From Camp War Eagle counselor to being Student Recruiter to serving as secretary in the College of Science and Mathematics (COSAM), it is safe to say Channing Garber has done her fair share of contributing to Auburn’s campus. It was only last year that she was voted most involved Greek Woman on campus and she now serves as the Sigma Kappa sorority president. Channing shares her experiences with us and explains what it means to be a leader!
HC Auburn: What is your major/minor?
Channing: I’m majoring in biomedical sciences and minoring in Spanish. My real concentration is Pre-Med.
HC Auburn: What made you want to get involved in Greek Life?
Channing: I honestly didn’t know if I would want to be in a sorority when I came to Auburn. I had a friend who went to the University of Tennessee and was a Tri Delta. She became really involved in it and loved it. She encouraged me to at least go through rush and see what I thought. My other two friends from home, that went to Auburn, encouraged me to go through rush as well. So, I went through rush kind of skeptical but ended up enjoying the whole experience. I didn’t really know anything about it because both of my parents were not in Greek life during their time at school. But it ended up working out for me, obviously.
HC Auburn: What are the responsibilities involved with being Sigma Kappa President?
Channing: The main things, during the week, are running the executive meetings. I meet with exec and we talk about all the things that are going on, coming up, things that we need to plan, and things that we need to discuss during chapter. We discuss any issues that are going on in the chapter or any goals that we have and are working towards. I run chapter every week, so that includes planning it, making the power points, getting everything together, and then conducting chapter. Outside of that I communicate with the advisors and our national officers. I am like the liaison between our chapter and national headquarters and the liaison between our chapter and Panhellenic. The big part of my job is mostly delegating, making sure everyone is doing their job.
HC Auburn: what has been the most challenging part of being Sigma Kappa’s president?
Channing: I think what is really hard for any Greek life president is being responsible for holding your friends accountable and their leadership roles, especially on exec. We are really close, but if one of them forgets to do something I’m responsible for making sure that they do it. So it’s kind of like learning how to maintain your friendships while also keeping people accountable. It’s also hard when you have to break bad news to people or having to make unpopular decisions every now and then to benefit the chapter in the long run.
HC Auburn: Last year, you were voted most involved Greek Woman on campus. Are you still able to be as involved on campus as you were before, with you new leadership role?
Channing: Well actually when I got that award, it was at the end of spring semester, so I had been president for spring semester. I think that award came from things I did in the past. I think I am relatively involved now, but with my major and with the role of president, I have had to narrow down what is really important to me. If I hadn’t, then I would be doing a lot of things with half effort and letting a lot of things slide, which is not helpful to anyone.
HC Auburn: what kind of organizations, aside from Sigma Kappa, are you apart of this year?
Channing: Really right now, I’m just president of Sigma Kappa and I serve on a committee for SGA, where we have maybe a meeting a week. SGA is not that demanding of my time. I am also secretary for COSAM leaders, so that is something within my college. I have served on a couple of committees through COSAM. It is one of those things where I have been able to develop relationships with people that have written me recommendations and people that are helping me figure out things for my future. Besides that, I do undergraduate research and shadowing. Most of the stuff I do, aside from Sigma Kappa, is related to my major. In the past I jumped all over the place and did a lot of different things.
HC Auburn: what has been your favorite organization that you have joined here at Auburn?
Channing: Other than Sigma Kappa, Camp War Eagle has been the most fun organization that I have been a part of. I knew it was going to be the last summer that I could do something that wasn’t related to my major or necessarily school related. I loved Camp War Eagle; it was a lot of fun. It was a big time commitment in the spring. The relationships that I developed through hanging out with the counselors made it worth it, as cliché as that sounds. You get to become close friends with a lot of diverse people from different areas of campus, that you probably never would have met before. I met one my best friends at Camp War Eagle. We didn’t talk really during spring training but we ended up rooming together during the summer. It was a really great experience and taught me to have a lot more self-confidence. I think it prepared me to be president and made me realize you can’t try and be what everyone wants you to be. All you can do is be yourself and genuinely care about people. You can’t be totally reliant on people’s approval.
HC Auburn: What advice would you give to others who are considering taking on an officer position in their sorority?
Channing: The best advice I can give is to get involved on the front end and really invest your time. Put your all into whatever positions you do hold and pay attention to things that you think could be improved. If you keep that stuff in mind then you have ideas of what you want to do and what you want to see happen when you take on whatever leadership position you want. Do things that show you care about that organization. Also, develop friendships within that organization, because you can’t be an affective leader if you don’t have relationships with the people that you are trying to lead, especially in Greek life. That is the biggest issue that people run into. There are plenty of girls that I have seen that are really organized, really motivated, and great individuals but struggle once they get into a role like president. No one is going to listen to you if you don’t care about them. So, really focus on building friendships and being there for your sorority, like going to events that no one else wants to go to while still having a good attitude. Lead by example on the front end when you’re not in a leadership position. You will earn peoples respect in the long run and it will pay off.
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Channing and the 2012-2013 Sigma Kappa seniors!
Channing and Cody Nall welcoming this years Sigma Kappa pledges on Bid Day!
Channing representing one of seventeen Auburn’s Panhellenic sororities!