Kelly Christensen is five feet of sparkling personality and humor with a passion for helping children with disabilities. Not only was she selected to be the Spirit Morale Chair for her sorority, Zeta Tau Alpha, but she was also recently nominated for Theta Chi’s Desperado Darling.
Name: Kelly Christensen
Major: Family and Child Sciences
Home Town: Denver, Colorado
Relationship Status: In a relationship (with school)
Age: 12
Her Campus (HC): Tell us about your passion for helping children with disabilities.
Kelly Christensen (KC): I think a lot of what inspires me when I work with kids with mental handicaps is their huge capacity for love. They look past all of your flaws, your differences, etc. and just love you whole-heartedly for being their friend. They have this great appreciation for [the little] things in life that we often look over and I think that’s amazing.
HC: What have you done in the past to volunteer with these children?
KC: I feel like I’m writing my resume right now. I’ve done Special Olympic Swimming and Skiing. I was co-president of my club back in high school called Open Arms, which integrated those with mental handicaps with their peers. I was a helper on the Unified Basketball team with those same kids. I have volunteered several times with the Global Down Syndrome Foundation, have been an advocate for the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign, and was in the club here at FSU called Best Buddies as an associate helper.
HC: After spending so much time with children with disabilities, have you become close with anyone in particular?
KC: I would say I try to maintain friendships with a lot of the kids that I have met over the years. I text several of them pretty regularly and am friends with a lot of them on Facebook. But Matt Kolberg, who has autism, and I have been best friends for almost 5 years now.
HC: Describe your friendship with Matt Kolberg. How did you two meet?
KC: My sophomore year of high school, I took an art class which aimed at assisting people that had mental handicaps. Matt was my partner one week, and I became obsessed with the manner in which he did his art projects and we just hit it off. Since then we FaceTime every single day, we text, and we talk on the phone. He’s the greatest person on this planet.
HC: How can others get involved and also help children with disabilities?
KC: Seek out different opportunities and resources, it’s totally dependent on what type of work you’re trying to get into.
HC: What is one of your biggest pet peeves?
KC: People chewing with their mouths open, being told to shush, and when people say the “r-word”.
HC: What do you enjoy most about being a member of Greek life?
KC: I love my day-to-day interactions with the people in my chapter and people in Greek life in general. It definitely helps to make our huge campus a little bit smaller and more tight-knit. I think that being a member of Greek life has allowed me to become a way more dynamic person than I ever would’ve been without it.
HC: Would you say being a teeny-tiny gal is a blessing or a curse? Why?
KC: What do you mean, I’m teeny-tiny? I’m 6’7! However, if I was teeny-tiny I would say that being [small] is a blessing. However, looking like you’re 12 when you’re 19 is a curse. The size is great for getting cheap clothes and kid’s menus at restaurants, but trying to get into bars when you look like you’re 12 gets kinda sketchy.
HC: If you had one wish, and only one, what would it be?
KC: That Rick Ross and I were best friends.
HC: Dogs or cats?
KC: Dogs. Shih Tzu over everything.