The Power of a Year

At this time last year I was in an extremely rough place in my life. My anxiety was at an all time high and I constantly felt like I was disappointing people. I had a lot going on emotionally, a lot of decisions to make, and a lot more on my plate than I had ever experienced. I had this journal from sophomore year that I would write in almost everyday and as I flipped through it before I left for college, I just remember that from September to October my entries were full of hopelessness. I have two vivid, standout moments from that time span. The first, a baseball game that inspired this post (it has the most views out of any of my posts, which I didn't ever think would happen. The second, venting to my manager, Kathy, at work for our entire 5 hour shift on whether or not I should quit my second job and quit swimming. She offered me some of the best advice I've ever been given, advice I needed to hear, that made my decisions clear. 
Yay for hiking and exploring parks around Springfield. Also, thanks to Rachel for all of these photos
I also went to a few therapy sessions that taught me how to handle my anxiety. While I was terrified to go at first, the sessions I went to were extremely beneficial, even if I only went to a few. By taking these steps, I ended up enjoying my senior year a lot more than I thought I would.
I squint in every photo ever taken, but Rachel also took these photos of me while we explored a garden.
This butterfly was attached to me the entire time.
That being said, though, at this time last year I had no idea how much happier I would be just a year later. I'm at a college that makes me so incredibly happy, surrounded by people who I am learning so much from, and pursuing academic interests I am passionate about. What I would tell my senior year self is simple- "you have no idea how great things will be in a year." Choosing Drury was the best decision I've ever made. Each day I fall more in love with this college. I still have bouts of anxiety, that won't ever change and I've accepted it, but with the tools I learned a year ago, I know how to handle it better. I've done so much within the past two months. I cannot wait to see what else I will accomplish this year. I hope that when I reflect upon my life in September of 2017, I will be even happier than I am today. 
Adventures. 
Until next time,
Taylor xx
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I'M A KAPPA DELTA

I made it through sorority recruitment! Now if you talked to me in high school you definitely wouldn't have thought that I wanted to be in a sorority, I wasn't seen as the typical girl who joins a sorority. In fact, many of my friends were shocked when I told them during my senior year that I wanted to join a sorority. I think a lot of the shock value came from the fact that they knew of the stereotypical sorority girls in movies and on tv. Drury's Greek Life is vastly different from how Hollywood portrays it. I knew from the moment I toured Drury that Greek Life here is something I would want to get involved in.
Credit to my sisters for these bid day pictures
Now, many girls from my high school went through recruitment at large state schools and for that I applaud them. They had to move in a week before school started just so that they could go through recruitment. Now, Drury is a much smaller school so our recruitment was not nearly as long. We started on Friday with Sisterhood Round, Saturday was Philanthropy Round, and Sunday was Preference Round in the morning with Bid Day following that night. 
All of the Kappa Delta new members running home
Photo by Karlye Price
I'm not going to go into my own experience, because that it personal to me. I can, however, say that I am 100% certain that Kappa Delta is the right place for me. I feel at home in the KD suite and absolutely adore everyone in my chapter. 
I'm the second person in on the first row, who doesn't have my hands on my knees like everyone else... I struggle
Photo by Karlye Price
Due to the fact that Drury is so small, all of the pledge classes are relatively small. I believe we have 12 people in my pledge class, which is honestly great because you get the chance to get to know everyone. 



Although I've just started to get involved with Greek Life, I can definitely say it's changed my life for the better. I cannot wait to see what this school year holds for me, along with the opportunities that being involved in Greek Life brings.

Until next time,
Taylor xx

*Karlye is a super talented photographer, go check out some of her work here.
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College Update #1

I can officially say I made it through my first two weeks of college life *cues applause*. I've been so busy with everything related to college that I haven't had time to update my blog with everything I'm doing. I'm dedicating two separate posts to catching you all up with what's been going on in my life. I have a lot of pictures, too, so be ready! 

Move-In: Move-in was a little rough because we had to get up at 4:00 am in order to get to Springfield by 8:00 am. My dad came up a little later because he was just getting off work that morning.
 My mom and I were able to fit all of my stuff in one car, which I think deserves a thumbs up.
 Just another reason Drury is great? They have upperclassmen move-in teams assembled at each residence hall so that you don't even touch your stuff. I got out of the car, checked in at my residence hall and unlocked my room door. A stream of people dropped off all of my plastic totes outside my door. This made it so much easier to start unpacking because everything was right at my door within minutes (so thank you to the Drury move-in team!).
Above and below are some other pictures of my room. I'm extremely proud of myself for keeping it as clean as the pictures from the first day.
Orientation:  Drury has four days of freshmen orientation activities. At first this was extremely daunting, but I soon realized that it was completely necessary. My o-group (orientation group) were the people living with me in my hallway, but even then it took until the end of the second day/start of the third day to really have us open up with one another. 

Something pretty unique about orientation at Drury is that every o-group goes to a faculty member's house for dinner. We walked across the street to a music therapy professor's house. A few other professors were also at her house and it was neat to be able to talk with them in a casual setting. 
My o-group all dressed up for our faculty dinner
The finale to orientation took place over Sunderland Field, a fireworks show synched to music.


The First Day: Finally, we arrive to the first day of school. Drury started class on Tuesday so my first class wasn't until 1:30 which was pretty sweet.


 Classes: I'm pretty lucky because I'm not in any gen. ed classes, all of my classes relate to my major and minor. I'm in classes like Multimedia Storytelling and Multimedia Writing, which are not only requirements for my major but also classes that will help me with my blog. I'm also in Intro to Criminology and it is by far the most interesting class I've taken. My schedule flows really well and makes taking 17 credit hours not so bad.

PS- My major is Strategic Communications and I'm minoring in Criminology

I'm absolutely loving college and the freedom it gives me. I can't even begin to describe how great it is, but college is incredible. I hope I can continue to update you all as more happens throughout the semester.

Until next time,
Taylor xx
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