Deciding on going to Marymount for college early on, I knew I wanted to join Her Campus before I even got to the school. I remember going to the first meeting of the year at the beginning of the Fall 2017 semester and already looking up the seniors who were the current Campus Correspondents. I’ll admit, at first glance, the two article per month requirement seemed like a bigger commitment than I had anticipated, but I didn’t let that deter me from joining something that had the potential to be one of the best parts of my college experience. My articles that year weren’t anything riveting, but it was a chance to practice writing for an audience and helped me make sense of my new life as a college student. My first few months at school were very busy and kept me from going to as many events as I wanted to, but our Wednesday afternoon meetings in the brownstone that served as the faculty building made my day. I quickly got comfortable within the positive, friendly group of girls and got to know the other dedicated members who kept showing up every other week for arts and crafts and discussing our latest article ideas.
With the seniors gone the next year, the club suffered and sadly became much less engaging until it was brought back to life by new CC’s my junior year. Although meetings and events were almost non-existent, I took things into my own hands and continued to write, even getting my roommate to become my personal editor. With a year’s experience and more time to work on my articles, I developed a writing style and got involved with the organisation on the national level by working at College Fashion Week, participating in campaigns for Campus Trendsetters, and meeting the founders of Her Campus at their book signing in Herald Square. The summer following sophomore year, I got to bring my best friend who was a part of HC at her own school in New Jersey, to my first and only Her Conference where the theme was “come inspired, leave empowered”. We spent the day talking to chapter members from all over the area and took tons of pictures, going home with high spirits and tote bags bursting with gifts from the sponsors.
In the fall, Her Campus kicked off with a pink-themed party where the new group of freshman and now juniors who had joined in 2017 restarted the club with a wave of momentum and ambition to make the club feel close-knit again. We had new writers coming to meetings and submitting articles and the Executive board was filled with publishers, editors, and social media directors, event planners, and community service coordinators ready to make things happen. In March, we unknowingly had our last E board meeting over brunch at a coffee shop in Midtown and continued to stay in touch over the next three semesters with virtual movie nights and stress-down days, but mostly, we just chatted with one another.
Not only do I now have a portfolio of work to show for my four years in club, I also have a newfound confidence for writing and a group of hard hard-working, caring friends I can always reach out to. I am thankful for the presidents of HC MMM, who, like me, were shaped by our first semester and stuck around to make the club the best it could be and am already proud of the next CCs for carrying it on. We might be a small chapter, but that doesn’t make what we do and what we get from it any less important.