Dreamer. Chasing Dreams.

The past few weeks of my life have been absolutely crammed and busy. I’ve spent most of my early Fall’s the past two years dedicating time to volunteer as an advisor for NC State’s Epsilon Eta chapter to aid with recruitment and membership. This involves anything from being a mentor, a confidant, a friend, and a trusted “adult.” I put adult in quotations for several reasons, 1) I look like I could still be a college student from time-to-time, 2) I still get just as excited about recruitment as I did in college,3) I still see many of these women as friends first, 4) Sometimes the women that I’m lucky enough to work with teach me more about life, friendships and leadership than I could ever teach myself.

This past recruitment— ending last week— these women had the best recruitment that they’ve ever had as an established chapter. I was a founding sister and the recruitment that we engaged in and what the women engage in today— well, it’s a whole different world— for the better. The friendships are more solid, but the heart of it is still there. This year, I challenged the women to give it all they’ve got and at times I felt like I was being too hard on them or expecting too much, which was a huge internal struggle. How do you become the “adult” of a situation, with individuals who at some point in their lives saw you as a peer? I think I figured it out and I can’t tell you how proud I am to not only be in these women’s lives, but to also call them my sisters— even if college is memory in time now.

If you weren’t Greek in college, in can be super hard to understand why esteemed, motivated, intelligent women would join a largely social organization. And, while I can’t address it all in a couple sentences, I can say that our chapter has raised more than $50,000 (and counting!) for the children at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and these same women are the ones who are leading what is essentially a small business while also pursuing Chemical Engineering degrees with 4.0’s. Like I said, it’s something to be proud of. Here’s a video that the chapter used during recruitment this year. I hope you find the joy in it, or remember your college days as well.

UPDATE: Forbes has now corrected the article.

Dear Forbes.com,

I recently read the Forbes.com list regarding the Top Cities for Business and Careers, and was happy to see that Raleigh-Durham topped the list. However, I was somewhat shocked to see that the writers considered Wake Forest University (located 1 1/2 hours away) to be an “elite university in the area.” As a successful graduate of North Carolina State University, I would like to point out that, unlike Wake Forest University, NC State is situated in the center of the Capital city and is a staple contributor to the economy, at large.

Not only is NC State the top research university in the state, it is also a top research university for Engineering and Textiles in the country. To add to my point, NC State is home to several cutting edge companies like ABB, Inc. and Red Hat, Inc, and its graduates have founded companies like WebAssign, Biolex, Agile Sciences and, most notably, SAS. This does not include the countless others that actively contribute to the economy in the Raleigh-Durham area- providing jobs and technologies that will benefit the world to come. I invite you to read more about the startup companies founded by NC State Graduates in the Raleigh-Durham area here. And in the future, please be sure to accurately reflect the talent and universities of the Raleigh-Durham area.

Sincerely,

Melissa