SSC "Experience"
A few years ago I dumped some of my college docs into my Google Drive so that I wouldn't lose them all when my computer inevitably died. I was looking for something this morning when I noticed a doc titled "experience" and I decided to click on it. I must have written this reflection for a class in the Spring of 2009. Thought I'd share it with you. :) It's interesting how sometimes things just fall into place in beautiful, unexpected ways. The friendships and connections I made through SSC continue to play an extremely significant role in my life.
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It was exam week and I was sitting in Holden Hall unable to focus on studying for my psychology 101 final. The only thing on my mind was where to live the following year. Everyone else I knew had figured it out months prior. All of the girls who had come from my hometown had joined sororities and were going to be living in their houses next year, leaving me roommate-less. I was nervous and it was down to the wire… as a matter of fact, it was well past the wire. I had joined the Spartan Ski Club that year in order to go on a trip out west to Steamboat, Colorado so out of pure desperation I sent a message to the club asking if anyone needed a roommate. There I was, sitting in my blue chair studying away when my phone rang…
I was offered the opportunity to move into a house directly off campus with ten girls I had never met. I didn’t even think, I just agreed. Taking that initial chance was the beginning of an amazing chain of events that completely altered my life. After that phone call I was so inspired by the kindness Ski Club had offered me that I decided to get more involved and I applied to become a Junior Officer. Those ten girls that I had never met before became ten of my closest friends and getting involved with the Spartan Ski Club turned out to be the most influential decision of my college career.
I ended up loving being a part of Ski Club and advanced to becoming the Secretary my junior year and then finally the President my senior year. The progression I made from being a general member all the way to becoming President taught me more than I could have anticipated. It gave me an opportunity to network with over 500 members annually and also to become part of a group that cares about not only skiing, but about Michigan State, and even more so, about each other. I was also able to learn countless skills - everything from budgeting, marketing, and advertising to problem-solving, understanding how to be a leader and what it takes to motivate people.
Now as I begin my job search and reflect upon my four years at Michigan State I am so thankful I stumbled along that house with ten strangers that inevitably led me to be in charge of Spartan Ski Club. I am currently pursuing Event Planning as my future career and I owe it all to the Ski Club for giving me the opportunity to plan everything from weekly meetings, to movie premiers and ski weekends in Michigan and Canada. The most prevalent of all, however, was coordinating a week-long trip of over 260 students to Colorado three years in a row! I learned the importance of getting involved in the community you find yourself in because it can truly take you on a path that changes your life, and in my case, it has.
