On any
given day, I can be spotted frantically rushing across campus from work to
class to club meetings. One of the best things about Hopkins is the ability to
explore a wide variety of interests, and like most of the sisters of MD Gamma,
I take full advantage of this by being involved in lots of student groups on
campus.
One of the
groups I'm most involved in (other than Pi Phi) is the Taiwanese American
Students Association (TASA). As a first-generation Taiwanese-American, it's
sometimes hard to feel connected to my parents' heritage and culture; hanging
out with my TASA friends helps me keep that connection strong! TASA is one of
the more well-known cultural groups on campus—most of our events consist of us
cooking delicious Taiwanese food and feeding the Hopkins student body for free,
so we're pretty popular! This year we're looking towards expanding our events
to include more cultural events, like a Taiwanese umbrella painting workshop
and a calligraphy workshop, as well as bringing prominent Taiwanese-Americans
to speak at Hopkins. Lisa Ni, a fellow Pi Phi, serves as the president of TASA,
and we always love to find each other at date parties and take “TASA takes Pi
Phi!” photos.
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| Jesse C. and Lisa N. with other TASA members at Pi Phi Formal |
Another group I'm involved in is HopMUN, the Johns Hopkins University competitive traveling Model UN team. We travel to several conferences a year in locations all over the country and in Canada. One of the great things about HopMUN is the modest size of the team; because we keep our team small, we're able to get to know each other really well, and competing in conferences is lots of fun because we get to hang out with each other for an entire weekend while doing something that we're passionate about! My HopMUN memories are some of my favorite from freshman year, and thanks to joining the team I've met and befriended lots of people whom I never would have interacted with otherwise. HopMUN is also a pretty popular place for Pi Phis—aside from myself, the HopMUN team also includes Emily Weber and Victoria Laney, two Pi Phis from my pledge class! Going into recruitment together helped solidify all the friendships that I made with the girls in Pi Phi, and now I'm lucky enough to be able to call two of them my sisters.
Aside from
TASA, HopMUN, and of course, Pi Phi, I'm involved in a variety of other
activities on campus. As a Writing Seminars major, I serve on the prose
committee of Thoroughfare, one of our literary magazines, where I read
submissions and help decide what makes it into our fall and spring editions. In
addition, I serve as a contributing writer for HerCampus JHU, an online
community for college-aged women, as well as a columnist for the News-Letter's
Your Weekend section. I'm also a staffer for the Johns Hopkins University Model
United Nations Conference (JHUMUNC), the conference we run for high school MUN
delegations, a popular group for other Pi Phis (shout-out to alumna Hannah
Weinberg-Wolf and to Leah Barresi for serving on last year’s Secretariat and
Directorate of JHUMUNC!). I also am on the National Board of the
Intercollegiate Taiwanese American Students Association, a non-profit dedicated
to connecting, inspiring, and empowering Taiwanese American college students
across the country. I am also a new member of the Woodrow Wilson Research
Fellowship program, a research fellowship for students in the Krieger School of
Arts and Sciences that is dedicated to promoting curiosity and a drive to
research in Hopkins students!
Though the
number of activities I'm involved in is unusual for a Pi Phi, or a Hopkins
student in general, my love of being involved on campus is not. Across campus,
Pi Phis can be found in a variety of different activities and groups. From the
track team to the SGA, from the Outdoors Club to the Eclectics, and from
Tutorial Project to the equestrian team, no matter where you are or what you're
doing, you can always be sure that you'll find at least one sister, reppin' the
wine and blue!
