Meet Autumn Dietrich, a sophomore Sociology major with a track in human services. Autumn was accepted to IUP as an accounting major, but knew that her future career had to involve working with people and made the switch.
Currently, Autumn is the president of Residence Hall Association (RHA). As RHA president, Autumn leads RHA meetings, but most importantly she encourages growth in evolving student leaders on campus through collaborative efforts with the Office of Housing Residential Living and Dining. As the RHA president, she also communicates with IUP’s regional affiliate, CAACURH (Coastal Atlantic Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls), and learns from other universities all over our region and nation. Autumn also attends conferences like CAACURH as a representation of IUP’s RHA and assist our National Communications Coordinator in discussing and voting on legislative matters. Autumn is also a Diversity Peer Educator, a member of National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH), and is a Community Assistant in Ruddock Hall.
As a CA Autumn says there is nothing she loves more than seeing her residents take a leap of faith, “I try my hardest to encourage students to recognize the strength of the leaders within them, and seeing them make the choice to explore leadership is so fulfilling. I don’t feel happy because I am the one who influenced them to explore leadership, I am happy because they made the choice on their own to experience something that could potentially change the course of their lives!”
Through IUP, Autumn has had the opportunity to participate in multiple life changing experiences such as CAACURH 2015 and 2016 (Regional Leadership Conference), NACURH (National Association of College and University Residence Halls) National Leadership Conference 2016, and the alternative spring break in Nicaragua in the Spring of 2016. With everything that she does on campus, it is no surprise that Autumn was awarded the Outstanding Freshman Award last year at the Women’s Leadership Ceremony.
During the remainder of her time at IUP, Autumn is most looking forward to growing every day. “Knowing that I will be able to look back on my graduation day and see the growth I have experienced in my four years here; is something I really look forward to. Even now as a sophomore, the growth I have experienced since my freshman year has been amazing.” Coming in as a freshman, Autumn struggled with self-love and lacked confidence in here abilities. She now recognizes the importance of “taking those moments every day to remind yourself that you are worthy, you are intelligent, and you are genuine, are beyond important. Don’t doubt the confidence that others have in you. When I discovered that others had faith in me to lead, I found that faith in myself. Leadership and involvement at IUP has created the best version of me. I am forever grateful for the life changing experiences I have had on this campus.”
Autumn’s words of wisdom to the IUP community, but especially the freshmen: “Go to a meeting of an organization you are interested in. Ask questions. Be ready to learn! Do not feel that you need to be phenomenal, just be you. Get involved with organizations that bring you happiness and encourage your individualized growth. Most importantly, if you feel your involvement is too much, understand that stepping back is never shameful.”
When asked what gets her through the tough days, Autumn mentioned the people she has surrounded around herself. “I am very fortunate to work with people who share the same goals that I do. When I have a tough day, I can look to the people who encouraged me to pursue leadership. From the start these people have believed in me and pushed me to challenge myself. Being surrounded by people who want me to succeed and care so deeply about me gets me through. This is exactly why I am a sociology major. People make me happy.”
Getting to know Autumn is a wonderful pleasure and her favorite quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson speaks volumes and reminds us that we are capable of more than we could ever imagine, “”What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
If you see Autumn around campus be sure to say hi, you definitely won’t regret it.