By Sabrina Leeds
This past March, P. David Soliman told me that not applying to the Alpha Kappa Psi Academy was one of the biggest regrets of his undergraduate career. In addition to being the founder of the Pi Chi Chapter at Tulane University, and the Regional Director of the Southern Delta Region of Alpha Kappa Psi to which the Pi Chi Chapter belongs, David was also my boss during my spring internship with his private wealth management firm, Faubourg Private Wealth Advisors. This statement, coming from a man I greatly admire and respect, carried a lot of weight with me, so I made the decision to apply. The Academy is an all-expense-paid leadership conference sponsored by the Alpha Kappa Psi Foundation, held each summer at the Waycross Conference and Retreat Center in Morgantown, Indiana. I did not expect to be accepted into this exclusive fellowship, knowing that only 20 exceptional student leaders are chosen to attend the Academy each year out of 163,538 members from 265 chapters around the world, and knowing that nobody from my chapter had ever been accepted, so I was both surprised and honored to receive my invitation to become an Academy Fellow a month later.
Upon my arrival in Indiana, Dan Roselli, the Dean of the Academy, told us that the Academy would change the trajectory of our lives if we let it. As I sat there, looking around the room at the 19 other Fellows, a cop, a dancer, an artist, an entrepreneur, and many more, all strangers to me at the time, I thought, “How can 4 days possibly be so impactful that they change the trajectory of my entire life?” Well, let me tell you; they did.
I spent my short time at the Academy building a robust and cohesive fraternal network with brothers from across the nation and around the world, while creating an awareness of the influence of assumptions and bias in leadership, developing a comprehensive set of advanced professional and leadership skills, and examining my leadership style, strengths, and areas of development. Together, the 20 of us learned from one another, challenging each other, and giving each other difficult, but valuable feedback, always working towards continuous improvement. We constructed a path and change process for approaching difficult issues in our lives, in our chapters, and in our fraternity as a whole, while reflecting on how our personal leadership styles and practices interact with those of others and working to become more effective and principled leaders. We celebrated our similarities as well as our diversity, discovered and defined our values, strengthened them in the context of the fraternity’s core values, and learned how to act on them with integrity. We shared our hopes and dreams, brainstorming and building goals to reach them. We actively listened to one another, communicating with care, courage, and confidence, realizing that we are always stronger and better when we work together, and recognizing that sometimes being a leader means taking a step back and empowering others to act. And we did all of that in just four days.
By the last day, I understood what Dan meant. We had entered this experience as 20 incredible individuals who each demonstrated qualities of future business leaders, but by the end of the Academy, we had become a strong and cohesive community of friends, students, teachers, brothers, record breakers, and truly principled leaders. It was an invaluable experience, and, while it may seem too soon to say this, I am confident that the things that I learned and the people who I met at the Academy have changed, and will continue to change, my life.
I would like to end by thanking the Alpha Kappa Psi Foundation, and all of those who generously donated their time, talent, and treasure to the cause of the Academy, specifically Dan Roselli, Karyn Nishimura Sneath, Mackenzie Lauka, and Brittany Folds, as well as all of my fellow 2017 Academy Fellows, who I feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to learn from and with.
This is just the beginning. As Margaret Mead once said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." And we will.
