The Panhellenic Council will have entirely new leaders in 2019.
Kendall Procaccino, theater and performance/education sophomore, was appointed president of Panhellenic Council, a student-run committee that oversees all OCU sororities and changes members every calendar year, said Levi Harrel, director of student engagement.
“There is absolutely a new sense of energy and enthusiasm. These student leaders are excited, they are ready to go,” he said.
Each position on the council rotates to a different sorority every year, and each organization handles choosing a nominee differently, Harrel said. Rather than have an election, Alpha Phi executives selected the Panhellenic president this year, Procaccino said. After running for a minor position in her sorority, Procaccino was chosen to serve as Panhellenic president.
“It finally hit me what it was and how big of a deal it was. I didn’t know that I would be the person in charge of literally everything and representing Greek life in general,” Procaccino said. “I was super flattered and humbled by my sisters that gave me that opportunity.”
Procaccino’s responsibilities as president include attending three meetings a week, representing all the sororities on campus and improving recruitment. Though the position requires quite a commitment, her responsibilities are worth it, Procaccino said.
“It’ll take up a lot of time, but I want to do it, I want to have that. I love Greek life. It’s changed my life. I want to represent not only Alpha Phi, but OCU,” she said.
Procaccino said she plans to focus on streamlining recruitment and amplifying Greek life’s presence on campus. Unifying the houses is also a focus, she said.
“I want the houses to become one and just represent OCU in general, and I also just want to make the recruitment process smooth, because it’s terrifying,” Procaccino said. “I want to really encourage and work with the freshman and the team and make it seamless and easy and chill.”
Procaccino said she has not served as a leader at OCU, but was student body treasurer and thespian president in high school.
“I’ve definitely always loved being a leader and guiding others and inspiring others,” Procaccino said. “I just thought I would have a small role, but I guess they saw something in me, which I was super humbled by.”
Alongside Procaccino, Maddie Barnes, dance sophomore, will be vice president of recruitment, and Ellie Roth, finance junior, will be vice president of programming. Hannah Malinowski, dance junior, will be vice president of communications.
In Phi Mu, Malinowski served as the assistant Phi director and Phi director, the point of contact for new members of the sorority. She ran for the Panhellenic position because she wanted to get involved with recruitment, and Phi Mu executives chose her, she said.
“I decided that I wanted to move to more of a Panhellenic scope because I love recruitment,” Malinowski said. “Getting to help women experience that in the best way possible is something that was so intriguing to me, and being able to enhance women’s Greek Life experience was something that I was really excited about.”
As vice president of communications, Malinowski serves as Rho Gamma during recruitment, guiding freshmen through the process. She also acts as secretary during Panhellenic meetings and updates Procaccino’s agenda. Running the Panhellenic social media is her responsibility as well.
“I am planning on being more active on social media. I think, especially for our generation, that’s how a lot of people communicate with each other, and so I think it’s important to utilize those media sources that we have,” she said.
Malinowski said she hopes people follow the Panhellenic council pages for information about on-campus events, even if they are not going through recruitment. Students may follow Panhellenic Council on Instagram at @okcu_panhellenic or on Twitter at @OKCUPanhellenic. They also may like the Facebook page, “OKCU Panhellenic.”
“I’m so excited for the people that I’m going to get to work with. All of the members from all the other houses are so extraordinary,” Malinowski said. “I think we each bring something so unique to our role, and I just can’t wait to see what we do this year with the new exec team.”
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