My life since moving to Oklahoma has basically erupted into something 3 years ago I could have only dreamed of. But how? And why would I leave something outside of St. Louis that I loved so much? I had a lot going for me in Illinois. I had my best friends, a research position with a Dean that I was obsessed with in every way, and a sorority that I still miss being a part of. I was on track to graduate pretty soon as well. So why leave?
Family
I was born in Ada, Oklahoma, and my entire family can be traced back in the state for several generations. I have stories about Blake Shelton and his run ins with both sides of my family, including the story of how his first vocal performance was at my grandmother's pageant she ran. We started moving when I was about 8 and my dad joined the Air Force, and I stayed with my family throughout college. SIUE really stood out to me when we moved to Southern Illinois, and I'm so happy I gave it a shot. I love all my besties from that school! I did consider staying instead of moving back to Oklahoma with my family when my dad got stationed here in the fall. However, a few other things were motivators for change as well. But in terms of family, It's been so great to see my everyone more than just on holidays.
Career
About a year into living next to St. Louis and hitting up areas like Central West End with my friends, I realized I really, really loved spending time in the city. However, hearing stories about how dangerous the city was made me want to opt for a safer location. Even though areas like Central West End are nice, the nursing school there had to build an underground tunnel from their parking garage to their campus because people were getting messed with at night. I knew that Fort Worth was so safe that in the summer kids ran around at night downtown, and doing so in St. Louis would be unheard of. I immediately loved the idea of living in a high rise in Sundance Square in Fort Worth, Texas with the ability to walk around and go shopping all the time. I decided I wanted to work in DFW and with my acceptance to OU, I wanted to have the name of OU on my resume. I thought it would be easier to get my foot in the door with a career in either OKC or DFW, where I knew I ultimately wanted to thrive in my corporate career. So I took the plunge. And dang, in that respect, it's been such a good decision! There are so many valuable Dallas connections here at OU, and having my experience in Price has already allowed me to have the most amazing internship, it's ridiculous. SIUE taught me how to hustle, but OU gave me a world of opportunity that I knew could happen, but now I'm amazed at just how much opportunity there's been.
Duh, it's OU!
I come from an OU family, but never really ever thought about being a student here. I always saw myself either becoming a medical student or a fashion student- and maybe one at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. I get in-state tuition at OU due to the fact that I'm still a dependent of my dad on his Oklahoma Move Orders for the Air Force, and living at home and going to OU is even less expensive than it would be to live 7 hours away from family at SIUE. Game days, the beautiful campus, campus corner, and - let me be real - the crazy amount of 10/10 guys: OU is awesome. I mean, can we talk about the fact that at least 70% of it is insta-story or Pinterest worthy? When I was at SIUE, I realized how interested in technology I was. OU has some really amazing programs to help me pursue a career in what I'm interested in that career path, and so it was an obvious fit.
O.K. but like, how are you in two sororities?
I became an alum of my panhellenic sorority when I transferred, but now I'm a new member of Sigma Phi Lambda, which is not panhellenic because it's a Christian sorority. It operates under IGC at OU and not Panhellenic! So that's how that works. We're about the same size of my alum sorority at over 100 girls, and it's honestly a really good fit for me. Phi Lamb is really involved on campus and we're super excited to be paired with G Phi and the BYX boys for homecoming this fall! Everyone in Phi Lamb is super sweet, and I'm super loving it. Speaking of Alpha Sigma Tau though, there are a couple of chapters in Oklahoma and I've made a few friends with the girls at Rogers State in Tulsa who do modeling in OKC. I'm still a proud Alpha Tau <3. Overall, people are super nice in Oklahoma and making friends has been easy and natural. I definitely feel at home at OU. Unless I was on a different career motivation at like an Ivy League or something, there's really no other place I'd rather be. St. Louis will always have a place in my heart, but there really is no place like home.
