Growing up in Tallahassee, I always looked up to Florida State University. It is essentially my home, and I am proud of it to be. I have many people that I looked up to that were students and Alumni, and I wanted to be just like them.

My sister, who is eight years older than me, went to college in Nashville. She was the first person who I heard talk about sororities. Greek life was not big where she went, so there were a few chapters to choose from. I remember the day she got dropped from the one she really wanted to be part of. I remember it like yesterday. It was so hard to see her so hurt. Until I started high school, I had never really given Greek life another thought. When I started high school, I began watching "preppy" Youtubers, you know the ones who wore Lilly Pulitzer and Vineyard Vines every day. Most of them were in college, and most of them were in sororities. That is how I was introduced to sororities in full. I thought these Youtubers were so cool, and I wanted to be just like them, completely forgetting the heartbreak my sister had because of them. So I had made my decision, I wanted to be in a sorority, and I was going to take anyone that wanted me because I just wanted to be part of a group.

Before I knew it, I was started Fall Recruitment. I met my Rho Gamma, who is to this day the most amazing person I have ever met, and I immediately felt like this was what I was supposed to be doing. I started recruitment strong and there was one particular chapter who I felt at home with, coincidentally, the same one that my sister wanted to join. Well, they ended up breaking my heart too, and suddenly I felt like I did not belong anywhere, and I made the decision to drop out of recruitment.

Dropping was hard because when Sunday rolled around, my Instagram feed was filled with bid day pictures. I would be lying to you if I said I did not feel like crap. It was probably the lowest of the lows of my college career so far, and classes hadn't even started yet.

When school started, there was another particular group that I really wanted to be part of. They were everything that I thought I was. I was so confident going into the interviews because interviewing is my strong suit. But again, the thing that I thought I was supposed to do, did not want me.

The night I found out that I did not get "accepted" into this group, I got an email from the Dance Marathon at FSU Outreach Chair, telling me that I had been accepted into the InspiratioNOLE program. Little did I know, that email would completely change my life.

I had done Dance Marathon in high school, but I got to see it on a much bigger scale through this program. I got to meet normal people. People that all they wanted to do was raise money to help very sick children. I had found my people. My Outreach team was so amazing. It was everything I could have ever asked for. I got to meet some of my best friends through this program, my forever line dance partner (shoutout to you, Eva), and I got to see be part of Dance Marathon at FSU's biggest year yet. The more I became part of this amazing Dance Marathon family, the more I realized why the other things did not work out.

My sophomore year started, and I could not participate in recruitment this year due to their date changes, but I did try for that other group again. This time, I did not even make it to the interviews. But the thing I desperately wanted was to be an Outreach captain with Dance Marathon. I had just gotten out of a concert when I checked my email, and I saw that glorious email saying that I was chosen to be an Outreach captain.

I told my mom, "Dance Marathon was always the one thing that worked out." I found my place and I am so thankful to so many people for getting me here. I am most thankful for the sorority that dropped me and the organization that did not want me because those rejections led me to my home. They led me to my future career (shoutout to all of the physical therapists in the children's hospitals). Most importantly, I am thankful for my family for teaching me that God has a plan, and sometimes it is nothing like we ever expected it to be.