National Pan-Hellenic Council hosted a program Saturday afternoon to promote a more unified council and to encourage leadership within the community.

"This is just one of the many programs National Pan-Hellenic Council puts on to educate and promote leadership and diversity in the community," said Jared Brown, Fraternity and Sorority Life assistant director.

Brown also said it was "wonderful" that national council was able to celebrate greek pride as well as affect the larger Penn State community.

"It's commendable," Brown added.

The event, which featured speakers from fraternities and sororities in the council, briefly went over the histories and challenges faced by the organizations' founders and highlighted at least one famous alumnus from each organization.

"It's really beneficial to learn about other members who have done great things; it motivates all of us to do some more great things," said Amy Dougherty, National Pan-Hellenic Council vice president.

Among the recognized alumni were Olympic athlete Jesse Owens, Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity; Vibe Magazine CEO and president Keith Clinkscales, Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity; U.S. Secretary of Education Rodney Paige, Phi Beta Sigma fraternity; and actress and activist Victoria Rowell, Sigma Gamma Rho sorority.

"Everyone should know not to take for granted the people that came before us. This event helped remind us of renowned members -- not only from our own organization but every organization -- and get us back to the ideals of our entire council while recognizing each of our own organizations' unique aspects," said Wole Adegbonmire, National Pan-Hellenic Council president.

This year, the program was open to the public for the first time. However, the change was made late, and the turnout was not as much as had been hoped for.

The event had about 35 attendees.

"We were late in letting the general public in so we weren't too successful with that, but I'm still content with the program and thought it presented a positive and important message for the council," Adegbonmire said.