Alpha Chi at Work: Brittany Morales

     All of us remember that fateful day when we finally got to open up our bid cards. I remember that after days upon days of recruitment, I was so relieved when I could finally stop flirting with girls and just figure out where in the world I would end up. I knew that Alpha Chi was the perfect house for me, and I was beyond thrilled to open up my envelope (after what seemed like hours of sitting on it) and see Alpha Chi Omega engraved on the card. Since that day, I have met so many amazing women who have truly inspired me to grow and evolve as a person. All of the women in Alpha Chi are so devoted to Alpha Kappa, and it astounds me everyday at how unique each member is. Sometimes, I even forget that every single member of our chapter is involved in something that has absolutely nothing to do with Alpha Chi. It amazes me that the women in our chapter are so well rounded, hard working, and driven. This series of posts called Alpha Chi at Work will feature different members in our chapter. We will get an inside look at life outside of Alpha Chi and inside different jobs around campus.

     To start off this series, I am pleased to present Britany Morales's description of how she involves herself in the UO community and how it is pretty much imposible to not take Alpha Chi with you wherever you go:

     When I tell people that I work at Knight Library, the immediate response is, “oh so you push around a cart and put books away?” Despite this common misconception, my job at the library has nothing to do with books. In fact, I work with newspapers. If any UO student were to wander down into the dungeon level (where the coffee is) of the library and walk through one door they would find themselves in Image Services. This is where I work. What we do in Image Services is transfer newspapers to microfilm (fancy words for taking a picture, developing it and putting it on a film strip) and then distribute them to whoever wants to read any published newspaper from the entire state. As exciting as I know this sounds, I’ve actually learned some things from working in Image Services. For example,

1)  There is a town called Scio, Oregon, and they have a newspaper

2)  If you live in a small town and travel out of Oregon you have a legitimate shot of making front page news

3)  UO students are shocked to hear that the library can do more things than just check out books

     Another aspect of my job I enjoy, is that the people I work with have no idea what it means to be in a sorority. To the point where all work stops until I explain what Big/Little reveal is or explain what a door call is. (This worked to my advantage because I was able to get some practice time in.) They find it fascinating that a sorority is more than what the movies show. It has been really fun explaining what it really means to be a sorority and multiple times my boss has said, “I don’t understand sorority life but I love it.” In other words, it’s pretty awesome that the time I’m being paid to work is spent talking about AXO. What’s more perfect than that? 

Clearly, Brittany is a hard worker who has many demands outside of Alpha Chi, but she brings grace, poise, and, for those of you who are close with Brittany know, her distinct sense of humor to her job.

I think we can all agree that Alpha Chi has taught us things that we can carry with us when we face other challenges outside of the sorority, but it is the women in Alpha Chi who truly inspire us to be involved in the community. Keep looking for more of these features to come!

LITB,

Chrissy Hardesty