Gamma Psi Hosts the Great Lakes District Conclave

Thirty-nine Brothers and pledges gathered together for the Great Lakes District Conclave at the University of Toledo on Saturday, November 5, 2016. Representatives from all of the district's chapters (Gamma, Alpha Beta, Alpha Upsilon, and Gamma Psi), Albion College Colony, and Kettering University Collegiate Group were in attendance, along with Gamma Psi's Chapter Advisor, Dr. Cora Lind-Kovacs, PR Ethan Murnahan, and Great Lakes District Counselor, Scott Wilson. The day was filled with lots of discussion as each group and PR Murnahan presented on a wide range of topics: 

• Recruitment
• Activities to build Brotherhood bonds
• Outreach and social activities 
• Professional and alumni relations
• Professionalism (i.e. do's and don'ts for interviewing)

However, the day wasn't just a series of presentations. The hosts at Gamma Psi also organized a couple of fun activities to get everyone to interact on a more social level and to break up the presentations. The morning activity was a contest to build the tallest tower out of popsicle sticks and tape. This was a good team building activity, and it was fun to see the creative designs! Most of the towers had difficulty standing on their own and, due to a looseness in the rules, the "tallest" design ended up being taped to the ceiling to remain standing. There was one design, however, that was strong enough to stand on its own, supported by an appropriately hexagonal base design, even though it did not win. The pledges from Kettering took this tower back to present to GMA Wenzel as a "hat". Hopefully a picture of him wearing the "hat" will show up! The afternoon activity was a game of "forehead detective", where someone holds up an index card with something written on it to their forehead and then asks questions of the others to try to figure out what is written.

As it happened, the Chemistry/Biochemistry Department at the University of Toledo was also holding an open house for prospective graduate students on the same day. A number of Brothers and pledges were able to take advantage of this to visit the department's poster session during the lunch hour to see the type of work going on at UT. And, after the conclusion of the District Conclave, the Gamma Psi Brothers also gave all interested attendees a tour of the facilities available in the building.