On Saturday morning, 70 students from the Greek community left their campus homes to go on a Lambda Alpha Delta retreat to Camp Tecumseh in Brookston, Ind.

The mission of the overnight retreat was to kick off the new school year for LAD by bringing new members and executives together.

LAD, formerly known as Jr. Greek Council, is an honorary organization that brings together new members from all sororities and fraternities. Many former members of the organization later go on to hold important positions in their own chapters or councils.

Bob Dudolski, director of Greek Life, said the purpose of LAD is to teach all the members about the broader community and how to utilize resources for the entire Eastern campus to broaden their Greek experience.

For Ben Levin, freshman marketing major, the retreat gave him insight about the Greek community and taught him that all Greeks need to come together as a community.

“All of us have gone through the recruitment process,” Levin said. “A lot of us try to make ourselves better than we really are. It showed us we can accomplish more if we come together as a whole.”

Two members from each new pledge class were allowed to go on the retreat. They were also members of LAD.

As soon as students stepped off the bus and set down their bags, they were busy with team-building activities.

Six groups were formed. Members took part in games that involved mental and physical skills like untying a human knot, scaling a rock-climbing course, and other unusual games to encourage teamwork.

Levin found a game called “Cow and Bombs” insightful.

One person was blindfolded and went in search of a particular object while avoiding orange plastic cones, the “bombs.” Teammates had to guide them through the mess. The bombs were rituals of each sorority or fraternity. The pictures of the cows could be placed over the “bombs” to deactivate them.

The moral of the game, Levin said, was to not always stick to the rituals if a more beneficial alternative could be used.

For others, like Margaret Wilson, sophomore marketing major and pledging member of Alpha Gamma Delta, a different activity taught her a valuable lesson.

“We went rock climbing with groups of three. Each member of the group was connected to each other by one long rope. One member couldn’t go too far up without the rest of the members,” Wilson said. “This taught us that in order for us to excel, the rest of our group must excel with us. You couldn’t reach the top without your teammates.”

The participants spent the night playing games and visiting with their new friends. After spending a night on bunk beds, the group discussed on Sunday morning what they had learned from the games. They were asked to perform skits to show what they would take back with them to Eastern.

“We all have plans on what we can do to better improve Greek life at Eastern, and we have made promises to ourselves that we will try our hardest to go through with our ideas,” Wilson said.

Levin joined LAD after a friend told him about it and introduced him to Bob Dudolski. Other LAD members also joined the same way.

Levin also wanted to join LAD to build his resume. Levin said the organization taught him a different side of LAD and Greek life altogether.

“I knew it was different, but (the retreat) helped me to see that more,” Levin said. “The retreat was the first thing that showed me how Lambda Alpha Delta would be.”