Name: Kelly O’Keefe
Year: Sophomore
Major: International Affairs
Hometown: Fort Pierce, FL
Photo By: Lauren Alsina
Her Campus (HC): How did you know Florida State was for you?
Kelly O’Keefe (KO): I decided that Florida State was the school I wanted to go to because my mom went here so I was raised a Seminole. And, you know, I actually went through that adolescent stage where I didn’t want to go here and I was going to go somewhere else. But when it came time to apply for schools this was the only place I wanted to go and it’s the only school I applied for.
HC: How did you start getting involved on campus?
KO: Well during my fall semester of my freshman year I decided to rush and I joined Kappa Delta. I immediately wanted to get involved in any of the leadership positions I could. I was super involved in high school and wanted to carry that with me to college. I had a leadership position in Kappa Delta as the Set Leader, which is part of the new member education process, so essentially I would introduce them to Kappa Delta and teach them everything they needed to know. After that, one of my sisters Emily McGuinness, who is the treasurer of the SGA, started reaching out to us last election season and told us to get involved and apply for Vitality. So I told myself to get involved and that’s kind of what catapulted me into what I’m doing now.
HC: What do you do within Vitality?
KO: Within Vitality I work with the campaign, reach out to potential candidates, I encourage anyone I think would be a good candidate to apply, basically anything and everything they need me for. I love Vitality. It’s a great party with genuine people, a lot of humility and a lot of integrity. I’m the type of person who wouldn’t align myself with anything I didn’t see as honest or worthwhile.
HC: Do you see yourself in politics in the future?
KO: Yeah absolutely! I’m actually in the process of applying for internships, anything in the realm of political science, anything legislative. I actually just applied for my second major within the School of Communications, so I would double major with that and International Affairs and then what I would really like to do is something along the lines of press in politics. Or who knows I’ve also thought about working for Homeland Security but I’m not sure on that one yet.
HC: So aside from your involvement, what do you do for fun?
KO: I honestly love hanging out with my roommates and my sisters. I try working out occasionally, but I haven’t been too successful with that.
HC: Do you have any favorite movies?
KO: I actually love movies but one of my all-time favorite movies is Jurassic Park! I also read the books which many people don’t know that they are—
HC: There are books?
KO: Yes! There’s only two of them and the movies are mirrored after them and then the rest were spinoffs. I love the books. I also love Indiana Jones. I’m a low-key nerd.
HC: What’s your advice to someone that wants to get involved on campus?
KO: I would suggest looking into the RSOs on campus, there are so many! You could also get involved with the student government. I know it can seem hard at first but really it’s just reaching out to somebody which is actually something we want to work on in senate and that is making senators more at the disposal of students because that’s what we’re supposed to here for is to hear what the students want. So contact a senator and ask us how to get involved. We’re here to help.
If you want to hear what’s going on around campus you can catch Kelly and the rest of the senate every Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Senate Chambers located on the third floor of the Union.