Our newest alumni = some of my heroes!

ChristinaL — Sun, 10 May 2009 14:16:00 GMT

Yesterday, the Class of 2009 officially graduated from Butler University. I can't even believe it.

The first shocking thing about it is that it means I am only one year away from walking into Hinkle Fieldhouse on a warm Saturday in May with all my classmates and doing the same thing. Now that they are gone, there is no denying it - we are the new seniors.

The second scary part is how many amazing people moved on from undergraduate life at our university yesterday. They were some of my closest friends, our best leaders and definitely role models who will be missed dearly. I want to tell you about some of them to give you an idea of the amazing types of people we go to school with at Butler.

Adam - I met Adam in my first English class freshman year. He is a double major in English and French and has been involved in tons of things, including being a proud Ross RA. What I am most proud of him for are all the things that he and my friend Austin (who's only a sophomore - thank goodness!) have done for the Gay Straight Alliance. Indiana can be a conservative state sometimes, and at every college you will have people who are more and less comfortable with diversity. To combat all these challenges, Adam has put so much work into developing a great network for GLBT students and straight allies. They put on tons of popular events and have really done so much for making diversity more visible and accepted on this campus. (Recently they had a whole week of activities including Sex(uality) on the Mall, which was a carnival with games and infomation about sexuality and sexual health that many campus groups helped with.) Adam has done so much for Alliance, Residence Life, and interning for the Damar Center, a local non-profit, and I love working with him in the Writers Studio where we're both peer tutors. Next year he is going to grad school in Paris to study French!! I am SO proud...and jealous : )

Michelle: another one of my Writer's Studio cohorts! Michelle also does many things on campus and interns at NUVO with me. I really admire her for her writing, especially what she has done this year for The Collegian, our weekly campus newspaper. Michelle has done so many great articles, but I especially appreciated her opinion articles about Greek Life. She was in a sorority and choose to leave it after her sophomore year, but Michelle used that experience to write a critique of the Greek community which she published in The Collegian. That was a very brave thing to do, and even though I don't totally agree with everything she said, she got a lot of people to speak passionately about our Greek community and really opened up a dialouge that otherwise would not have existed. That's what every great writer aims for, and I'm proud that Michelle did it. Michelle is fluent in Spanish and will be teaching it to high school students in Mississippi next year for Teach For America, a huge honor.

Jon: I first got to know Jon through a friend from high school because they are both anthropology majors, and I believe Jon was his Honors mentor. Sophomore year of college, we had Museum Studies together, and I recruited him to be my main photographer for the yearbook staff, because I knew that he did such great photography for The Collegian (He writes for them, too!). Jon is literally everywhere on campus taking photos, especially of our amazing Butler sports. I loved getting to work with him, too, because he's such a funny and interesting person. I am also so amazed at how smart Jon is and how passionate he is about the ideals of a liberal arts education. He has written and spoken extensively about its importance - I think he should be a Dean for the Liberal Arts & Sciences someday! Jon is also an accomplished flutist who has been in the Butler Symphony Orchestra for several seasons, and he is an Honors student and archeologist who has been on a dig in Kenya. If I could grow up to be as smart and talented as one person from the class of 2009, it would definitely be Jon. Recently he has done so much for our university by doing online reporting of issues that our administration doesn't always want to talk about. He is so committed to democracy and truth. I love that he has shown that someone can be a passionate Butler supporter BY critiquing and challenging our university to do a better job - that's what a liberal arts education is all about. I loved working with you on yearbook, learning with you in the classroom, and admiring your journalism work, Jon, and I cannot wait to see what you do.

Kelly: My fabulous co-editor for Manuscripts, the literary magazine. Kelly had never been an editor for Manuscripts before, but when I had to leave to study abroad, she took over and did an amazing job running the magazine all by herself. She made it a lot more organized, and helped us to put on the best all-campus event we have ever had. It was an open mic night in March to celebrate our deadline, and we themed it around the Ides of March and had a peformance contest where you had to title your work "Beware _____" - very entertaining responses! We held it on St. Patrick's Day to provide late night alcohol free fun, so Kelly was able to apply for a grant from the Residence Halls, which gave us money for lots of fun St. Patrick's Day giveaways. Manuscripts could not have functioned without her this year, and I really think we have a fabulous final product! Kelly is also extremely dedicated to Peers Advocating Wellness for Students (PAWS), and has put on more fun health and wellness events on campus than I can even list (although one of the best is always Stress Less Week, which provided free healthy breakfast and chair massages before finals. love it.) Anyway, I really admire Kelly's organization and her passion for wellness issues. She is looking for a job in some sort of health advocacy/education position in Indy, so if you know of any, I have a great candidate for you : )

Chad: If I had to think of the model fraternity man, it would probably be Chad, who has done so much for Greek life at Butler. He was president of his own house, and served as president of Order of Omega, our honors society for the top 3% of Greeks. What really made Chad innovative, though, was his passion for bringing Greeks as Educators, Advocates and Resources (GEAR) to campus. GEAR is kind of like PAWS in that they raise awareness about health and wellness issues, but they have special programs that are specifically targeted towards Greek students. They also train GEAR advocates from every house so that in each fraternity or sorority, you have a friend who is a reliable source of health information to turn to. Chad worked to bring this program to our campus, and I am excited to see it expand in upcoming years. He was also really involved in other campus groups, and served as the VP of Programs this year for Student Government. That is a huge position that includes big projects like Homecoming, Out & About in Indy trips, recreation, Spring Sports Spectacular, and more. He has a great team, but that's a lot to coordinate, and Chad kept that up even while student teaching. I was lucky to get to know Chad when he joined the Student Foundation as a junior, and he was one of the few seniors who stayed active and was a really valuable member of my committee. He has given so much to Butler and I am so proud that he will take his educational background to Teach for America next year - he'll be in Indy, so he already knows that he's required to visit us.

Katie & Jill: I have to talk about them together because they were my two roomates at Pi Phi during my sophomore year and we love to hang out together. These girls were truly the best roommates I ever could have had. They didn't get frustrated with my mess or my stress, and were always there for me when I was sick or upset or losing my mind. They have taught me so much about what it means to be a true friend. They've taught me that when one of your best friends really needs you, you drive across Indianapolis to her house at midnight, sit up talking with her instead of doing your homework, and sleep on the couch, just to wake up at 6 am and drive back to school for class... and you don't mind at all, because you know she would do the same thing for you. When someone's down you cheer them up, and when they do something great, you celebrate it. These two always bring a positive spirit and a heart full of love and passion to everything they do, and our band fraternity and sorority would not be the same without their leadership. I can't believe they are leaving me next year, but Jill is following her dream of zoology/animal conservation research as a grad student at Southern Illinois, and Katie will be studying to be the best nurse ever at Valparaiso University. Road trips are already in the works.

I know that was a lot to get through, but what makes Butler so special is the people, so I wanted to introduce you to just a few that have made an impact on me. (There really are so many more people I could write about here!) Butler is a place where one student really can make a difference, and these guys are the perfect examples. I can't wait to see what they do as alumni!

Congratulations to Adam, Michelle, Jon, Kelly, Chad, Katie, Jill and everyone in the Class of 2009! I love you guys and miss you already.

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Our newest alumni = some of my heroes!