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Crossroad Companion: A Look Into Lasting Relationships Made as an Educational Leadership Consultant

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Crossroad Companion: A Look Into Lasting Relationships Made as an Educational Leadership Consultant

By Nick Gafron, ELC

Being an Educational Leadership Consultant (ELC) could be difficult when it comes to relationships and friendships due to the travel. You graduate from college in late May and move to IHQ the first week of June. You get a few chances to go home over the summer, get Thanksgiving week off, and get a winter break. During the interview process, a few staff members sit the interviewees down and chat about significant others. They tell you it will be hard on every relationship you have. With all these doubts building up about relationships, I never expected to meet my girlfriend from this job, and I am glad I decided to become an ELC.

ELCs meet a lot of people from this job and get a lot of networking chances. We meet a lot of professionals and other consultants. Other fraternity and sorority headquarters in the area will host BBQs, softball tournaments, and even engage in combined training so that ELCs can connect with other traveling staffs. My experience with this started  by meeting the Alpha Sigma Alpha consultants at their summer BBQ. I talked with a lot of them while we ate hotdogs and burgers and ended up staying after to help them clean. We made a commitment to hang out at the field staff conference (FEA) in Indy in a few weeks. The Alpha Sigma Alpha women told us the rest of their consultants would be in town by then, too. Little did I know, I would be meeting my girlfriend that very weekend.

Gafron facilitating at Stead Leadership Seminar

We talked the entire fall. We talked about life. We talked about visits. We talked about anything and everything. More importantly, we were supporting each other through the entire semester. This job will show you which friendships you have that will last. What started out as two friends supporting each other through their travels quickly turned into something much more. This job will give you the chance to meet people from across the continent that you otherwise would have never met. You may even meet your future wife or husband.

I’m not the only one to have this experience either. Dan Montplaisir, a former ELC, had a similar experience that you can read about here. These are just two examples from Lambda Chi Alpha. My point is you never know who you will meet as an ELC. The opportunity to travel across the continent can present you with endless possibilities of connections. You can find a future spouse, boss, co-worker, or just a new friend. You get out of the experience what you put into it. For my story, it brought together two people who weren’t looking for love but found it anyways.

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