On the weekend of September 7th, we held our first ever New-Member Retreat. The idea behind the retreat was to improve our retention with new members who may not have made a substantive connection to the fraternity yet, or may be questioning whether or not fraternity life is them. The 24 hour retreat focused heavily on team building exercises, bonding with both older mentors, and bonding with fellow new members. The retreat was facilitated primarily by the chapter’s Vice President of Membership Development, Seth Ostdiek. Seth’s extensive experience leading similar activities for the national Launch Leadership group made him well prepared for the endeavor. Over all, we believe the retreat was extremely valuable in making connections, bonding, and displaying our values of Virtue, Diligence, and Brotherly Love. Having used this as a test run, we are very much looking forward to continuing this program in the future!