Over the weekend, the North Texas Region hosted its annual regional conference at the University of North Texas in Denton. The entities in the region consist of Texas Tech University (Alpha Chapter), West Texas A&M (Theta Chapter), Midwestern University (Mu Chapter), University of Texas-Arlington (Tau Chapter), University of Texas-Dallas (Alpha Omicron Chapter), University of North Texas (Alpha Chi Chapter), Texas Christian University (Beta Epsilon Chapter), and Texas A&M Commerce (Colony).
On Friday, the conference began with the opening ceremony. Regional Director Bryan Parra said the regional team’s goal was to improve the development of members individually and as entities.
“The message this weekend was to take back what they learned and put it to use,” he said. “It is important to continue to develop their leadership skills so that they can improve their chapter and their own abilities.”
On Saturday, the meetings began with roll call and announcement by the regional board. Around 9 am, the undergraduates were placed in three groups to attend workshops on stress management, job search strategies, and academic success. The workshops were led by several members of the regional board along with the staff members from UNT.
Tau undergraduate Mark Chavez said the job strategies workshop was his favorite out of the group session. The workshop was led by Margaret Oaikena of the UNT Career Center.
“She did a really good job at telling us to know what companies are looking for and how to stay updated on LinkedIn and Handshake,” Mark said. “She also showed us a lot of resources out there that we can use to find internships and jobs.”
After lunch, the entities met up for chapter photos and regional group photos around the campus. The pictures were followed by a state of the fraternity update by National President Tony Pagliocco. Several members of the National Executive Council were in attendance to answer questions.
The workshops continued with one for Spring 2019 and Fall 2019 active brothers along with a presentation from the Dallas-Fort Worth Alumni Association for the older undergraduate brothers. DFWAA also collaborated with the region to host a panel discussion and mixer which included National Founder Joe Cereceres.
The conference wrapped up Saturday night with the awards banquet. Entities and individual brothers were recognized for excelling in academics, community service, and entity operations.
Here are the awards:
Top Service Award: Alpha Chi Chapter
Highest GPA: Beta Epsilon Chapter
Most Improved Entity: Theta Chapter
Spring 19 Chapter of the Year: Alpha Chi Chapter
Fall 19 Chapter of the Year: Tau Chapter
Executive Board Member of the Year: Juan Armijo
Next year’s regional conference will be held at West Texas A&M.