Brethren,
Today marked the final day of the 2009 Acacia Leadership Academy. The morning started off with all the delegates making their way to the Masonic Lodge here in Bloomington,IN where they were treated to a sumptuous breakfast by the Masons of the lodge. They then witnessed the induction of Andrew Kaiser from Missouri into their ranks of brotherhood. Follwing his induction, three current members from the active chapter were inducted into the Alumni Association of the Acacia Fraternity as they were graduating from their respective undergraduate chapters.
After the events at the Lodge, delegates came back to the Acacia house where they continued with their last breakout session for this year's ALA. They discussed topics that were covered throughout the last few days and conversed on various ideas regarding membership development, rush etc. that they could take back to their respective chapters. After this, members adjourned for lunch. Following lunch, they continued on into the final rounds of the Acacia Olympics. Members then reconvened for a final presentation from Bill Utic, President of the Acacia Fraternity Foundation who spoke about the significance of the operations of the Foundation and how it affected the operations of all chapters. He also provided ideas for students as to how they could use it to better enhance their own chapters as well.The evening saw all the delegates assemble outside the Acacia House where they all took group pictures along with the President of Acacia Fraternity, Brother David Allen. It was at this time the winners of the Acacia Olympics were announced. Here are the results :
1st Place- Pimps of Pythea
2nd Place-Seamen of Samos
3rd Place-The AKAK Enforcers
4th Place-Wine & Women (yep, thats right :-) )
After this, all members, staff and alumni converged onto the Dining Hall for the closing banquet that was a great bonding experience for all as alumnus and delegates shared stories and exchanged ideas amongst each other. It was followed by awarding scholarships to various delegates who were identified as key individuals who have contributed their fair share of effort to the fraternity and were potential leaders of tomorrow. After this, everyone got to share their experiences with the others about how ALA affected them in a positive manner and how this was a turning point for all of them personally and fraternally. Venerable Dean of the current active Chapter of the Acacia Leadership Academy, Tyler Heil then formally closed the 2009 Acacia Leadership Academy.
In retrospect, Acacia Leadership Academy has been a great boon for me as a brother. It taught me well about how this fraternity can help us all and it also gave me a chance to meet my fellow brethren from other states. Truly, it was an experience par none.
This concludes the 2009 Acacia Leadership Academy held in Bloomington,IN. Hope you all enjoyed the blog posts. Please feel to continue the dialog on this blog site and comment on any thoughts, feedback or ideas. The 2010 Acacia Conclave will be held in New Orleans, LA. So stay tuned for futher updates coming your way !!
Fraternally,
Brother Goutham Ramdas, #276
Acacia Fraternity-Saint Cloud, MN Chapter
