Oklahoma Alpha Annie Bradshaw, a senior at the University of Oklahoma, has been busily involved in her chapter since she was a freshman. Her first year, she was nominated to serve as the Fraternity Day of Service Chair.
“When I first started, I felt that Oklahoma Alpha wasn’t reaching its potential in terms of where we could take this service opportunity,” Annie said. “I decided to reconstruct the entire event.”
And reconstruct, she did. No longer were members visiting the school for a quick 20 minutes and leaving; Annie turned the experience into a daylong event, where sisters clad in character costumes conducted a variety of reading-related activities with the children at Jefferson Elementary School.
Annie reflected: “It really gives our members a sense of what we do and where our efforts are actually going. They can see the difference we are making, and it’s such a sweet experience. The kids are so grateful and having fun, they often can’t stop giving the members hugs! The women of Oklahoma Alpha are impacted just as much as the kids.”
Annie has continued her hard work all the way through her senior year; this past recruitment season, she and other seniors did not shy away from their sorority duties, as many seniors tend to do. Rather, her senior class set the bar high for future senior leaders by reconstructing Sisterhood Day. They held a huge birthday celebration for Pi Beta Phi, kicking off the year with cake, balloons and other memorabilia from previous classes. “It was so cool to showcase not only our Pi Beta Phi sisterhood, but our smaller Oklahoma Alpha sisterhood within that. We had so many old photos from the years before. It was neat to see the transformation over the years,” Annie said.
When asked what’s she’s passionate about, Annie responded quickly: “I am passionate about recognizing others and celebrating victories. I know that is something that has changed my entire college career. Over the years, people took time to invest in me and find out what I like to do and provided me with resources and encouragement to achieve my goals. That’s what I’ve tried to do in return.”
“Everyone deserves to be recognized, encouraged and supported,” Annie said. “As Vice President of Communications last year, I tried to do that often. It could be as simple as a handwritten note, a hug or a cupcake.” Annie noted that these small gestures often had a big impact, for both those recognized and for the proud sisterhood.
One of the ways Annie, an advertising major, has tried to accomplish this is through recognizing her sisters for their own achievements on social media. She often featured sisters who recently received interesting internships or had been nominated for leadership positions on campus.
Next year, Annie will continue her Pi Phi adventures as a Resident Leadership Development Consultant at South Carolina Beta at Clemson University. Here’s to many more notes, hugs and cupcakes in the future!