Courtney D. Smith

Leadership Opportunities 

 

Alpha Phi Omega values Leadership among all of it's brothers.  Since joining in Spring 2013 I have been elected to the positions of Membership Vice President, Service Vice President and President.

 

 

Membership Vice President

As Membership Vice President it was my main job was to organize rush week and do all the recruiting for the Fall 2013 semester.  I planned events such as "Throwback Thursday" where we watched tv shows and ate snacks popular in the late 90's early 00's, Service Night where we made cards for soldiers returning home from deployment, and an Ice Cream Social to meet the brothers and new prospective brothers.  I sent lots of email and made connections with the people interested in becoming brothers and ultimately secured a pledge class of nine new brothers. I held this position Fall 2013

 

Service Vice President

In Spring 2014 I was elected into the position of Service Vice President where it was my job to plan all of the service events for the entire semester.  Each active brother is required to do a minimum of 20 hours of community service, so the Service VP is an extremely important person.  I joined up with a ton of organizations such as The Maryland Zoo, The Girl Scouts of Central Maryland, Operation Welcome Home Maryland, Karina Cafe, Our Daily Bread, and many others to provide opportunities for the Brothers to lend a hand and reach their service hours.  

 

As Service VP I also created the "Service Google Doc" where all service events are posted for Brothesr to get more information about what events are happening and allow them to sign up for what they want to participate in.  This has been an amazing tool to help us stay organized and complete even more service than ever before! I held this position in Spring 2014.

 

President

Fall 2014 I was elected to President and I am grateful for the experience I have had, I was reelected for the Spring 2015 semester.  Stepping into the role as President was a huge transition.  Previously I was use to managing a specific area of the fraternity, making the plans, and getting all the details figured out. As President it is my job to oversee the entire Executive Board and operations of the Iota Gamma Chapter.  I run both the Executive Board Meeting and General Member Meeting every Sunday as well as keep on track of the needs of the chapter.  I do a lot of oversight and not a lot of planning and detailing which is very different but extremely rewarding.  One of the biggest things I do besides run meeting is send emails, to advisors, brothers, Towson faculty, and the greater National Fraterntiy.  There is always paperwork to be done and information to be gathered and distributed. I held this position from FAll 2014 to Spring 2015

 

Sergeant At Arms

As Sergeant at Arms I was responsible for keeping order at meetings, overseeing bylaws and making necessary changes, as well as facilitating any and all elections.  I helped oversee and create some necessary changes to our governing documents and keep order during heated discussions.  I held this position Fall 2015.

 

 

In December 2014 I had the opportunity to attend the Alpha Phi Omega National Convention in Chicago, Illinois as a voting delegate to represent the Iota Gamma chapter.  I was able to participate in workshops learning about team building and understanding personalities.  As a voting delegate I sat in legislative sessions for the majority of the conference where I voted on important National Fraternity matters.  Some of the proposed legislation was as simple as changing the wording in some parts of ritual and the National Bylaws and some was more complex such as a complete restructuring of the National Board of Directors.

 

 

Professional Development

 

National Convention

I attended the 43rd National Convention for Alpha Phi Omega in January of 2015 in Chicago, Illinois.  I was a voting delegate for my chapter where I sat in formal business meetings and passed legislation pertaining to National bylaws, rituals, and operations.  I was also involved in the election and restructuring of the National Board of Directors.

 

85/86 Section Conference

In March 2014, our chapter hosted the 85/86 Section Conference.  We organized and hosted workshops pertaining to professional development, service, and risk management. It was a long day of running around and making sure things ran smoothly but it was an amazing learning experience.

 

APO LEADS

Alpha Phi Omega has a five course program called APO LEADS that brothers can complete by attending workshops and participating in activities.  I have completed Launch, which dealt with leadership and how to promote leadership through service; Achieve, which worked on team building and taught skills for how to work better as a chapter; and Discover, which taught about different personalities and how best to understand and work with other people.  The two courses I have not completed are Explore, which is conflict management, and Serve, which is a weekend long service trip.

 

 

Service

To this day I have completed over 100 hours of service, hitting each other four areas that Alpha Phi Omega promotes: Service to the Fraternity, Community, College, and Nation. Visit my Volunteer Work Blog to see all the different types of events I have participated in over the last few years!

 

 

Tripod Award

At the end of each semester the Brothers give out awards to each other.  I was fortunate enough to receive the highest award that we give called "The Tripod Award," which is given to the brother who exemplifies the three cardinal principals of Leadership, Friendship, and Service to the highest degree.

 

 

Diamond Level Pledge Program of Excellence Award

At the 2015 National Convention I was honored to accept the Diamond Level Pledge Program of Excellence Award for our chapter. The pledge program has been grown and strengthened by the Brothers and it recognized the hard work that has been done.