ºÚÁÏÉçÇø

James Loy 

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast by the hosts and guests may or may not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of ºÚÁÏÉçÇø.

Student 

I'm a senior.

Student 

I'm about to graduate, and I've done a lot of cool things in college.

Student 

I never thought that I was going to be an intramural curler. I never thought that I was going to be the ºÚÁÏÉçÇø body president.

Student 

These four years have been the biggest amount of growth I've seen in my entire life.

Student 

It's not just about the academics, but like, what kind of person you turn into, which is super cool.

Katie 

My biggest fear coming in was that school was just gonna be so big that I was gonna come in and leave without making any sort of an impact. And I was so scared that I was just gonna leave without a trace. And the more that I joined organizations, and the more that I started doing things on campus, I realized the point of it's not to make an impact on every single person on the campus. The point is to make an impact on the people that care about you. Because I know the girls on my dance team and the girls I re-established my sorority chapter with-- that group of girls is gonna remember that for the rest of their lives, and we're all gonna remember the stuff that happened. That was a big thing that I learned, started realizing that there's only so much I can do. Why don't I just make that impact on the few people that are in my life that I really care about?

Michaela 

That's such a powerful sentiment like that almost give me chills. That's so true though, because it is though about the people around you. It's all about the personal relationships you make. And I love that you said that, because that's all the kinds of things that we talk about on this podcast. This is Major Insight, and it's about finding your place and purpose on campus. My name is Michaela Buck, and who are you?

Katie 

Hi. Well my name is Katie Caleodis. I'm going into my senior year studying Media and Communications. Outside of that on campus, I'm involved in a couple things. I'm a part of the Panhellenic Association. I serve on the Panhellenic Executive Council as the Vice President of Member Development. So I work a lot with our new member classes as they come in, and kind of working with our new member educators on how to make their experience what they want it to be as they come into a sorority on campus. I'm also on the Miami Dance Corps. I serve as the PR chair there. I'm going into my second year doing that, and most recently, I am now the senior producer for Major Insight.

Michaela 

Yay. We have so many things in common. I know, like everything that you're saying. I'm like, Oh, this is music to my ears. I don't dance here now, but I grew up dancing my entire life. I'm so glad you that you found something that you really enjoy here dancing. So do you want to share a little bit more about that? Because I think that's so cool and interesting.

Katie 

So I did competitive dance, like, since I was eight. Yeah, I graduated, and was like, I don't think I need to do this anymore. I tried out for a couple teams, and it didn't work out, and I kind of was just like, Oh, I think I'm done. And going into sophomore year, I kind of just felt like I was missing something. So I joined Miami Dance Corps, and it's a non-audition organization where we have girls who have danced since they were able to walk, and we have girls who have never danced before that come in and they're like, I don't really know what I'm doing, I kind of just have a friend that's here, and I wanted to hang out with her, so I'm gonna come dance. And it is just the coolest community of people, and being on exec for them was kind of my first leadership opportunity too, and they're kind of the ones that pushed me to go try and get the Panhellenic positions, which have been their own crazy whirlwind. I know that you as a chapter president are certainly going through the same things, but yeah, that was those people kind of gave me my first like opportunity into leadership, opportunity into being able to have a group of people I can connect to in that way, and just like share that passion with has made the world of a difference since coming to college.

Michaela 

And I love that it's so all inclusive. That's something I feel like is very unique to your organization, because then you're able to also meet so many more people like it doesn't have to be a dancer for her entire life. And so I find that so cool, because my freshman year, I auditioned for a dance team and I didn't make it, and I thought it was the end of the world. I was like, this is this is horrible. I remember sobbing, crying, calling my parents. I'm like, I'm the worst. Like, I don't know what I thought I'm not a good dancer. And they're like, Michaela, like, you're in college now it's not going to be the same as when you were growing up. Like, it's okay to feel a little bit of rejection, but yeah.

Katie 

And it's a lot of people that I don't think I would have connected to otherwise because of it, when I maybe would have never even had a chance to meet them if it wasn't for my dance or just bringing people together, regardless of their skill level and things like that.

Michaela 

Yes, and something I always talk about with my friends is the organizations I've joined have made school so much smaller in the best way. Like you will always know someone who knows someone, and that is even me and you. Like, I think we would have run in together sometime, even for the podcast, which is amazing too. But even being a part of the Greek community, I feel like once I joined that freshman year, I was like, Oh my gosh, I know so many more people that I wouldn't have never even met. So how has that been for you? Like, yeah, what was kind of it like getting into that your leadership position and just kind of where you are now?

Katie 

Yeah, so I kind of had a funky way going into the Greek community. It was something I never necessarily wanted going into school, I kind of categorized myself as someone who wouldn't be a part of it, so I never really looked into it. Until my sophomore year, I had seen that there was a chapter re establishing on campus. I had no idea what that meant, but I knew that meant I would come in and not feel like an outsider, because there was nothing there, like there was 100 girls that showed up on Bid Day, and it was like, okay, this is ours now, let's figure it out. So was in that re establishing class, and it was such a cool group of girls, because people came from all different backgrounds. Some people went through the recruitment process, ended up not finding something they liked, and there was a community somewhere we were still trying to find. So we all came in, and it was just the most like welcoming group of people to the point where I was like, there is no way that this is like real, like the movies I've seen about Greek life. This is not how this works. And from that day on, it was kind of just okay, how do we put this chapter together now? So it was establishing a chapter leadership team. It was trying to establish a place on campus. We're one of, like, I think, 18 chapters now, so it's already a gigantic community at Miami, and we were trying to kind of find our place there. And I just remember the Panhellenic Council being a group of people who were so supportive of us through everything. I think the President Claire, at the time, came and brought us Insomnia Cookies, randomly one day to chapter, just because she was like, I'm so proud of you. I just wanted to, like, have something for you guys, whatever. Yeah, that was kind of my exposure to Panhellenic Council and thinking like about that Panhellenic wide sisterhood, rather than just the chapter sisterhood. So that was what kind of pushed me to apply for Panhellenic Council. And I remember getting the call that I got the position, and I was like, are you sure? I was like, Claire, I don't think what you know, what you're getting into. I've only been here for like, four months. I don't know what I'm doing. And she was like, you're gonna be fine. There is a reason that we're picking you for this. Just please take it. So that's kind of what got me onto Executive Council, where I am now, and I get to serve with eight other girls. And it is just, it's really cool to work with people from all different chapters. There's one girl from each chapter, so there's no like overlap between chapters and that sisterhood of people across your chapter and into like the Panhellenic overall, is just something like I could talk for hours and hours about how much I love being able to call every single girl in that community. There's almost 4000 girls right now, and being able to call all of them a sister in some way, because we've all joined this really cool community of people who's, you know, working for something bigger than themselves. It is just such a cool group to be a part of. And I just, I love it so much, and it's, it's definitely made my college experience so much better. I wish I would have done it freshman year, but also, my chapter wasn't around freshman year.

Michaela 

See again, maybe it was okay that you joined sophomore year, because then you joined sophomore year, because then you wouldn't have been in the chapter that you are. So cool. And I also did not want to go through recruitment freshman year. And it's funny, because everyone now would say like, oh my gosh, your sorority type, like, by a landslide, whatever. And I always was like, I don't think it's for me. I don't think it's for me, right? My roommate was like, are you sure? Michaela, I think you'd really enjoy it. I'm like, no, I'm not a sorority girl, because there's such, like, a stigma and a stereotype around that type of person, when, in reality, there is a chapter for every type of person. Like, absolutely, I find it so cool that every single person I know ended up in a chapter that is so meant for them. And I, I always found that hard to believe. I'm like, there's no way, there's no way there's truth to that. There's no way that-- but truly, every single person that I have talked to are like, I could not have asked for a better group of girls, for more like minded people and like for a better community like you truly do find, I mean, I found my absolute best friends through Theta. But even if you don't find your very best friends, you're at least finding people who think the same way and will support you like there's so much encouragement in the Panhellenic community, even if it's not just in your chapter, just in general.

Katie 

Yeah, it's definitely I know somebody in every single chapter. I have people I love in every single little corner of the Panhellenic community. And it's just so cool to have somebody everywhere, where I could go to an event, and I'm not worried about not knowing anyone there.

Michaela 

Okay, so can you tell me a little bit about your major how you got into that? Was that something that you discovered along the way? Or did you know right away?

Katie 

I had kind of always known that I wanted to do something in media. I had a program in high school where we basically got to learn the basics of like film and TV, along with like music production. And we learned the basics of that, and then they kind of just sent us out on set. And were like, go learn on a set. That's the best way to learn in that industry. So I ended up getting to direct projects through that class. I got to be on sets as a camera operator multiple times, and I got to work with real industry professionals in the filmmaking space in Columbus. So when I got to college, I knew I wanted to be in media. I didn't know if that was filmmaking or if that was just something else. So I got to college studying media communications, and I very quickly realized I did not want to do filmmaking. It can be a lot. It can be a lot physically and mentally, and I just knew I was not that was not really the world that I wanted. So now I'm like, okay, how do I keep doing media, but not in a filmmaking way? And that kind of led me to social media and digital marketing. So a lot of my classes are based on media in some way, but a lot of them are now starting to get angled towards social media because it is such a big part of our lives. And I started slowly, kind of working my filmmaking experience into social media. So I do a lot of video content, and I learned how to do photography. I learned how to do graphic design, and now I'm mainly studying kind of like that digital marketing, of working with social media, but also with podcasts, with blogs, with long form video content and things like that. And just kind of pulling anything I can right now of media to the point where when I go out and try to get a job, I know something about everything, that's kind of the thought process is like figuring out what I like the most. Would be ideal doing something in social media or podcasts or something like that. But my major kind of all pertains around media. So I can just kind of pull from wherever I want right now and try and learn everything about everything, and kind of go from there when I get out, because I don't necessarily know what I want to do with it, but that's kind of how I ended up with the podcast. I ended up as a PR chair. I ended up as now working for a company as their resource intern with podcast, blogs, all that kind of stuff. So it always kind of was media, but it was not-- I originally wanted to be a director, and came into college saying I'm going to go out and live in Hollywood and direct and that has changed a lot for sure.

Michaela 

Yeah, I think it's fine to not have a straight path. And honestly, I don't know a ton of people who've come into college with an idea and then left with the same idea of what they're going. I think it always changes throughout your experiences. Have you had any challenges with that, or just challenges in general at college?

Katie 

Yeah, I think in terms of, like, challenges outside of my major and academically coming into college, I really struggled with trying to find people. It was hard to sit in like a dorm with however many, maybe 100 people, and say that I felt alone at the end of freshman year. But I really did, and I felt like I didn't have anybody that was going to be, like, those lifelong connections. You know, people say that you're going to leave college with your best friends for the rest of your life. And I got to the end of freshman year, I was like, oh, no, I don't have that. Like, I don't have that thing that everybody said I was going to have. What am I supposed to do? Like, am I supposed to be here? Should I transfer? Like, just that spiral of what people say college is going to be, and it not being that after a whole year was really hard. So that's kind of when I switched sophomore year into okay, just try anything and everything that you didn't try freshman year, that you were really thinking about. So that was my dance team, that was the sorority, and that was all those things that I now have done so much with and I could never see myself without. So it's I kind of had to have that same realization of, like, it's okay that you don't have your perfect people yet. You've been here for nine months. It's gonna be okay. There's maybe 20,000 people on this campus. You're gonna be okay. You're gonna find those people. You just haven't found them in nine months, and that's fine.

Michaela 

Well it's hard to let go of your old self. Like, just in general, I feel like, because life refreshes, but also it's hard to let go of the expectations that college holds. Like you said, you're thinking, I'm going to find my people freshman year first day, there's so many things that you're like, Okay. And I did, like, I was the knocker on the door, and I went down the line and I was like, hey, do you want to be our friend, me and my roommate? And so it's very hard, because you have, you know what people are telling you, what you're seeing in the media and movies and whatever. And college is supposed to be this great thing, but for a lot of people, it takes a minute. Like, it's, it's a lot of acclimation. It's a lot of knowing who your people are and finding them you know, not everyone's best friends live next door to them in their freshman year dorm. Like, that's not like normal like that is just something you kind of have to figure out. So I think that's a very real challenge to have-- is not even by the end of freshman year, you're not gonna know everything. There's still so much time and so many people to meet and so many clubs to join. So yeah, I definitely think that is something that you have to adjust to.

Katie 

Yeah, it's definitely I had to get out of that mindset of like that I can't do anything after freshman year that I can't start anything new. I'm going into this podcast, going into senior year, like I'm allowed to start new things, and it doesn't have to be only freshman year, because I think I was going into sophomore year thinking, okay, I'm just going to be a loser for the next three years. Because that's just what it has to be now. And I kind of had to be like, no, you're allowed to start things as a sophomore, like you're here for four years to figure out what you want to do, to figure out those people that you want to be around, find the things that you want to be doing for the rest of your life, or figure out what you don't want to do anymore. And having those people in my life that I can look at and be like, okay, yeah, life's not gonna end if -- it's totally normal as much as it doesn't look like it on the outside, in the movies and in all of the things that you're told going into college. And I think it's just something that I would have liked to hear as a freshman was, like, the whole four years are for trying something new, and it's okay if it takes you until your senior year. That was kind of my biggest thing. I wish somebody would have told me that so I wasn't, like, curled up in my dorm freaking out that I didn't necessarily have my best friends going into sophomore year.

Michaela 

Yeah, and pro tip, no one knows what they're doing. Literally, no one knows what they're doing. I thought everyone always had it figured out. I was like, Oh, well, she's doing this. I still do this. Like, comparison kills. If you're on LinkedIn and you're like, oh my god, she got this internship. Like, I'm the worst. I'm not doing anything right. She has it all figured out. No, nobody has it all figured out, especially at this age. That's what I wish someone would have told me to, like, try new things all four years. I feel like no one even talks about that. That's a great piece of advice. Like, every year, or even every month or every day is just like a new start. Like you can join something anytime that you want to. You can be a part of something just senior year, kind of how we are for this podcast, I guess, like, that's a great thing to even mention. Like, this is such a new thing that we're taking on, and we're able to have such a great experience. And it's just really for our, I mean, a little bit of our little bit of our junior year now our senior year, but what a great new experience we're able to have. And we're a year away from graduating--

Katie 

We're not going to talk about it yet.

Michaela 

How did you get involved in the podcast? And kind of, what are you excited for? And you're the senior producer. That's so exciting. And so what? Yeah, what are you looking forward to?

Katie 

I think part of it is just, I remember listening to the podcast my freshman year and being like, okay, somebody gets it. Somebody understands that I'm like, not it's okay that I don't have it all together. So part of it was that, of like, I'm so excited to be able to do that for more people, for how important it was to me to hear that. I'm so excited to now be kind of the one that gets to help shape that narrative for everybody else, and especially like people coming into college who need to hear that. Being able to do Sounds of College Life, I'm really excited about, mainly because I just think ºÚÁÏÉçÇø organizations are such an important part of your college experience. Everything has such an impact on people. And being able to kind of go around and talk to people about how important their organizations have been. So Sounds of College Life is something I'm so excited to continue understanding kind of how these organizations have impacted people in finding their purpose on campus. Because a lot of people may not find that in their major. Some people do, and some people just want to get their degree and go on and with the ºÚÁÏÉçÇø organizations, I think it gives people those leadership roles that they might not have had originally. But it also gives people that community smaller than the giant Miami community. It gives people that space to find those people and find those people that are gonna make an impact on the rest of their lives, like we were talking about. So I'm really excited about sounds college life that is gonna be so much fun. I've done a couple little interviews and things like that already, so I'm so excited about that. But how are you-- how are you feeling with your very first interview?

Michaela 

This is crazy. I'm so excited. I feel similar. I listened to this podcast before, and it really is such an outlet and a resource for people to just know, I think hearing from ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs is so impactful, similar to how when you go to make it Miami, or, you know, whatever orientation it is, and you're hearing from a ºÚÁÏÉçÇø panel, it means so much more coming from the ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs who are actually experiencing everything, like everything they're saying holds so much weight, because you're like, you're doing this, you're experiencing this, you're going through this. So I know what you're saying is true, and it makes you feel so much less alone. And I think that's just something I wanted to be a part of, was making sure that nobody felt like they were going through something that no one else ever had. Because we have so many different individuals come on and explain their majors and their experiences in their organizations. And so I think there is something for everyone how we were talking about even on this podcast, like there will always be a guest who you resonate with and who kind of speaks to your college experience. And even if they don't, it's good to know about what everybody else is kind of going through. And I don't know much even about your major, but it's so fun to learn about kind of everybody's experience. And so that was something that I wanted to be a part of. I'm like, this sounds so cool, and I love meeting new people. I know you do too. It's like, one of the best parts is just being able to chat with everybody. So yeah, I would definitely like, I'm so excited, and I know that you're so excited, and we are so happy to even have you on this podcast, you're amazing. And I think Sounds of College Life is going to be just incredible, because, again, ºÚÁÏÉçÇø organizations make the school so yeah, thank you so much for coming. Thank you, Katie, you're amazing, and I'm so excited to tackle this year with you.

Katie 

I know so excited.Thanks. Michaela.

Michaela 

Katie Caleodis is majoring in Media and Communications at ºÚÁÏÉçÇø and as Major Insight's new Senior Producer, she'll be back this year with more episodes of the Sounds of College Life, and thank you for listening to Major Insight. Many more stories, advice and inspiration are always available wherever podcasts are found.