MEET JILLIAN MCGRATH
She’s the President of Iota Omega Chapter at University of Maryland.
“How many of you are willing to take a dare?” Executive Director Kelley Harmon asked in General Session 2: Dare to Look Deeper. That dare was for each woman to take a hard look at the reality of her chapter to discover the “ground truth,” what is really happening day-to-day, rather than the “official truth” that is often offered to outsiders. Kelley challenged the women to be vulnerable, look deeper, seek to understand and make a complete picture of their reality to get in touch with what their chapter needs to accomplish. With these ideas in mind, delegates from each chapter met with their National Officer to take a closer look at their reality and to identify challenges for their chapter. Using survey results from chapter members that were collected ahead of time, the delegates completed a SOAR Analysis to identify their chapter’s strengths, opportunities, aspirations and ideal results. Jillian McGrath, President of Iota Omega Chapter at University of 12
Maryland (pictured on left), enjoyed reviewing the survey results with her chapter sisters. “It was great to get a whole page of honest feedback and know what I really can improve and work on,” she said. “It’s always great to check for progress and where we can improve and [to see] people’s specific concerns.” After completing the SOAR Analysis and discussing it with their National Officer, collegians made a list of all the challenges they saw and each delegate picked the one she would focus on for the rest of the week. The delegation then went to General Session 3: Explore. Dream. Discover., presented by Gert Garman, current Director at the Collaborative Design Center at Valencia College and former Creativity and Innovation Catalyst for Disney Destinations. As an expert in the field of creativity, Gert introduced a number of methods of developing unique solutions and going beyond the way things have always been done. One of Gert’s tips was to not get too attached to an idea. “Date an idea,” she said, “but don’t marry it!” Giving it time to develop is what allows a good idea to become a great one. Gert acknowledged that it can be scary to turn those ideas into reality, but she suggested sharing that scare with others who can help and visualizing