Mackenzie Winchester is living the Greek life dream. Mackenzie is currently a seventeen-year-old freshman here at the College of Charleston–she skipped her junior year at Lexington High School so that she could graduate and begin her college education a year early. Like every incoming freshman she was nervous about making new friends and finding her place at CofC. To discover her way, she decided to move into her dorm room at Liberty Residence Hall a week early and be a part of Panhellenic recruitment in hope of joining a sorority. When asked why she wanted to be a part of a sorority, she replied with, “I wanted to get involved on campus and make life long sisters at the same time.” And she is doing just that.
After a long, stressful week of recruitment, Mackenzie was given a bid to be part of the Kappa Delta sorority here at The College. When Mackenzie hears the words “recruitment week,” the first thing that comes to her mind is an enormous number of conversations and a good chance of losing her voice. After recruitment week, came “Bid Day,” where all the hard work and long conversations from the prior week paid off. She said this day was exciting because she ran home to her new sisters in the Cistern, then ventured to the sorority house, and lastly to the beach to spend quality bonding time with her new “lifelong sisters.”
Mackenzie is hoping that she will have useful additions, like community service, to her resume after being a part of the Kappa Delta sorority. Her sorority volunteers with Girl Scouts and does a lot of fundraising. She does not mind because she enjoys giving back to the community, which is why she is thinking about running to be on council her Junior year. If Mackenzie were to run for Council, she would strive to be elected as the Vice President of the Philanthropy. Kappa Delta’s Philanthropy is to prevent child abuse in America, something Mackenzie feels strongly about. Along with community service, each member of the sorority contributed forty dollars’ worth of canned goods for Pep Supper, where the canned food was then donated to the Lowcountry Food Bank. Mackenzie says she made the right choice by choosing Kappa Delta and if she could relive recruitment she wouldn’t do anything different because she is happy with where she is.
All photos courtesy of Mackenzie Winchester.