Before starting the semester, something that really made me anxious about returning for the fall was not being able to readjust to life in State College. My second year at Penn State I had fallen out of touch with friends and relationships I worked so hard to build my freshman year. My study habits at home changed, and dealing with being in my hometown and the pandemic, I ended up leaving many organizations I had gotten heavily involved in just a year prior. Of these organizations, I was looking forward to running for a leadership position until I realized that the load I would be required to take on wasn’t what I could handle in the middle of a pandemic. I know that exemplifying leadership qualities doesn’t necessarily require having a position to prove it, but I wanted to take on a bigger role in the activities I cared about and as a bonus, it was something I could brag about in my law school applications. Which is why I really wanted to take on a leadership role within my sorority for this upcoming year, knowing that one of my main reasons for rushing was to get involved in Panhellenic and join Exec within my chapter.

And I did. Tonight I was elected as Director of Panhellenic Relations to serve as a Panhellenic Delegate for my chapter, and I’m genuinely excited for the work that comes with it. I liken the position to an external VP – I’m responsible for upholding my chapter’s values within Panhellenic to introduce initiatives that promote diversity, accessibility and positive growth for women in Greek Life at Penn State and representing my chapter in the best way. I get to discuss and vote on issues I felt directly affected me as someone who wasn’t a legacy and didn’t even consider rushing initially because I was concerned with the lack of diversity within sororities here. While this position was not my first choice, that’s okay – I am grateful that I still have an opportunity to play a role in something that I genuinely care about, and it’s a good chance for me to showcase my skills and develop, an opportunity I feel cheated out of because of the pandemic.