1. Introduce yourself!
My name is Erin Bradley and I am from Grafton, WV. I am currently pursuing a double major in Child Development & Family Studies and Public Health. A fun fact about me is that I love to garden! During the summer I always keep a small garden at my parents’ house where I grow tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, and pumpkins just to name a few!
2. What sorority are you in? / What made you want to join your sorority?
In the fall of 2015 I joined Alpha Omicron Pi through participating in formal recruitment. I came from a very small high school so when I came to WVU my freshman year, I was quickly overwhelmed by the size of the community. I went through recruitment to find a place that would feel like home here in Morgantown. Each day of recruitment when I would go back to AOII I just felt a genuine connection with each sister that I spoke with. Even as a PNM, I felt that AOII was a place that would help me become the woman that I wanted to be in the future and that is still true today!
3. Did you hold positions in your sorority that led you to apply for a Panhellenic position?
I first got involved in Panhellenic through serving on the Panhellenic committee for AOII. As a freshman and sophomore, I would go to Panhellenic’s weekly meeting and just observe what was happening. Then in the spring of 2017, I ran to be the Junior Panhellenic Delegate for AOII and was elected to the position! A few months later I became the Senior Panhellenic Delegate when that officer had to step down. In a little less of a year, I had gone from just observing Panhellenic to being AOII’s representation on the Panhellenic Council. As my term was coming to a close a member of the exec board approached me and asked if I had thought about putting in my application for the 2018 exec board. After thinking it over (and getting a lot of encouragement from my sisters) I submitted my application for the exec board!
4. When did you find out that you were officially Panhellenic President?
The weekend that the new exec board was going to be announced I was actually attending an AOII conference in Denver, Colorado. I was notified that I had been elected to the Panhellenic executive board for 2018 while sitting in the Denver airport. From the time that I got to my gate almost an hour before my flight until I boarded, my phone buzzed constantly with congratulatory messages and calls from my sisters, advisors, and other Panhellenic women. Words cannot accurately describe what it feels like to be sitting alone in an airport across the county but to still feel so immensely loved by your sisters.
5. Do you have any big plans for this year while being Panhellenic President?
I’m so excited for everything that the executive board has planned for this year! We’re really focusing on continuing to make the Panhellenic community stronger and more united. We’ll also be working on really helping the Greek wide philanthropy Circle of Sisterhood take off this year. The executive board has so many cool and new ideas that we can’t wait to share with the Panhellenic community at our first Assembly meeting on February 11th!
6. In what way has being in a sorority impacted your life or prepared you for your future endeavors?
It’s so cliché, but I would be lying if I said that being a part of a sisterhood hasn’t impacted every part of my life. I’ve learned so much about myself and working with other through serving on different officer positions. I’ve gotten to travel and see the impact that AOII has nationally and internationally (my first time flying by myself was for AOII). I’ve gained a network of sisters across the country that I know I could call on for anything. AOII has given me some of the best friends I could have ever asked for. They are women that I know will support me through everything in life and I still wonder what I did to deserve them!
7. Is there any one person you owe your Panhellenic success to?
I believe that I am immensely blessed by all the opportunities that I’ve had in my college career, and this one especially! I’d have to credit, first God, and then my sisters for my Panhellenic success. Without their endless love and support, I never would have had the courage to apply to the exec board and they have been nothing but constant encouragement through this whole journey!