extracurriculars at drury:
During my time at Drury, I participated in a small handful of extracurriculars as I took mostly upper-level courses. I didn't have as much time to participate in all of the things I wanted, but I am grateful for the time I was able to dedicate to the Drury Community. I owe a large sum of credit to invested professors and wonderful friends at Drury who supported me in my continued growth as a human being and as a writer. Below, you will find descriptions of the clubs/organizations I was able to participate in, as well as a gallery of photos that I will keep in my heart forever.
honors student association (HSA)
Because of my time with the OTC Honors Program, I was able to transfer smoothly into the Drury Honors Student Association. Once there and settled into the program, I met with a peer mentor who would become a close friend and helped to guide me through the program. As a student in HSA, I was able to take a field trip to explore the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma with a few of my peers. This was something I loved doing and would love to do again. I have a soft spot for art and haven't had many similar opportunities. Aside from this, being a member of HSA allowed me to take specific classes that are geared toward important topics and are near to my heart. A few of these included a social justice class and a graphic novels course where we considered sequential art and comics pieces of literature. Finally, my last experience in the Honors Student Association was my year-long senior research project. With this, I was able to dive into an important topic and shape it to fit a certain mold with my creative writing. Further details on my project can be found in the "Senior Research Project" tab under "Academics."
sigma tau delta (STD)
Sigma Tau Delta is an English Honor Society that I was invited and later inducted into during the spring semester of 2019. Through this group, I have been able to participate in helping to structure the English Symposium on campus. Though the Spring 2020 Symposium was cancelled due to COVID-19, I enjoyed getting to work with my fellow peers in organizing the previous year's symposium. In addition to this event, STD also organizes a yearly "Banned Book Reading" during Banned Books Week in September. With this event, students have the opportunity to sign up and read from their favorite banned book. I loved getting to stand in front of my peers to read from one of my favorites: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
At the start of my final semester at Drury, I was given the position of Community Outreach with Sigma Tau Delta. The goal with this position was to arrange a campus-wide book drive that would later in the semester be used as a source for distributing books to Little Free Libraries in the Springfield community. Unfortunately, this project was also cut short with developments in the COVID-19 crisis, but I have plans to distribute books STD and myself have collected to the surrounding community once orders have been lifted. This Honor Society holds a special place at Drury as it continues to spread its heart for the English arts.
commuter student association (CSA)
Coming to Drury from a community college where all students commuted to class was a tough transition. I decided to continue living at home during my last few years of undergrad, and while I don't regret that decision, it was difficult. Most of the meetings I needed to attend didn't take place until after dinnertime, and I would often find myself staying on campus for 3-4 hours in-between things in order to be present for them. The Commuter Student Association was extremely helpful in that transition. During orientation for my transfer to Drury, CSA took the commuters on a trip to Skyzone to help everyone become aquainted with one another. Throughout that first semester, they handed out packs with food and snacks to keep students going on their extremely long breaks. While I do believe Drury could do more to cater to their commuters, I am grateful this group exists to help ease this transision for all commuting students.
The Drury Vine
The Drury Vine has been without a doubt the best thing to happen to me since I started college. As most of the youth from my church moved away or grew too old to attend youth group, I was left without a similar group dynamic to attend. My friend and I started attending The Vine during my entire senior year at Drury and met four wonderful people who later became close friends and mentors. At the beginning of my last semester, my friend and I joined one of the small groups after much begging from our friends (and I am forever grateful for their persistence). I have loved getting to grow in Christ alongside my friends, study God's word, and meet even more people who now have a very special place in my heart. Drury Vine, I love you always and forever. Thank you for providing me with a home to worship and learn about Jesus in.
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