“My mom was so excited! She said, ‘I knew all along, but I didn’t want to tell you’ and gave me a big hug,” said Arizona Alpha Morgan Rice about telling her mother California Gamma Jamie Rice about receiving a bid from Pi Beta Phi in fall 2015.

The mother-daughter pair have always been especially close. Morgan has been a member of National Charity League (NCL), a mother-daughter philanthropic organization, since she was in seventh grade. She continued in the organization until her senior year of high school, serving as the group’s Vice President of Philanthropy, Historian, and Vice President of Programming. Those roles prepared her to be President of her NCL class. “I learned how to run meetings using Robert’s Rules [of Order], my mom and I bonded and we helped charities,” Morgan said. The experiences in NCL have made her a well-rounded woman, and Morgan believes it led her to be in the right position to serve in a leadership role in Pi Phi.

As a freshman, Morgan continues to be ambitious. She sets small goals and once those goals are achieved, she sets another small goal. Morgan has aspirations to become Chapter President, which is no surprise to her family. “My parents raised us to be leaders, not followers,” she said. It is evident in the examples set by her family: her mom’s support in NCL, her father was President of Sigma Phi Epsilon and her brother just completed his term as President of Sigma Chi.

“If you think you can, you can,” Morgan said. “If you think you can’t, you’re right.” With her optimistic and bright demeanor, Morgan is set to do great things in the future.