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Alpha Phi Alpha plans leadership conference, public service projects this weekend in DeKalb

July 23, 2013

Alpha Phi Alpha crestPromoting academic excellence and providing service and advocacy for the community are paramount pillars of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Young men between the ages of 12 and 18 will converge Friday, July 26, on the NIU campus for the 2013 Leadership Development Institute. This event is hosted by the Midwest Region of the fraternity.

The young men will come from five of the 13 states in the region: Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Iowa and Kentucky.

Their day begins with at 1 p.m. with community service projects at Pine Acres Rehabilitation & Living Center and on Annie Glidden Road, which they will beautify. NIU’s Epsilon Phi chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha adopted that road years ago and works each year to keep it clean.

But community service is only the beginning.

Several interactive sessions are planned on college preparation, dealing with violence in communities, leadership, diversity, critical thinking, cultural education and more.

“These young men will have their lives impacted this weekend,” said Brother N. J. Akbar, Midwest Region chair for the institute.

“We have the young men engage with us by taking on a case study, dividing them up into teams and having the teams work together to use the weekend to gather information that will help them solve the problem for a fictional young person about their age.”

Institute participants will give a presentation of possible solutions at 5:45 p.m. Saturday, July 27, in the Capitol Room of the Holmes Student Center.

The weekend will conclude with the Closing Banquet at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Regency Room of the student center. Brother Jack Thomas, president of Western Illinois University, will deliver the keynote address.

Founded on Tuesday, Dec. 4, 1906, by seven distinguished gentlemen, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. is the first intercollegiate fraternity for African-Americans in the country. Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. develops leaders, promotes brotherhood and academic excellence while providing service and advocacy for its communities.

For more information, call Akbar at (313) 478-4640.