Her Campus recently had the opportunity to interview Lexi Wung, the University of Michigan National Panhellenic Association President. Besides being president of this organization, Lexi is a psychology major with minors in English and Entrepreneurship. In addition to her position as president she has Greek Life affiliation with Delta Delta Delta. She also interns for the Washtenaw Public Defender’s Office, and is a part of the Michigan Pre-Law Society.
Her Campus: What inspired you to want to run for the position of president of Panhel?
Lexi Wung: My best-kept secret is that I did not actually run for Panhel president. I applied and interviewed solely for the position of Judicial Vice President since I want to become a lawyer and that position seemed perfect for my skillset. You can imagine my surprise when the prior executive board called me one evening and asked if I would be okay with running for president. Honestly at first I did not know if I wanted to accept their nomination or not; I was scared that I would not live up to expectations or that I wouldn’t be able to excel in a position that is not clearly defined. I think what made me want to accept the nomination was that I had not run for the position but rather had been chosen, in a way. This made me realize that others saw a potential in me that (at the time) I did not see, so I accepted and here I am.
HC: How do you feel about the rush process at U of M? Is it difficult to hold such a large position at such a stressful time for so many people in Greek Life?
LW: I think our rush process is very adaptive and responsive to the needs of our community. You can imagine how difficult it is to plan for rush ahead of time (fun fact: we book rooms in the Union and the League literally years in advance for recruitment), but our recruitment chairs work so hard trying to make the process the best it can be. For me, recruitment was not a stressful time; it was an exciting time, though I will admit it was very tiring. I was a Rho Omega (recruitment counselor) the year before my presidency and loved acting as a mentor to my potential new members. To be able to now oversee all the women going through recruitment and to be able to share my advice with all of them was amazing. I really felt honored to be able to represent Greek Life to women who are unfamiliar with our community.
HC: Did you have to address any major issues within Panhel during your time as president?
LW: Yes of course. I went to many risk management meetings, had late night conversations with sorority presidents, had to handle the loss of one of our chapters in our community. However, I also was able to aid in the introduction of a new chapter.There are issues within any student organization on campus, and is about how you handle them and what you do in the aftermath that is crucial.
HC: What were your main duties as president? What surprised you about the job?
LW: To be completely honest what surprised me the most was how many emails I would get. An Unbelievable number of emails. More in depth though, in my position I act as a liaison between the University and the Greek Community, and between the Panhellenic executive board and the 17 sororities on campus. But what I loved about my position and what surprised me was that I was able to come up with my own initiatives to work on throughout the year. I didn’t have set guidelines for what my position was to accomplish, what events to plan, or how success was to be measured.
I had the freedom to pursue initiatives that I was interested in, mainly improving mental health awareness in our community and collaborating more with the four councils. Another incredible part of my position was leading Gavel Club, a weekly meeting between all of the sorority presidents to discuss problems and brainstorm solutions for the multitude of issues that can arise as a chapter president while celebrating the success within our chapters. Gavel Club during my term was so rewarding because all of us became such great friends, and by creating those friendships through the presidents the rest of the chapter was able to follow that standard.
HC: Finally, do you have any advice for girls who are looking to join Greek Life in the future?
LW: I started the rush process by telling myself that I was doing this for me, and that I’m the one who’s going to spend the rest of my college time in a chapter, so why would I let anyone else influence my decision? Having this mindset will make joining Greek Life so much more rewarding. Greek Life is also what you make of it. If you want to be a leader in our community there will be countless opportunities; if you want to take on a different role than we will find or make these opportunities available to you. Do not let the stereotypes define you, you are the future of your chapter and what you value becomes crucial in finding a forever home, so make sure to think of those while going through the recruitment process.
Photos courtesy of Lexi Wung.