The time has finally come. After four years at the University of Denver, and four years with Her Campus DU, it is finally time for my last article. There have been over fifty. (I’m sure all of my Facebook friends are overjoyed). Yearbook had been a big piece of my high school experience, and I was initially bummed when I learned as a freshman that DU did not have one. (Although probably for the best- do we really need a printed memory of mattresses burning in the street?) The Clarion conflicted with another extracurricular, and I was convinced that writing for the public would turn into just writing for one (and my mom, of course.) However, late in the Fall of 2015, a few students told me about an unofficial writing org that had just started that spring. I went to my first meeting, and the rest, as they say, was history.
2017 Valentines Feature
Like myself, HCDU has changed and grown during these last four years. As Senior Editor Kat Boeschen fondly recalls, we used to meet around the Nagel pool tables on Wednesday nights. Sometimes with chairs, sometimes without, depending on if they had been moved. HCDU never blossomed to more than ten people in those early years and meeting the national requirements for such a small team was hard work. (May “Campus Cutie” profiles never be resurrected.) I learned how to write in different styles than I had previously been exposed to, my favorite pieces being the dramatically different 10 Things Short Haired Girls are Tired of Hearing and When Intangible Becomes Tangible: White Privilege in China. Furthermore, connecting with women outside of my social circles made me feel more connected to DU as a whole.
At the end of my sophomore year, I was approached by one of the outgoing Campus Correspondents about being one of the CCs for the next year. I was initially hesitant; I knew if I were to take it on, I would want to do it right. It would be re-building the yearbook all over again and would take up a lot of my time and energy. I hadn’t been sure if I wanted Her Campus to be that defining in my college career, which is why I had not initially applied for leadership. But after considering it further, I applied, and the next chapter of my HCDU story started writing itself.
April, my fellow Campus Correspondent for the last two years, and I have had a wild leadership ride together. Working together has considerably shaped me into the leader I am today. Our leadership styles, communication techniques, interests, majors, and hair colors all drastically differ from one another, and it took us a long time to learn how to work together successfully. We both laugh at it now, but there were certainly trials we had to work through.
A Campus Correspondent Dream Team
But in learning how to work together, we also learned how to build a successful team and club. Our relaunch of Her Campus DU officially started in the Winter of 2017. We met for hours to plan strategy, we stormed every dorm room with HC information, and we hoped beyond hope that more than the four remaining members would show up to our first meeting. That first meeting, as I shared at the last Spring Quarter Her Campus meeting, is my favorite HCDU memory. We were so over prepared and excited for the future. I had even baked an HC themed pie—and my friends will tell you that I definitely do not bake anything besides brownies. Although that first meeting was a mixed success, it was the foundation that led us to what we have achieved since then.
Winter 2017 Kickoff (Look at that pie!)
Now, HCDU is an official organization of USG with an amazing executive board and faculty advisor (Thanks, Dr. Kt!) Our viewership stats, that once never received more than 100 views, now can receive over 1000. Our Instagram has over 1500 followers, which has been a game changer in terms of org recognition on campus. And those four members turned into a roster of over twenty girls. (During the fall quarter, I forgot to set an alarm for my nap and was mortified and proud to find 18 students waiting for me.) We have been able to send four of our executive board to the annual Her Conference and just recently found out that we are now a Diamond Level chapter of Her Campus, ranking in the top 10% of over 300 chapters globally. (And dammit, we almost won the March Madness 2017 Follower challenge, rip).
Her Conference NYC
Her Campus has held a special place in my heart, and in my schedule, during these collegiate years. While I’ll miss the community of girls we built and reviewing the content we have created, I am excited to see where the chapter goes in the future. I am honored to have helped to build a little bit of the foundation. A special thanks to all those who helped make HCDU a reality: Manya Nagpal Hannah Renea Bumgarner, Kat Boeschen, Hunter Hall, Kendall Ungerman, Bree Peterson, Clare Link-Oberstar (photo-shoot shots thanks to CLO photography) and of course, April Vollmer. What an amazing #badass group of ladies.
Part of the 2018-2019 Her Campus Team
And with that, #hcxo!