"Final Year and Lots to Cheer: My Time as President of Alpha Xi Delta" by McKenna Phillips

Hi, my name is McKenna Phillips, and I am a senior finance and communications honors major, a proud member of PC '14 and the outgoing president of Alpha Xi Delta.

I still remember the day I found out I was going to be president of the greatest group of girls that I have ever met. I had just come back to Xi House from HEB, and I knew that calls confirming officer positions would happen that day. I felt my phone ring as I attempted to carry way more groceries than I should have at once. Pretty soon my bags were all over the ground, and I was smiling bigger than ever… I was about to be president.

This experience has been one of the most challenging and rewarding of my life. While it contributed to many sleepless nights and frantic phone calls, leading my remarkable sisters has been the privilege of a lifetime. From recruitment to Taco Xi to our tacky Christmas sweater date event, the energy and passion with which my fellow Alpha Xis tackle any obstacle has served as a continual inspiration.

I have made the best friends of my life through this incredible sorority. I am involved in quite a few (eight!) organizations on campus, but the friendship and sisterhood I have found here at Alpha Xi is unmatched at UT. I can say unequivocally my life has been changed for the better. I will occasionally come home to find a sister waiting for me in my room, and without fail, we will curl up together, talk about whatever is on our minds, laugh, cry and become even closer friends. I have truly made lifelong friendships through Alpha Xi, and I look forward to continually growing and changing with all my sisters.

To all of my younger sisters, senior year as an Alpha Xi rocks, and I promise you have a whole lot to look forward to. Before your senior year even officially starts, you will carpool to Abel’s on the Lake where you will spend the day reminiscing on the past, making new memories by the second, and taking more pictures than you probably need (but hey, at least one of them has got to turn out). Just a week later, you will hold hands with your sisters and jump in the pool at the end of recruitment, pretending you aren’t cold and loving every second because you finally get the chance to jump after seeing all the seniors before you do it. You will feel fortunate to wear a tacky holiday sweater to the end-of-year quill dinner (and when you get your food before everyone else). If you become president, your heart will swell with joy when your blonder mini-me becomes the next president, keeping the legacy going. And now, as I have only a few short months left of my college experience, I look forward to even more: junior-senior cocktail, senior barge at formal and poppin’ champagne in the Littlefield Fountain to celebrate graduation.

Now, as I become a real adult (who has signed a job offer and everything), I look back on my years at the University of Texas at Austin and Alpha Xi Delta with awe. I am such a different (and better) person than the 18-year-old living in the San Jacinto dorm, and I have these girls and Alpha Xi to thank.

Thank God I was born an Alpha Xi,