Greek Life took home 16 individual awards during the weekend at the annual Mid-America Greek Council Association Conference in Chicago.

The men placed first for the overall outstanding Jellison Award, and the women came in second place behind Kansas State University.

Eastern sent a delegation of 27 students, with 16 entered into a competition and the other 11 representing their individual houses.

The students received a plaque for each individual award and trophies for placement, which can be found in the Greek Life Office in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

“It’s quite an honor to be recognized as best in a national competition,” said Bob Dudolski, director of Greek life.

About 20 judges from across the country divided up binders containing 3,000 pages of information submitted by elected council officer president and vice president that serve on the Interfraternity Council, Dudolski said.

Each binder is judged on eight categories like bylaws, public relations and risk management. Then on Saturday the finalists were announced at an awards banquet.

From Thursday to Friday, students attended training sessions. Experts taught sessions dealing with issues like diversity, programming, philanthropy and motivating peers.

The conference was beneficial because it allowed students to interact with more than 300 universities across the nation and network with experts, Dudolski said.

Alison Kostelich, continuing education chair of Delta Delta Delta, went to the conference to represent the sorority.

“We’re a new house on campus so we could benefit a lot from the conference,” she said. “We didn’t have a binder completed yet.”

Kostelich said she was glad to be given the opportunity to attend the conference and learned valuable information she can inform the house about.

“Most of the same members volunteer, so I learned how to motivate the girls and get people more involved by seeking out someone who would be good for a position,” she said.