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! 

Summer Interns/Study Abroad 2014- Rachel Bowden

Rachel Bowden will be a 3^rd year history student as well as the VP of professional development this fall.

From May to July this summer, Rachel was interning in the education department at the Orange County Regional History Center in Downtown Orlando. Currently, Rachel is studying abroad in Cambridge, UK.

At the History Center, Rachel was responsible for the day to day operations of their summer camp administration as well as maintaining financial records for the program. She had the chance to meet many members of the Orange County government and learned how cultural programs fit into the government system. She said it was very interesting to learn all the work that went into making an exhibit which incorporated many departments such as sales, marketing, finance and collections.

Rachel is currently on a 4 week long research-based study abroad program focused on 19^th century European history. Rachel spent one week in Paris to kick start her research and is now spending three weeks at St. Edmund’s College in Cambridge to finish her research paper.

She loves being emerged in all of the history around her as well as being able to research the French colonization of Algeria during the 19^th century for her paper.

“The best part is that we are able to utilize the world-famous Cambridge University Library as a resource,” she said.

We are so proud that Rachel was able to grow professionally with her internship and study abroad program this summer, and cannot wait to see the great things she does as VP this fall!

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!