This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Northwestern chapter.
Name: Kenzie Carnow
Year: Sophomore
Hometown: Wilmette, IL
School: School of Communication
Major: Communication Sciences and Disorders with a focus in learning disorders
Tell us about your upcoming philanthropy event, Baby Got Mac!
Baby Got Mac is a mac and cheese bar philanthropy event benefitting the Theta Foundation’s “Give to Lead, Give to Learn” campaign. We are hoping this event will help to bring Northwestern students together in this cold winter to enjoy awesome comfort food, de-stress from studying for finals, and benefit a wonderful cause. During reading week, it’s important to promote mental health, so we think providing an organized and enjoyable outlet to relax and enjoy good food with friends during reading week allows everyone to take a well-deserved study break.
As philanthropy chair, tell us about the organization that benefits from your fundraiser, and why it’s so great.
“Give to Lead, Give to Learn” is Kappa Alpha Theta’s first major fundraising campaign to address the educational needs of its members. “Give to Lead, Give to Learn” raises money to fund the Educational Leadership Consultant (ELC) program (ELCs are recent college graduates who serve as role models for their assigned chapter’s members as well as an official representative of the Fraternity) and the need-based scholarship program. Both of these programs are vital to the future success of our members and Kappa Alpha Theta as a whole. Our chapter has always benefitted greatly from the Theta Foundation. Many of our members receive aid from their need-based scholarship program and we as a chapter are very eager to give back to this amazing cause. We have enjoyed working closely with the Theta Foundation over the years and hope that our donation to this campaign can bring other chapters around the country the same benefits we have enjoyed, as well as expand educational programming to reach and support all members of Kappa Alpha Theta.
What other philanthropy events does Theta put on throughout the year? Which is your favorite and why?
This year we held a softball tournament called KAT at Bat with ODPhi to benefit CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), Theta’s national philanthropy. Fraternities and campus organizations register teams and compete in the tournament, while we cheer them on. We also hold a raffle and grill hot dogs during the tournament! Shout out to the SAE seniors team who won last year!
We also were part of an event called Breakfast on the Block, where Theta the other sororities in our quad (DG, Alpha Chi Omega, and Tridelta) all got together and sold breakfast items in our quad to benefit Greekbuild.
My personal favorite so far has been KAT at Bat. It’s always so much fun to cheer on the teams and people usually get really into it. It was pretty cold this year, so we all were huddled around the grill making hot dogs. It was super fun seeing everyone having such a good time playing softball and eating hot dogs with friends. Although, given that mac and cheese is my favorite food of all time, Baby Got Mac might become my new favorite. Next quarter, we are holding our an event called Theta Factor, which is a campus-wide musical talent competition. Teams audition to perform and we get guest judges to name the winner of the competition. Usually a couple Thetas MC the event, which is awesome. So that’s something we are really looking forward to next quarter.
What else are you involved in on campus?
I’m in Supplies for Dreams, which is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization actually founded at Northwestern by students. We are committed to serving Chicago public schools by providing our students with basic school supplies, pairing them up with college mentors and taking them on field trips to some of Chicago’s museums. My position is Curriculum Specialist in the Academic Enrichment Committee. Essentially, my co-curriculum specialists and I are responsible for creating and revising the curriculum for our four mentoring programs in Chicago Public Schools. It has been an amazing experience to be a part of student-run team that raised nearly $100,000 to support 3,500 students in 2014 alone!
I’m also the Blood Drive Coordinator for NU Red Cross. I am essentially responsible for organizing the blood drives we hold on campus, i.e. for finding and reserving a suitable location, publicizing the blood drive, recruiting donors, scheduling appointments for donors, etc. It’s so amazing to organize events like these that literally save lives.