Meet Olivea Norris, a freshman Anthropology Major with a minor in theater and Spanish. Originally, she had majored in chemistry, but after taking an anthropology class, she was hooked and had to make the switch.
Olivea has kept herself extremely busy this year as a Diversity Peer Educator, an office worker in Pulaney, the marketing coordinator for Whitmyre’s Residence Hall Committee, and she will be the 2016-2017 National Communications Coordinator for the Residence Hall Association. On top of all of that, Olivea will be leading the IUP delegation to NACURH 2016 in June.
I had the pleasure of attending Glitz and Glamour, an event chaired by Olivea, and was completely blown away at the magnitude of the event. For those who do not know, Glitz and Glamour is a tradition at IUP and is a drag show to raise awareness about the LGBT community. The event was a complete success that filled the HUB Ohio Room on a Friday night. The crowd enjoyed performances from professional queens, as well as groups from the IUP student body. When asked how she felt about the show, Olivea said, “I feel like I did a great job with getting RHA out there and getting more students interested, which was ultimately one of the goals of the event.”
Through IUP, Olivea has had the opportunity to attend numerous conferences such as CAACURH 2015 and the EAPSU 2016 conference. With the Alternative Spring Break program, Olivea spent her spring break building houses in Nicaragua. Olivea described her time in Nicaragua as “extremely eye opening and heartwarming.”
Olivea’s advice to any student looking to get involved is to: “Read The Beak!” Although many IUP students feel like The Beak does not contain information relevant to them, Olivea feels that The Beak is a great way to keep up to date on all the campus happenings for you or someone you know.
When asked about what she is most looking forward to in her upcoming years Olivea said, “I’m most looking forward to playing an active role in getting underclassmen as excited and involved with IUP as I have become.”