Omega Phi Alpha is an amazing service sorority that develops friendship, leadership, and cooperation by serving the community. Every spring Omega Phi Alpha chapter host or travel to a district summit all around the country. District summits are like mini-conventions, you meet sisters from different chapters or different chapter, you have alum come and visit, and you learn about changes within our national organization. Summit is one of the most memorable weekends I have had with OPhiA and here's why everyone should go at least twice!
1. Road Trip!
If you are from the chapter that is traveling then you are probably going to be spending at least an hour in a car with your sisters! So expect jamming to some oldies but goodies, waking up and seeing yourself asleep on social media, snacks and bonding.
2. SLEEPOVERS!
If you are hosting summit you might have people staying the night in your lovely home for a weekend. So basically watching classic movies like the Lizzie McGuire Movie, talking for two hours about anything, playing games, or even doing a service project/homework together.
3. Large Service Projects!
As a chapter there is only so much your chapter can do to help others. However at summit you can complete service projects and help more people because you have more sisters doing the project. This year at the Heartland District Summit the Alpha Gamma and Alpha Kappa sisters made tie blankets for Project Linus. Together we provided more blankets then we could have individually and it was a great bonding experience as well!
4. Alumni!
Alumni from both chapters are always welcomed to come to Summit and they even have special events planned for them! It's a great way to see alums who have recently graduated or graduated 5-50 years ago! Alums get to get back in the organization by attending summit and learn about opportunities that alum have at a national level.
5. Learning about Nationals!
Nationals is forever evolving and improving our sorority and one of the places we can learn what they are doing is during Summit. We learn about structure changes, modules and principals they want to instill in members. I have a feeling that with the new convention change there is possible more we will learn about the national organization at District Summits.
6. New Best Friends!
This is the one aspect of convention that summits have down. Meeting sisters from not only from different college but around the world and being able to easily bond and talk and get to know is one of the greatest feelings in Omega Phi Alpha. We are all connected by this organization and at the end of Summit you will have a hard time saying see you next year to the other chapter(s)!
7. Reconnecting with Sisters you Know!
Whether you met at convention, past summits, or through chapter organized communication (pen pals and video messages). Seeing a sister you haven't seen in over 6 months is amazing to reconnect and see again! I know that I loved seeing the girls I got to know during convention again and it was hard to say goodbye again.
8. Committee Breakouts:
Sharing ideas with other sisters who are in the same position or committee as you are is really beneficial to both chapters and the future of the sorority. You get to talk about past events you've done, how to improve chapter relations and communication, solve problems. Exec members get to talk to other exec members from the other chapters and share thoughts about events, projects, socials, new members and etc. This is my favorite part of summit and even convention because talking about OPhiA shows you how similar and different each chapter can be and how we can all help strengthening our chapters.
9. You learn how chapters are different from one another!
You find out that they have different requirements, different events/projects. Some may have different exec board members and do elections differently. Some may even have male sister and it totally rocks because they are the bomb.com. You may learn that some say OPA instead of OPhiA and vis versa. But you learn that you are the same sorority and differences make us special and other can learn from them.
10. You get to see how amazing Omega Phi Alpha truly is!
You know you are apart of an amazing organization and summit really puts it into perspective. You see that there are tens of other sisters who share the same passion for helping people and serving the community just as much as you do. You see how much love OPhiA has not for just their own chapter but to strangers they have never met. You see alum who return because OPhiA is truly forever.
11. Memories
Summits great, sisters are amazing and why not remember it with photographs to cherish with your memories. Also sometimes summits include special traditions like a candle pass for a newly engaged sister!
Also Heartland is the Best land and #AGheartAK
Thank You to all the A.D.O. chairs who organize this amazing event for their sisters to attend, thank you to nationals for creating District Summits and turning them into mini-conventions. To all the Districts I hope you have an amazing summit!
