Hello world, make way for this Campus Celebrity, Erin Gillen!
Erin has a simple yet fun nickname that comes with a bit of a back story. Erin is the youngest of six kids and one of her brothers friends called her this fun nickname for as long as she could remember. Her junior year of high school she went to summer camp at Windy Gap, a young life camp in North Carolina where she came upon an instance that she needed to throw out this nickname. “When I got to camp there was also another Erin so I decided to throw out my nickname so that people would not confuse me with the other Erin,” said Gillen.
Fast forward to the first day of freshman year here at Arkanas, Erin comes upon a girl she knew at camp who shouted out her nickname along with a hello on campus one day. Also up here in Arkansas, Erin worked at sonic in the fall of 2014 where her fellow employees called her this nickname as well.
Erin’s nickname is clearly meant to be stuck with her and Gillen says, “It is probably one of the best things that’s ever happened to me”. Erin Nicole Gillen goes by the nickname of…Gilly.
Gilly’s experience at Windy Gap led her to chase her dreams and succeed! Gilly is a college Young Life leader where she leads college kids here at the University of Arkansas every Tuesday night at 9 pm. Young Life is a club that consists of worship, prayer, and a sermon on God. Young Life aims to reach everyone in the area and Gilly has been working on spreading the love outside of Fayetteville, AR.
Gilly will not be returning to the University of Arkansas this coming fall of 2015. She will begin chasing a new dream, The World Race. The World Race is a 9 month mission trip where she will be spreading the gospel over seas! She has the privilege to begin sharing the word come September in El Salvador, Philippines and Zambia.
Gilly loves to hang around campus and just walk up to anyone she sees and just start talking to them and get to know their life. She cares about you even if you don’t know her, so if you see this girl don’t be shy to go and say hi because you will receive a huge welcome.
Fun Facts:
– She’s obsessed with the soundtrack from “Rent the Musical”.
– Her favorite food is mini frosted donuts.
– She is always wearing converse, any color.