Woman’s Aid Shelter-Community Service

1 in 3 women, and 1 in 4 men, have been victims of intimate partner violence at some point in their lives.

On a typical day, more than 20,000 calls are placed to domestic violence hotlines.

1 in 15 children are exposed to domestic violence, and 90% of those children are eyewitnesses.

1 in 5 women, and 1 in 71 men, experience sexual violence in their lifetime.

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 2018

During my junior year in my sorority, we decided to get more involved in the local Woman’s Aid Shelter in the Mount Pleasant area. As a group, we collected essential supplies, such as soap, shampoo, and other toiletries. We put these items together and sent them to the shelter as care packages. I assisted with collecting the supplies and putting the packages together for the women. Another thing we did during the holiday’s was send gifts to the children of the women in the shelter. We reached out to the local community for help with collecting gifts for the children. The shelter sent in requests and we tried as hard as we could to fulfill their wishes and make it a great Christmas for those families in need.

This was the first time that I had volunteered for a Woman’s Aid Shelter. I found it to be extriemly rewarding and heartwarming. I think volunteering for these types of things opens your eyes and gives you a kind of reality check. It makes you remember how lucky you must be for your possessions and the things you have. It was a great experience and I hope to continue being involved!

Want to get involved? Click here.

 

NCTE @ CMU Senior Leadership Role

This year, being my senior year, I had the opportunity to serve as the secretary for the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) RSO on CMU’s campus. Having this position has required me to keep very organized and on top of things. I was responsible to be in attendance at all meetings, to take the notes for the agenda, and send out announcements.

One of the best experiences I had was having the opportunity to visit a CMU chartered school in Dearborn, MI along with some other CMU students who are leaders in other education related groups on campus. I was able to represent the NCTE group at this visit. We learned more about how Charter schools work and what their goals are. We were even able to sit in on some classes and observe students in the classroom! It was a great experience.

Another thing we did in the NCTE group this year that I enjoyed was start a book club. Each month we picked a new book for the whole group to read. Each week at our meetings, we would discuss the book. It was fun to read some books that I have not read before!

Overall, I have truly enjoyed my experience with holding this leadership role this year. From the charter school visit, I learned that charter schools are not always a negative thing, like they sometimes get the reputation of. From the book club, I was able to figure out some books that I could use to teach in my own classroom someday. Holding this secretary position has also taught me the importance of keeping organized and communication with others.

 

Alpha Sigma Tau-Year 4

It is hard to believe that my final year of being involved in my sorority has arrived. Since I am officially an alumna of my chapter, I am taking this time to reflect on all that Alpha Sigma Tau has given me.

My sorority has given me some of the greatest friendships. I know this may sound cliche, but I honestly have meet some of the kindest, most genuine people that will be forever friends. 

Alpha Sigma Tau has taught me the importance of being a strong and confident woman. With our involvement with our philanthropy, “Women’s Wellness Initiative”, we have worked with the local Woman’s aid shelter sending them Valentine’s Day cards and care packages. We have strived as a group to lift each other up and focus more on each other’s well being and mental health. I have learned that I have this group of woman to lean on in my times of need and support. 

I will be the first to admit that this sorority was not always bright and happy. I had struggles and low points where I did not even want to be involved in the chapter anymore. Even so, my senior year was absolutely unforgettable and I made even more friendships my last semester active in the chapter!

Overall, I will miss this chapter dearly. I am forever grateful for all that these woman and the sorority as a whole has helped me grow and become who I am.

LEAD Team 2018

For my LEAD team this year, I was involved with the Competition Day lead team. We met a couple of times during the course of this semester. I was put in charge of the Tour Guides. My job was to grab a student to take people on tours when they arrived at the Leadership Institute on competition day.

During the day of competition day, I got a list of the tour guides names. When a group of competitors would arrive, I said hello and sent them with a tour guide.

Now that I have had the experience of serving on this LEAD team, I realize that I probably would not want to be involved on this LEAD team again in the future. I feel that my leadership skills could’ve been used in a better way than just directing people. It would’ve been a great experience if I was able to be an interviewer instead so I could really use my people-person skills to the benefit of the LI.

Community Service Experience

This year I partook in a couple of different community service events, but one stuck out to me the most that inspired me to write for this particular blog post. One of my sorority’s philanthropies is the “Women’s Wellness Initiative.” This semester around Valentine’s Day, we decided to pair up with another sorority on campus and made Valentine’s Day cards for the local Women’s Aid Shelter.

Being a woman has made me more passionate about helping other women in as many ways as I can. I was excited about this opportunity to benefit women in the Mt. Pleasant and surrounding communities. As a whole, we made over 500 valentine’s over the course of a couple hours to send to the shelter. I can imagine that they were excited to receive the valentine’s and letters.

Doing this community service project opened my eyes to how little things can make a big impact. Knowing that I brightened someone’s day that may be going through a tough time right now is such an amazing feeling. I would like to get more involved in the local Women’s Aid Shelter since I have come to realize how much they do for the community.

Being a Mentor

It is hard to believe that I have been a mentor for almost an entire school year! I remember being in LDR 200 last year at this time as a freshman and wondering what it would be like to finally be a mentor to a new student at CMU. After much Facebook creeping, I knew that there was only one mentee for me, her name is Ellen. Revealing to Ellen that I was her mentor is a memory that I will not forget- click here to see my video I created for her!

Serving as a mentor has been so much fun. I have to admit, I was nervous about officially meeting Ellen. Would we have things in common? Would we actually hang out and develop our relationship? All of these fears and worries quickly went away and I can honestly say that Ellen is a true friend of mine. We have so much in common, but we are also so different which gives us a lot to learn and talk about. Ellen even joined the same sorority as me and we ended up becoming Big and Little. Our relationship has developed so much and we have a tradition of getting lunch every Tuesday. I can honestly say that my dream of getting an amazing Mentee came true.

Being a mentor this year has taught me to be a better role model. I have learned how to hold the responsibility of being the person that someone can look up to and come to for guidance. I loved being able to show Ellen how awesome of a school CMU is and help make her freshman year as much fun and as smooth of a transition that it can be. I hope so much that Ellen will have the same great experience of being a Mentor when she herself gets a mentee within the next couple of weeks!

Council of Future Educators (C.O.F.E.)- 1st Year

For our LAS protocol our sophomore year, we are required to be involved in 2 RSO’s. One of them that I just joined this year is COFE (sounds like coffee). This stands for “The Council of Future Educators.” This group is open to anyone interested in becoming a teacher. Naturally, this seemed like a great fit for myself, since I am going into Education.

To be a member of COFE, you must attend meetings, participate in Operation Chip, and attend a teacher education seminar. Our meetings consist of going over any business, a fun activity, and a learning activity. I really enjoyed the learning activities the most, since we were able to create lessons and brainstorm ideas that actually matter as a future teacher. Operation Chip is a sort of “day camp” where young children come to CMU and we teach them about a certain topic that we had that week. There is always a different theme which spices things up and makes it more fun for the kids. I think being in this RSO requires a lot of skills, such as creativity, leadership, and collaboration. Creativity is important when coming up with fun and interactive ways for the kids to learn. Leadership is also huge because being in a large group full of aspiring teachers can be intimidating, so being able to take control when things get too crazy is important. Also, collaboration in this RSO is important because we constantly have to communicate with one another to figure out the best strategies for certain lessons and ideas.

Although this is only my first year being involved in COFE, I have learned a lot about what it takes to become a teacher. It is not just fun and games. We have had to develop lesson plan ideas and it can actually be a lot harder than you think. I have learned to become more collaborative and the importance of communication within a large and small group. Overall, COFE has been a  great way to meet other people who share the same interest of going into education and I am excited to see what more I learn in the coming years!

Alpha Sigma Tau-2nd Year

My second year of being involved in my sorority, Alpha Sigma Tau, is soon coming to an end. I joined last year in the fall and I cannot believe how much I have changed (in a good way!) from being involved in this amazing sorority.

One of my biggest memories I am taking from this year was that I was able to take a little this semester. It just so happened that my mentee in LAS joined our sorority this year! We ended up choosing to be Big/Little also. Ellen and I have gotten so much closer this year and I have learned about the responsibility of being a positive role model. This year, we did some new things during our Philanthropy week. Instead of just doing our Grilled Cheese fundraiser, we added some events throughout the whole week-my favorite being our “Anchorman Pageant” where fraternity men did their best anchorman impression. We also added a new Philanthropy this year. Pine Mountain Settlement School is no longer our national philanthropy, but we still choose to raise money for it since we have had such a strong connection with them for so long. The new philanthropy this year is the “Women’s Wellness Initiative.” Click the link for more information on this amazing philanthropy! We also were active in Greek Week this year where we raised money for two organizations- The Kristy Malter Memorial Fund and the Isabella County Child Advocacy Center. As an entire Greek community, we raised over $83,000!

Overall, this year was full of great times. My biggest highlight was becoming a Big. This experience prepared me by enhancing my mentoring capabilities. My understanding of just how much of a positive impact the Greek community can make grew. This year was definitely one for the books!

 

 

Being a Leadership Safari Guide

This year, I had the privilege of being a guide for Leadership Safari 2016. I was chosen to be Team Peacock for a group of incoming Freshman at CMU. All of the guides went through a series of trainings before the start of the new school year. 

I cannot even put into words the excitement I felt the days leading up to the official start of Safari and when I would get to meet my group. I’ll admit, I was pretty nervous too. I was one of the first people this group of incoming students was going to meet at CMU, so I knew I had to contain (some) of my excitement! The first night of Safari I met my group, and to my delight, we hit things off right away. Each person in my group had such different personalities but everyone was so excited to learn more about their leadership purpose and about CMU. I was very lucky to be placed with a group who all actually wanted to be there to have fun and get to know each other. As the week went on, I saw my group open up and challenge themselves. I am not exaggerating when I say that we all formed genuine friendships and connections with one another. The days continued and when it was finally time to let them go, I knew that I had done my job. Their kind words about how I inspired them to get involved on campus and to try new things assured me that I had made a lasting impact on my participants.

I will take away a lot from my experience as being a leadership safari guide. I learned that I have the skills and abilities to lead a group of participants into a whole new atmosphere. I learned that I have what it takes to train and develop my own leadership skills and actually apply them to other people in a real situation. I learned that it can be challenging to keep everyone entertained and engaged, but also that if you are willing to try new things yourself and step out of your comfort zone, that others will see that and try it themselves.

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYY SAFARI!

Year in Review- 2015/2016

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I cannot believe how fast my freshman year of college has gone. Looking back on who I was in the beginning of the year and who I am now, I think I have grown and changed in some aspects of myself. There are things I have learned about myself as a leader and how I interact with others.

As a leader, I have grown in the aspect of speaking my mind. In high school, I often found myself holding back from my thoughts and feelings. I was afraid to express my true opinion because I was scared of others seeing me differently. I think it is important as a leader to have a voice and not be afraid to say how you feel, and I have definitely learned from college that it is okay to let others know how something is affecting you. I have also found that I am the kind of leader who is able to make others feel important. I think from my personal experience of sometimes feeling left out, I have been able to grow in the aspect of making everyone feel included, which I feel is also an important attribute for a leader to possess.

I have also learned a lot about working with others. There were numerous group projects that I had this year that has taught me how to work with all types of people. In our leadership classes, we did many group projects and it was a great experience to work with all different personalities.

I learned a lot about the need to be a hard-worker in college. It is not easy, so you have to put the effort into everything you do. I also found that I don’t have to be best friends with everyone. I think it is necessary to be able to get along and be friendly to everyone, but you do not have to force a friendship upon yourself (this was something I always tried to do in high school). I value so much more in my life, including my family and friends who I have missed a lot since I have been here at CMU.

Overall, this year was such an amazing experience and I would not change anything about it. I met so many amazing people that are going to be friends for life. I am leaving my first year at CMU with no regrets and only great memories. This summer will definitely be tough not being around these amazing people everyday.

Till next time!

Fire Up Chips!