If Ohio Alpha Emma Schoonmaker reflects on her collegiate career, I know she thinks back to something her grandpa once said to her: “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”

Emma left the comforts of home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to attend one of the top journalism programs in the country at Ohio University (OU). She has been so exceptional in her program that she was recently nominated to be a College Ambassador for OU Scripps College of Communication. In this role, Emma meets prospective students to pitch the school, share her personal experiences and show how much she has grown while a student at OU. This is easy for Emma since she has enjoyed her college experience so much.

The school has provided a ton of real world experience that can be applied after graduation too. But Emma has also found crossover in utilizing her journalism degree in her role as Vice President of Event Planning in Pi Beta Phi. She thrives in creating positive public relations, through fliers, posters and word of mouth, for Pi Phi events, such as the chapter’s philanthropy events.

Emma loves Ohio Alpha’s philanthropy events because they reach so many parts of campus. As I had the chance to talk to her, the chapter is in the midst of getting a brand-new event marketed to the whole campus. Ohio Alpha is planning a new philanthropy, called “Arrowsync,” a lip sync competition. Each team that enters has two to three minutes to do an on-stage skit or song performance.

The lip sync competition is unlike anything any of the other chapters on campus have done and Ohio Alpha wants to recruit as many different organizations to participate as possible. “It’s brand new and we’re learning as we go,” says Emma. They want the event to be big and something people look forward to every year. I am sending positive thoughts to the chapter and hope all went well with their event! May it be the first of many!