Senior Year of AST

In October 2014, I joined Alpha Sigma Tau. As older post read, I have had many memories and experiences with this organization. I have held a number of leadership positions and have served on executive board twice. After eight semesters in a chapter that feels like home, there hasn’t been a day that I regret joining this chapter and community. It has pushed me to hold many roles in the Greek Community and around campus. I have met so many amazing sisters who have encouraged me to be my unapologetic self and I am very thankful for that. In my time in AST, we have done so many amazing things as a chapter that I am so proud to be apart of. We have held the highest sorority cumulative GPA since I have joined, won Greek Week twice, raised about $4,000 a year for Pine Mountain Settlement school, sent a group of sisters to volunteer at our national philanthropy every year, have every sister involved in at least one other RSO on campus, had the highest volunteer hours per sister in a long time, and improved member retention. I have been so proud of the accomplishments we have has. My learning experiences in this chapter has been beyond what has been in any other organization.  I have learned how to be self motivated to balance my social life, academics, and school involvements. I have learned time management to balance my involvements with my personal life. I have learned confidence from the affirmation of succeeding in my positions and following in the footsteps of our older members. Overall, this organization has given me so much and I’m glad I  have gotten the opportunity to give back to it.

 

Safari: Take Four

As said in previous blogs, I have been involved in a program called Leadership Safari at my university. During my first year, I came in as a freshman and was a participant. My sophomore and junior year, I have been a guide for incoming students. This year was the most special year for me. I got to serve as a ranger guide for this program. With that title, it meant that I have had experience with this program and I would be an assistant to the core guide for guide training and selection. I was placed on a team called Bubba Gump Shrimp Pink…which sounds just as goofy as it was. I got the opportunity to be paired with my best friend as my core guide and some of my closest friends has been from this group. I thought as a 3rd year guide, I didn’t have much more to learn from the program, but I was definitely wrong. I learned more from my group of participants this year than I ever thought I would. More than ever, I learned how to be patient with a group of people in a different way than being patient for a group such as my sisters. After growing my self confidence and comfort within groups throughout my college experience, I forgot how it felt to be an incoming freshman new to this environment. There were many instances where we went off curriculum and I had to make things up as I went. This group of students challenged how I think about social issues and how I follow the rules. By the end of the week, I knew that this was something I valued so much within my college career.

Panhellenic Council

Over the past two years, I have had the opportunity to serve on the Panhellenic Council Executive Board as VP of Administration and now Executive Vice President. This board oversees the sorority side of the Greek Community. It consists of 11 positions of women from different chapters from our campus. In my current position of EVP, I have many roles I need to fulfill. The main part of my position is that I look over all chapter representatives and liaison positions as well as being the right hand women to the president. I have learned how to effectively communicate with women in different organizations other than my own as well as ensuring they are in the light on all events we have going on as a community.With the liaison positions, I have had to figure out the most efficient way to fill positions with the best position holder. Along with the responsibilities of those, I am in charge of the legislative and judicial parts of this council. With that, I have learned that the best way to look at bylaws and potential changes is to have meetings with the chapter representatives to hear their voices on behalf of their chapters and make appropriate changes from there. The most challenging part of this position has been the judicial side. There have been many instances where I need to seperate my friend side from my professional side in order to properly go through judicial hearings. Overall with this position, I have learned that the most important part is the teamwork within this council. We have had many obstacles to overcome from what media portrays from internal concerns. Without coming together and working off of each others strengths, we would not have been as successful as we have been.