Leadership

    Leadership is one of the three cardinal principles of Alpha Phi Omega. As a national organization, Alpha Phi Omega strives to develop our members as leaders through service to others. This approach builds the leadership skills of our members while fulfilling a need on campuses and in communities, therefore leaving a lasting impact on our nation.

    Alpha Phi Omega believes that leadership looks different to everyone, and we want to help members along their personal journey of leadership development in whatever form it takes. Our leadership program is designed to be flexible so that each member can have a meaningful experience in leadership development. The four main opportunities we focus on are formal leadership trainings, elected positions, committees, and informal leadership workshops.

     Alpha Phi Omega offers members the opportunity to develop themselves as leaders through the APO LEADS program. APO LEADS is a series of five modular courses in different aspects of leadership development, including what it means to be a servant leader, managing conflict, teambuilding, effective communication, self-motivation, and the aspects involved in large-scale event planning.

    Additionally, the APO IMPACT program is designed to give members and alumni the skills to foster healthy and productive collaboration on the scale of a committee or on the scale of a whole chapter.

     These programs were originally designed to be offered in-person, and their availability is currently limited while they are being reworked for an online format.

     At the WPI Chapter of Alpha Phi Omega, almost all aspects of chapter operations are organized directly by students. To distribute this work and to expand our event-planning capacity, our chapter has several committees, each dedicated to a specific purpose. Some committees are built around large scale event-planning (e.g. Merit Badge University, Formal/Semi-Formal, Raffle for Relief), while others revolve around continuous operations within the chapter (e.g. Chapter Image, Fundraising, Recruitment). This offers members a diverse spectrum of ways to contribute to the chapter while letting them decide what level of responsibility they feel comfortable taking on.

     Committees are headed by executive board members and elected chairs, and they are open to all members. Committees are an important part of the smooth operation of our chapter and the development of our member’s leadership and teamwork skills.

     A major strength of our chapter’s leadership development program is the multitude of elected officer and chair positions that members can run for. Together, these positions offer a wide range of experiences and responsibility.

     The President oversees all major chapter operations and helps set the chapter’s direction. There is one vice president responsible for planning events and initiatives related to each of our cardinal principles (Leadership, Friendship, and Service), and there is a fourth vice president in charge of managing the logistics of chapter membership (the Membership Vice President). There are several other officer positions, including public relations, historian, secretary, and treasurer. The chapter officers have weekly meetings to plan, to collaborate on ideas, and to gather feedback that are open to the entire chapter. Each chair position has an officer to report to who the chair can ask for help and guidance as needed. Most positions can be shared between two members or can be filled by a single member. The wide diversity of leadership positions within APO allows members to forge their own path of leadership development and take on a set of responsibilities that appeals to them.

     With a few exceptions, officer and chair positions are elected semesterly, which allows members to explore different leadership positions at their own pace and which offers plenty of opportunities for leadership throughout the academic year.

     Alpha Phi Omega organizes leadership development workshops throughout the semester to allow members to build their leadership skills in a more casual setting. The topics that these workshops cover change frequently, but some that have been held in the past include how to run a committee, teambuilding, course-planning, public speaking, and networking. These workshops are a flexible outlet for the chapter to help members build skills in the areas of leadership that they’re interested in.

Have any questions? Contact the Leadership Vice President at gr-apo-leadership@wpi.edu!