Our final Senior Spotlight is on Hannah Andress. She has been a member of Her Campus American since 2018 and has been our editor in chief for over a year. Her passion and dedication for this organization is clear in everything she sets out to accomplish. I had the privilege of speaking to Hannah about her college experience and her time at HCAU.Â
HCAU: What are your major and minor?Â
Hannah: “International studies and Arabic.”Â
HCAU: How would you describe yourself in three words?
Hannah: “Passionate, kind and dedicated.”
HCAU: Which HCAU positions have you held and which one have you enjoyed the most?Â
Hannah: “I started as a feature writer my freshman year and I got really into it. After this I was a section editor and then I was asked to be editor in chief and then I was co-EIC with Katie Malone, and then I was editor in chief myself for the past year or so. Editor in chief has been my favorite position by far because I get to connect with the lovely members of HCAU all the time.”Â
HCAU: What is your favorite Her Campus Memory?Â
Hannah: “Oh my god there’s so many. The White House tour was so fun, super stressful but so fun. I also really enjoyed our e-board bonding event, I still have all the polaroids on my wall. I also just miss our e-board meetings in the media lounge because we would all cram in there and then after when we would walk over from the e-board meetings to the general meetings – super chaotic but super fun.”Â
HCAU: What else other than HCAU have you been involved with on and off campus?Â
Hannah: “Freshman year I was on the swim team, Sophomore year I was the president of Leading Women of Tomorrow which was a nationally affiliated organization and then off-campus I was an intern for my congresswoman Lucy McBath and a waitress at KramerBooks & Afterwords cafe and I am currently an intern at the Secret Service.”Â
HCAU: How has Her Campus shaped your college experience?Â
Hannah: “It shaped my entire college experience. It gave me such an incredible community of such wonderful women who are so empowering and strong and dedicated and intelligent and it just gave me a platform to talk about what I wanted to talk about and helped me develop a lot of leadership skills and communication skills. So I would say it really made me into the student and person that I will be after college.”
HCAU: How have you grown since your first day of college? Looking back, what advice would you give yourself?
Hannah: “I learned that I can say no, that I can quit things that I don’t like anymore and if I don’t want to do something I don’t have to do it. I learned to be creative. It was a super fun outlet that Her Campus gave me to explore what I was interested in.”
“The advice I would give myself is take all the opportunities that are given to you even if its something you think you might not like, because I am an international studies major but for some reason I’m the editor in chief of an online publication that’s dedicated to empowering women. Don’t know how I got here but I’m glad I said yes because it’s been the greatest part of my college experience.”Â
HCAU: What’s a book/movie/tv show that’s changed your life?
Hannah: “Legally Blonde was, and I think still is, the best cinematic masterpiece ever because it’s just so empowering! I love it, she’s a queen, I love her and I have always wanted to embody the type of confidence that she has.”Â
HCAU: Who is a woman that inspires you?Â
Hannah: “My mom, she is such a badass. She taught me how to learn and she will forever inspire me. And Stacey Abrams, obviously.”Â
HCAU: Thinking back on your accomplishments, what are you most proud of?
Hannah: “I’m really proud of how I’ve helped Her Campus grow. I think it was a bit smaller and it didn’t have that wide of an audience when I first got here when I was a Freshman and I think I did a really good job of leading the organization into where it is now and creating a path for future leaders to follow and make it even better than it is now.”Â
HCAU: What are your post-graduation plans and goals?
Hannah: “Right now I have a full-time offer from the federal agency I’ve been with for the past year so I’m really looking forward to getting more into that role. I don’t know what I’m going to do without getting to write and edit every day so I’m going to have to find a little side-hustle to do that more.”
HCAU: What advice would you give current and incoming members of Her Campus?Â
Hannah: “Say yes! And take advantage of all the opportunities that we offer because the real world will tell you no but Her Campus will never tell you no. So take all of those opportunities and go through all those open doors because you might find something you really like that you never would have thought of before.”Â
Thank you so much Hannah for all the hard work, dedication, and talent that you have brought to HCAU. We are going to miss your passion, innovation, support and determination. We are so excited to see what the next chapter of life brings you and we wish you the best! HCXO