 16 participants! We are proud of their great success.

Our brotherhood also won several awards including Chapter of the Year. It's safe to say that our chapter's success comes from the boundless energy and dedication from our brothers. We are so proud to represent AKPsi and can't wait until the AKPsi convention in Norfolk, Virginia this summer!

And, as always, Go Gators! 

Washington, D.C. Professional Trip 2014- Part 1

This past weekend from the Nov. 21-23, a pack of 28 brothers braved the cold, windy streets of Washington, D.C.! The weekend was packed full of company tours, city tourist attractions and interchapter relations.

Friday, Nov. 21 we landed in D.C. around 8:30 a.m. We then scurried to the hotel to freshen ourselves up. We toured NPR at 12 noon and then Deloitte at 3 p.m.

NPR, National Public Radio, gave us a great tour! Our brothers had the opportunities to see the Tiny Desk, hold Emmys, see a real NPR studio and so much more.

Deloitte, one of the top accounting firms in the country, also provides a wide spectrum of financial services. Deloitte consulting gave us an interactive presentation about their consulting services. We listened to a great presentation on the overview of the company and then broke up into smaller groups to network and learn more about the company.

After Deloitte, most brothers headed over to American University to see their local Alpha Kappa Psi chapter's Honor Court. It was great seeing how another university handles their honor court and mingling with all of their brothers.

We had a busy day full of great activities! We would like to give a BIG thank you to brother Sarah Van Valkenburgh for organizing the trip and all the activities we attended on Friday.

Thanks for checking out a little about our pro trip! If you would like to see what the brothers did on Saturday and Sunday check out the blog in the coming days to see part 2!

Summer Interns 2014- Sarah Van Valkenburgh

Sarah Van Valkenburgh  is a 3^rd year industrial and systems engineering student who will serve as an AVP of professional development this fall. Sarah is interning in the Business Integration and Planning department of the Walt Disney Company this summer.

Sarah is currently analyzing repair data for the Journey to the Little Mermaid ride. This data will tell the engineers how they can improve the ride before any issues occur. This is to prevent as much downtime as possible. Sarah also works with inventory analysis for various stockrooms throughout the park that pertain to all of the buildings, lighting, decoration and maintenance.

Sarah’s internship allows her to work directly with the engineering managers while still managing her own projects.

“They assign us our own projects and are there to mentor and guide us, but we have a lot of freedom on how to get it done,” she said.

Sarah’s favorite part of her internship is working in Magic Kingdom where she gets to ride a few rides on lunch breaks as well as help improve guest experiences.

“You get to be with the guests and see what they’re experiencing, and experience what they’re experiencing, which helps me to do my job,” she said.

We are so proud of the work Sarah is doing at Disney, and look forward to hearing more about it soon!

Summer Interns 2014- Kelsey McGuirk

Kelsey McGuirk is an Executive Human Resources Intern at Target this summer. She will be a senior business management student as well the community service committee chair this fall.  

Kelsey is learning store operations, human resources processes and leadership skills within the store. Her favorite part about her internship so far is learning the ins and outs of the human resources field.

“There are so many facets to that job title that not everyone knows of,” Kelsey said.

Kelsey feels that the most difficult part of her internship has also been the greatest teaching tool for her.

“So far I would say the hardest part is coming into work every day with new challenges ahead of me and something different to do,” she said. “No day is ever the same, which is a great way to have variety in my job.”

We look forward to hearing more about her internship soon!