By Madison Adams
Reporter
Phi Iota Alpha will host a leadership workshop led by Matt Burchett, Director of Student Activities, who will speak on what good leadership entails and how leadership within the Baylor community and student organizations can be more effective. Burchett teaches a course entitled organizational management and leadership and is well versed in how to encourage leadership qualities in college students.
The event will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Cashion Academic Center and is open to the public.
Elgin junior Noe Araujo said leadership is one of the key skills his fraternity seeks to instill in members, and they wanted to educate the rest of the student body as well.
“We are a professional fraternity and take pride in that,” Araujo said. “We ourselves have personal leadership workshops for our members on topics like public speaking or professional dress codes. We know these are skills necessary for all leadership and wanted to hold an event that the entire Baylor community could benefit from.”
Araujo knows first hand what it takes to be a leader through his service as president of the Tau chapter of Phi Iota Alpha.
“Being president, you get to work toward the common goal of progression of the chapter,” Araujo said. “You get to work hard and enjoy seeing the benefits of the commitment and work you do for the chapter.”
The fraternity is composed of undergraduate, graduate and professional men working to motivate, develop leaders and create innovative ways to unite the Latino community as stated on their organization’s website.
“Phi Iota Alpha is the oldest existing fraternity,” Araujo said. “It is a Latino fraternity, but we take people of multiple backgrounds. We are committed to empowering the Latin American community and building leaders.”
Membership in Phi Iota Alpha is open to all men regardless of their background, but they desire members who challenge themselves to develop a strong network for the advancement of the Latino people as stated in their organization description.
Guatemala City, Guatemala junior Diego Parades described the Latino heritage of his family as something that inspires him to move forward and work to be the best he can in life.
“My freshman year when I met the Phi Iota Alpha brothers, they reminded me about something I had not thought too much about,” Parades said. “I have an opportunity to make a name for both myself and my family. My parents and my ancestors all sacrificed a lot to give me the opportunity I have today to actually make something of myself.”
This is the same leadership perspective the fraternity of Phi Iota Alpha is hoping to be able to share with the Baylor community Tuesday.
“We hope to be able to demonstrate to students that Baylor offers a lot of opportunities to gain experience and leadership skills that allow for you to better yourself,” Parades said. “Our leadership event is available to challenge students to not just be members of groups and organizations but leaders who make a difference.”
