By Myrna Ghorayeb

LCN VP of Membership

On January 28th, 2012 The Lebanese Collegiate Network kicked off the 2012 year with its 5th annual luncheon in Glendale, California at Phoenicia Restaurant.  Eight subscribing University Lebanese Clubs (ULC) gathered together for an afternoon of networking, meeting new friends, and enjoying a delicious lunch.  Some students drove from the Northern California to spend the weekend with the LCN family.  The LCN hosts these luncheons to engage with students at a local level while also helping the ULC’s learn from each other, connect with alumni and discover what the LCN has in store for them, and learn more about the Annual Convention, taking place this year at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles on March 30th till April 1st, 2012. 

A few LCN Co-founders who live in the California area arrived showing their support and provided new insight to students and alumni while bonding with new members.  The LCN also was excited to have Hani Nashef, President of LA Cedars Rotary and Kristel Haddad, President of LA Cedars Rotaract present at the luncheon. LCN VP of Membership, Myrna Ghorayeb welcomed the ULC’s and attendees to the Luncheon, while also thanking Renée ElKhoury for being the LA Luncheon Chair and helping put the event together.  After an appetizing lunch, all of the ULC’s presidents one by one were introduced and gave presentations on how they have been involved in their university and community.  Board members were introduced and they highlighted the purpose of their Lebanese Club on campus.  Through watching each presentation, it was evident to notice that each member of the club is active and have creative ideas in his or her own distinct way.  Events that included celebrating Lebanese Independence Day demonstrated the strength and foundation that each ULC had and how they were determined to spread the Lebanese culture.  Many of the clubs also had fundraisers, and a special cause to raise money each time. Some Lebanese Clubs decided to send money to orphanages in Lebanon, while others want to send money to the Red Cross.   The subscribing ULC’s in attendance were Cal Poly Pomona, UC Berkeley, San Diego State University, UC Riverside, University of Southern California, UCLA, Loyola Marymount University and UCSB.  Also, some members from the University of California, Irvine came to the event and saw how strong the bond is with the clubs and learned about the LCN. 

Once the ULC presentations were done, Myrna invited Tammy Ayoub, LCN Treasurer to talk about the LCN mission and she encouraged the audience to apply for the open board positions. . Tammy also gave the attendees little tips on how to help LCN even more by using very simple tools like iGive.  Afterwards, Anita Abdul Karim, LCN VP of Events highlighted  the LCN events hosted  in different States like Michigan, Washington D.C. and California; and of course, talked about the “event of the year”: LCN 2012 convention at LMU!  Myrna discussed the numerous awards that all subscribing students and ULC can apply for, such as the Academic Excellence and Heritage Award scholarship for students, the Most Outstanding ULC Award, and a brand new award, introduced this year, the Alumni of the Year Award.

After the presentations were concluded, members gathered around the notorious LCN banner for pictures, and joined outside for more mingling before leaving Phoenicia in the beautiful LA weather.    The LCN thanks Phoenicia for opening its doors once again and providing exquisite food for the LCN members to enjoy.