Auburn University's Panhellenic Council was recognized for their accomplishments when they won the Overall Recognition Award at the 2013 South Eastern Panhellenic Conference.
The application had 10 categories that each Panhellenic had to provide information for.
These categories were community service, leadership development, philanthropy, public relations, risk management, scholarship, Panhellenic relations, diversity, womens' issues and the circle of sisterhood, which is the national philanthropy project.
"The Overall Recognition Award goes to the Panhellenic who basically excelled in every single category," said Kristen Davis, Panhellenic Graduate Assistant. "You fill out an application in each category and it's whoever has the most well rounded answer for each category."
The past executive members fill out the application, which includes the past Panhellenic president and her executive board because the award is based on all of the programs and events that Panhellenic took part in throughout the past year.
The Southeastern Panhellenic Conference takes place once a year and invites surrounding universities in the Southeast that have Panhellenic associations.
Close to 25 different groups attended the conference, Davis said.
"I think that now that this award is in place, it'll help us to establish a foundation for future generations of Auburn women and to have a great Panhellenic community that really supports its members and also will continue to have an impact on the generations to come," said Emily Riley, senior in human development and family studies and past Panhellenic president. "It wasn't just our exec that won the award it was our whole team, we had a wonderful year and I think it was more of an honor to be recognized for the service that Panhellenic does, not only to our university but to our community."
This is the first year that the Overall Recognition Award has been awarded.
Auburn has applied for the other individual categories in the past, but was the first to receive the Overall Recognition Award along with the University of South Carolina.
In the application, Auburn Panhellenic included the Auburn Panhellenic creed that they say every time before council, said Mackenzie Strickert, junior in human development and family studies and current Panhellenic president.
"Before they announced the award they read a little bit about the bio and they started reading the creed and so I figured that it might have been us and they started saying how we do habitat days and we have council bi-weekly and do Greek Sing," Strickert said. "We were very surprised, but we were really humbled."
At the banquet there were representatives from schools as large as Louisiana State University and Florida State as well as smaller schools like Georgia State.
"I knew we had been successful and excelled in a lot of the categories, but at the same time I knew that there were some other schools there that had also done a tremendous job at the Panhellenics well," Davis said. "I wasn't surprised, but I knew that the caliber that we were competing against was also good, it as a happy moment."
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