Meet the New ELCs
Previously, we introduced our new ELCs and delved into their backgrounds. Now, it is time to hear from them to see what goals they have in mind for this new step in their Lambda Chi Alpha careers.
Chris Sweeney
School: Indiana State University
Major: Finance
Hometown: Evansville, Indiana
What made you want to become an ELC: “Definitely my home chapter. Before, I wasn’t thinking about becoming an ELC. I was thinking about working with my major as a financial planner, but what they [the chapter] gave me is why I want to help, because now I know I want to work with college students, and now I know I want to work in student affairs.”
What are you looking forward to most: “I’m looking forward to actually working the undergraduates, and gaining experience from other chapters, as well as taking experiences from my chapter and handing them out.”
How do you hope to impact the chapters you visit: “I hope to provide them, obviously, with a positive impact, but show them that as an ELC, we are not working against you, and you are not working for us. We are working together to make Lambda Chi the best Lambda Chi it can possibly be.”
Unique fact: First-generation college student
Nathan Schultz
School: Edinboro University
Major: Business Administration
Hometown: Warren, Pennsylvania
What made you want to become an ELC: “Everything that I received from Lambda Chi as an undergrad, like all of my experiences and everything like that, I just want to give that back to all of the chapters. That way, they can have a similar experience to what I did, because it’s what made my college experience so great.”
What are you looking forward to most: “I want to be able to take what I learned from the summer and apply it, helping the chapters that I visit thrive.”
How do you hope to impact the chapters you visit: “I want to be able to bridge the gap between IHQ and chapters, and help them see that we are here to help them. Also, I want to leave the chapters in a better position than when I got there.”
Unique fact: Able to lick elbow
Jonathan Gottwald
School: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Major: Chemistry
Hometown: Amherst, New Hampshire
What made you want to become an ELC: “I really love our fraternity. It is hands-down the best thing that happened to me in college, and the fact that I get the opportunity to help enhance that experience for other people is really cool. I also just love talking to other people about our fraternity and what it teaches and what we say, and what we do. The rich history and culture and everything that goes into Lambda Chi Alpha is just really intriguing to me, and to be able to then share that and teach that and foster those ideas with other people is just fascinating.”
What are you looking forward to most: “I’m really excited to travel. I’m really excited to be able to go into chapters across the country and see how their Lambda Chi Alpha experience is different, but also a part of the whole. I think what is really cool, and something to conceptualize is that out of 194 chapters, each chapter is unique and different. Together, they make up everything that we say is Lambda Chi Alpha. I don’t know what those other pieces of the puzzle look like, so I think that is pretty interesting to try and see the bigger picture, literally see it. Most people don’t have that opportunity, so I’m excited to take advantage of that.”
How do you hope to impact the chapters you visit: “I really want them to see that I am their brother as well. Everybody at headquarters is, either their brother or works with them in that fraternal spirit, not at odds with them. It’s about making sure that we, as one large organization, stay focused on the same goal, and that is hard to convey and really hard to see when you are just dealing with your unique chapter. I want to get them to see that there are 193 other chapters that are also wearing the same letters as them and doing the same things, but operate differently, they work at a different school, they do different things, because their situation is different. The question is then how do we unite that into one goal.”
Unique fact: Unable to burp
