At the beginning of recruitment, I had made great friendships with girls who lived across the hall from my roommates and I. We formed a friend group relatively quickly and I was really comfortable. However, when it came to Kaydee, I still struggled with reaching out to girls in my pledge class. Luckily, I have the coolest big ever and stayed close to her. For functions, meetings and other events, I tagged along with her and her friends. I can confidently say that these were my first KD friends and I am so thankful for them! After a long pep-talk to myself, I decided that I wanted to put more effort into Kappa Delta. That's when I decided to live in-house sophomore year!

Let's back track a little... In math class freshman year, a girl and I had bonded over having the same KD phone wallet. Though we weren't super close freshman year, we decided to live in-house together. Both of us were pretty hesitant at the idea of being roommates, but we had no other choice. Now, I don't know if it was God or the Universe, but us being roommates was seriously the best thing that could've happened! We rolled down the stairs (half asleep) for recruitment together, stayed up laughing for hours, and became amazing friends!

Living in-house definitely pushed me to step out of my comfort zone (I mean it's hard to stay in your own bubble when living with 90 girls)! Eventually, I would go down for dinner and sit with a group of girls that I really didn't know. They soon became friends that I knew I could rely on. We ate pretty much every meal together, had movie nights and game nights (which usually ended in tears of laughter). With all of the friendships I made living in house, it was great to know that there would always be someone to talk to, lift me up and grow my confidence. These amazing women are the reason I ran for council!

Remember how I said that I wanted to put more effort into Kaydee? I never thought this is where I would've ended up. When the position for Vice President was presented, I was sitting with 3 of my closest friends. I might have briefly mentioned that it was something I was interested in and they immediately started encouraging me to run. I became excited about the position really quickly, and before I knew it, I was filling out the application! After giving my speech, my roommate filled me with words of affirmation... and then I hear my name called! The room was filled with cheering and smiles from all of my friends and I seriously felt like I was on cloud nine! Being on council has allowed me to meet so many girls in our chapter (which is hard to do when there are 500)! I have been able to encourage change, efficiency and kindness which is incredibly rewarding.

So, what's it like to be a KD at the University of Arkansas? It's life-changing! I still have two more years left, and I cannot wait to see what the green and white has next for me!