Sophomore Natalie Raps is the Arts & Sciences Representative for the Student Assembly and is a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority.
With almost 14,000 undergraduates, almost 7,000 of them women, and 1,150 of those women involved in Greek life here at Cornell, it is obvious that sorority women are encouraged to discover the substantially diverse opportunities available for us here at the Big Red. My choice to get involved at Cornell happened to involve the Student Assembly.
In general terms, the Student Assembly is the student governing body that represents all undergraduates at Cornell. I first discovered the Student Assembly because I wanted to try something new. While I debated running for Freshman Representative, my mother kept encouraging me to run by repeating the wise words that “No one knows you yet, Natalie. No one knows anyone yet, so they can’t vote based on popularity”. Even though my mother’s veiled criticism to my past social existence was meant to be helpful it was that much harder to decide to campaign in front of my yet unknown peers. My better judgment kept flashing me back to my fourth grade school wide election in which my terror of speaking in front of the entire class only subsided when I learned that I had lost the Treasurer’s seat. However, the uplifting ending to my tale of political woe occurred in October of 2008 when I ran against 22 other great candidates and narrowly snagged third place for Freshman Rep. Even if I had lost I still would have relished the experience because I made some great friends along the way and it launched me into the roller coaster ride that defines my time on the Student Assembly.
As I stepped into my first meeting, I was overcome by the warm and accepting environment from S.A. “veterans” who encouraged me to speak out on issues that I believed in and stand firm on my (sometimes controversial) beliefs. The feelings of acceptance, love and kindness was exactly how I felt the moment I joined Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women. By joining Pi Beta Phi (or Pi Phi), I was surprised that instead of limiting what I was involved in on campus (which I thought might happen in my stereotypical idea of a sorority) I was instead supported by my new sisters to be myself and make Pi Phi proud. With my love of Pi Phi and my role as the Chair of the Women’s Issues Committee for the Student Assembly, I was lucky to be able to connect the two things that have allowed me to grow the most at Cornell.
I owe a lot to Pi Phi because each and every sister has been so great in helping me deliver on my campaign promises. In conjunction with the M.E.S.S. Express, we recently launched a pilot program so that hopefully by next year students can potentially have pre-paid taxi cards that act much like a meal plan in order to take safe rides home late at night. While our campus is beautiful, it can turn into a scary place late at night for many women who walk home in the dark by themselves. I know that during this prelim season, my sorority sisters and I have been taking advantage of this card in order to stay at the library later and knowingly have a safe and quick ride home. The ability for Pi Phi to help create new initiatives along with the Student Assembly gives me great hope for the ability of sorority women around campus to use different organizations in order to make a difference at Cornell.
If my story has intrigued you in any way please know that women representation on the Student Assembly is always needed. The chance to evolve as a leader, no matter what organization, is something that I would encourage to any sorority woman. That being said, the Student Assembly is looking for women (and men!) to be on Committees involving Residential Life, Communications, Appropriations, Women’s Issues, and Environmental Issues just to name a few. Committees meet either weekly or bi weekly and allow for students to make a difference at the school that we all love. Furthermore, in the Fall there will be 3 Freshman seats and 1 Transfer seat available for all incoming students.
If you know anyone interested, encourage him or her to find more information at assembly.cornell.edu/SA or feel free to email me at [email protected]. I would love to meet for coffee at Libe Café…stereotypical I know; yet their Chai lattes never get old.
With almost 14,000 undergraduates, almost 7,000 of them women, and 1,150 of those women involved in Greek life here at Cornell, it is obvious that sorority women are encouraged to discover the substantially diverse opportunities available for us here at the Big Red. My choice to get involved at Cornell happened to involve the Student Assembly.
In general terms, the Student Assembly is the student governing body that represents all undergraduates at Cornell. I first discovered the Student Assembly because I wanted to try something new. While I debated running for Freshman Representative, my mother kept encouraging me to run by repeating the wise words that “No one knows you yet, Natalie. No one knows anyone yet, so they can’t vote based on popularity”. Even though my mother’s veiled criticism to my past social existence was meant to be helpful it was that much harder to decide to campaign in front of my yet unknown peers. My better judgment kept flashing me back to my fourth grade school wide election in which my terror of speaking in front of the entire class only subsided when I learned that I had lost the Treasurer’s seat. However, the uplifting ending to my tale of political woe occurred in October of 2008 when I ran against 22 other great candidates and narrowly snagged third place for Freshman Rep. Even if I had lost I still would have relished the experience because I made some great friends along the way and it launched me into the roller coaster ride that defines my time on the Student Assembly.
As I stepped into my first meeting, I was overcome by the warm and accepting environment from S.A. “veterans” who encouraged me to speak out on issues that I believed in and stand firm on my (sometimes controversial) beliefs. The feelings of acceptance, love and kindness was exactly how I felt the moment I joined Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women. By joining Pi Beta Phi (or Pi Phi), I was surprised that instead of limiting what I was involved in on campus (which I thought might happen in my stereotypical idea of a sorority) I was instead supported by my new sisters to be myself and make Pi Phi proud. With my love of Pi Phi and my role as the Chair of the Women’s Issues Committee for the Student Assembly, I was lucky to be able to connect the two things that have allowed me to grow the most at Cornell.
I owe a lot to Pi Phi because each and every sister has been so great in helping me deliver on my campaign promises. In conjunction with the M.E.S.S. Express, we recently launched a pilot program so that hopefully by next year students can potentially have pre-paid taxi cards that act much like a meal plan in order to take safe rides home late at night. While our campus is beautiful, it can turn into a scary place late at night for many women who walk home in the dark by themselves. I know that during this prelim season, my sorority sisters and I have been taking advantage of this card in order to stay at the library later and knowingly have a safe and quick ride home. The ability for Pi Phi to help create new initiatives along with the Student Assembly gives me great hope for the ability of sorority women around campus to use different organizations in order to make a difference at Cornell.
If my story has intrigued you in any way please know that women representation on the Student Assembly is always needed. The chance to evolve as a leader, no matter what organization, is something that I would encourage to any sorority woman. That being said, the Student Assembly is looking for women (and men!) to be on Committees involving Residential Life, Communications, Appropriations, Women’s Issues, and Environmental Issues just to name a few. Committees meet either weekly or bi weekly and allow for students to make a difference at the school that we all love. Furthermore, in the Fall there will be 3 Freshman seats and 1 Transfer seat available for all incoming students.
If you know anyone interested, encourage him or her to find more information at assembly.cornell.edu/SA or feel free to email me at [email protected]. I would love to meet for coffee at Libe Café…stereotypical I know; yet their Chai lattes never get old.
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