If you’ve been around campus for the past three years, chances are you’ve attended at least one event organized in part by this week’s campus celebrity, the lovely Amanda Getchell. During her time at NMSU, Getchell has done it all- from Greek Life to the school newspaper and student government. This week, she takes a moment to discuss her past successes and future plans with Her Campus NMSU.
Q: What’s your current position on campus?
A: “I’m doing a few things right now. I work for the Round Up as a marketing director and I also, as of today, ended my term as president of Alpha Xi Delta, so that’s been my big priority for the year. I’m also in the NMSU Trailblazers which is under the Dean’s Office. I just got a job with them so I’m going to be working there next semester as a Dean’s assistant in charge of leadership. And with the Pan Am, I’m doing special events as an intern. I help give student insight on what ticket prices should be, what shows should come, stuff like that. And then, I just went to Nashville last month with the Pan Am and Special Events to go to an internship over there. “
Q: How do you manage to merge everything together?
A: “To manage my time I use my planner- it’s like my bible. I map out my days to the minute with what I’m gonna do, and I’ll find time to relax too. Luckily for me, all the organizations that I’m in really don’t overlap each other too much, so I’ve kind of been able to do all of them, which has been really nice. I don’t have to choose too much.”
Q: What’s the one thing you’ve done on campus that you’re proud to leave behind?
A: “Definitely with the sorority- my first year, I was elected the PR vice president. That was really fun. I think we really turned around our image on campus, cause we were the smallest one and didn’t have any reputation really. That year, we pushed hard for our PR on social media, presence on campus, even just shirts and stuff like that- it’s all the little things that count in how an image is made. That was really cool, to see how far it’s come since I joined. We won most outstanding PR that year, too. After that, I was elected president and kind of continued the publicity, and next year I won Greek Woman of the Year. On campus, I’ve really enjoyed working with ASNMSU- I did Sustainability and Special Events. I think just being able to be a student voice is the coolest part.”
Q: You’re graduating in May- what do you plan on doing afterwards?
A: “I had a lot of plans, but now I’m thinking after graduation I’m kind of just gonna go with the flow. I’m gonna apply for jobs and if I don’t get a job, I got accepted into this work abroad program in Ireland. If nothing else works out, I figure maybe that’s the time to calm down and enjoy some time off. That’s my backup plan.”
Q: What is one thing that you wish you could have done during your time at NMSU, but didn’t get around to?
A: “I really want to get more involvement from students. I think we have a pretty good overall mentality, but if the mentality goes up, enrollment goes up, participation and everything goes up. If we got more participation- you know, I work for Special Events. If we get more people to buy concert tickets, then we can bring more concerts. It’s just a well-rounded thing. That’s actually the job I’ll work in the Dean’s Office- leadership. The goal of it is to get all the leaders on campus from different organizations to come together and start that conversation of how we can get our school spirit up and how we can get more participation in each other’s events. Instead of sororities and fraternities just doing their own thing or the Ag school just doing its own thing, why not bridge them all together? I would really like to see that. We need to find our niche, to where everyone kind of comes behind. “
Q: What advice would you have for incoming freshmen?
A: “Get involved- I think that is my biggest thing. I got involved a little bit late and on accident my freshman year, cause I wasn’t planning on getting involved. I was really involved in high school and I was like- you know what, I’m going to take a break in college. And I just happened to get an application for the ASNMSU internship and it ended up opening so many doors for me. Then I joined a sorority, on accident also. Both things led to all the things I’m in now. You’ll enjoy college so much more if you get involved, and it doesn’t matter what you get involved in. People who don’t enjoy college aren’t usually as involved. I mean, you make friends, you gain experience. I’ve traveled so much just with school, which I never thought I would.”