By MELISSA WALKER

Staff Writer

The women of Panhellenic Council have just returned from the 50th annual Southeastern Panhellenic Conference in Atlanta with enthusiasm, ideas and planned trips to Europe.

Katie Stephenson, the Panhellenic Council public relations and scholarship chair and a junior English major, said she believed the trip was successful.

"I learned a lot from the conference," Stephenson said. "Our Panhellenic Council got to be really close. It gave us a lot of time to think and talk about Tech's Greek system."

Stephenson, was also a recipient of a drawing whose prize was a $1,000 voucher for a trip abroad,. She said the conference, which was held Mar. 31 to April 3, also aided her dream to visit Europe.

"I am so excited," Stephenson said. "I've been wanting to go abroad. It just kind of fell into my lap."

Stephenson said she and Jessie Shadowers, a sophomore business management enterprise major, will participate in the EF College Break sponsored Grand Tour program, which enables college students to visit Rome, Italy, Paris, France, London, England, and other European cities in the course of one month.

Shadowers said she is impressed with how things came together for their trip.

"I think it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Shadowers said. "I was looking for someone to go with me on this trip and then it worked out perfectly."

Mallory Zangla, a sophomore management major, and Carli Harris, a sophomore interior design major, also won vouchers valued at $1,000 and $500 for trips abroad.

"EF College said that they had never had two girls win from the same school," Stephenson said. "Especially since three out of four girls were from [Tech]."

Stephenson said the drawing contained 1300 women's names. The attending women made this year's conference the largest student-run conference in the country.

Stephenson also said Tech was one of the 10 founding schools that participated in the first SEPC 50 years ago.

Amelia Hancock, the Panhellenic secretary and a junior English major, said she appreciated the conference's lectures.

"I was really impressed with the amount of information we were presented with and the enthusiasm of all of the ladies on our Panhellenic Council," Hancock said. "We received tips for self improvement, motivation and growth, as well as how to improve the Greek community as a whole."

Hancock said, because of the SEPC's content, the Panhellenic Council will make a few minor changes to formal recruitment which will be held Sept. 1-4.

Stephenson said she also noted the suggestions SEPC had concerning recruitment.

"There is a big movement to change recruitment," Stephenson said. "Tech is ahead of the curve because of our good advisers. We have already done much of what they suggested."