Name: Kelsi Horn
Year: Senior
Major: Advertising
Minor: Public Relations
Hometown: Belleville, Michigan
Kelsi Horn is a senior majoring in advertising. She is currently the president of Black Student Alliance. She is also a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. She loves to volunteer and is a member of Daughters of the Collective at MSU. In her free time, she likes to read, draw and write!
What made you choose your majors? Freshman year I was bouncing around between majors because I like politics, I like business, I like to be creative and I like to draw and write, and so I think advertising and public relations kind of encompass all of those things. There’s so many different things you can get into with it, so if I really wanted to get back into politics, then I have that opportunity with public relations, but what really sparked my interest is that part of public relations is advocating on behalf of something that’s not yourself, and that’s just what I like to do in general, so the idea to advocate for someone professionally is just really cool. I could also work for a non-profit organization or a community agency.
What are your hobbies? One of my goals for 2017 is to find some ‘me’ time. I like to read and draw, and I am trying to write that’s not related to school.
What are you currently involved in? I am currently the president of Black Student Alliance — we represent and advocate for the more than 3,000 Black students at MSU. So, I communicate with the administration, other organizations and our community partners to help Black students succeed on campus. Right now we are focusing on increasing our retention in graduation rates and giving students the resources they need to be successful.
I am a resident assistant at Mcdonel — this is my third year there. I am in Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. I am a part of its public relations team as well as other committees. We are a community service based organization, so we try to uplift the community however we can.
I am also a part of Daughters of Collective. We meet with middle school-aged girls, some from Detroit and some from inner-Lansing, and we focus on their self esteem, finding ways to motivate and empower them because a lot of them don’t have stable at home lives, give them something to look forward to, expose them to arts and other things they might be interested in and just give them positive images of Black girls.
Do you consider yourself a feminist? I don’t consider myself a radical, but yes, I wholeheartedly believe in gender equality and that women run the world!
As a senior, what do you think will be the most important thing you’ll be taking away from MSU? To be curious and meet people and find answers to your questions. Everyone kind of has preconceived notions about so many things, people or cultures, and unless you get out of your bubble and your safety net, then you will continue to live with these stereotypes and really not learn a lot of things. So, that’s what I have learned, to branch out, expose myself to something that I am not used to, get comfortable with the uncomfortable, and it’s really helped me grow as a person and learn about myself in the process.