Sororities are popular for their social, fun activities, and the amazing women that populate them, but what often gets overlooked is the amazing work that sororities do for their communities. This week’s Campus Celebrity combines her love for her sorority and giving back to her community as the vice president of programming of Drexel’s Phi Mu Beta Tau.
Annie Portner, a junior interior design major from Medford, New Jersey, did not initially join Phi Mu upon arrival at Drexel University — a choice that she regretted as she got to know Phi Mu’s amazing sisters. When fall of her sophomore year rolled around, Annie knew that she wanted to join Phi Mu Beta Tau. Once she joined, Annie felt such a passion for the sorority that she wanted to become more than just a member. Because of her prior love for volunteering at places like MANNA and her intrigue toward Phi Mu’s Radiance Program, Annie decided to run for vice president of programming for the Beta Tau chapter, and she got the position!
As the VP of programming, Annie has a lot of responsibilities. Annie runs the weekly Radiance Program meetings, and she is also in charge of the sorority’s community service. Annie, along the rest of the committee, plans community service activities, such as baking for the Gift of Life House and working at the local Career Wardrobe. Also, as VP of programming, Annie is in charge of sisterhood development. Through events like catered dinners and craft nights, she helps to strengthen the bond and the sisterhood of Phi Mu.
Annie believes that one of the best parts of being VP of Programming is how she gets to work with a variety of information and events. “Every day I get the chance to improve the experience my sisters are having in their college career,” Annie says about being VP. “I love being a part of that experience.”
Although Annie greatly enjoys her position, the hardest part of being VP of Programming is the large time commitment that goes into all of her hard work. Event planning, meetings, and communicating with people takes up a large amount of time, but to Annie, watching Phi Mu succeed makes all of the work worthwhile.
To Annie, the purpose of Phi Mu Beta Tau is to “experience sisterhood at its best.” Not only does she believe Phi Mu shows an importance in academics, athletics, social skills, and campus involvement in order to encourage the best in a young woman, Phi Mu introduces the sisters to women they can look up to. Annie experiences this kind of sisterhood with an older sister of Phi Mu that is also an interior design major who helps Annie with her classes, lends her textbooks, and Annie has even landed a co-op at the same business as her older sister! Annie’s favorite memory of being a sister of Phi Mu was Drexel’s Greek Week during her first year as a sister. Not only did the sisters all come together for the events of Greek Week, but they also won!
Along with being passionate about her sorority and community service, Annie loves to run on the Schuylkill trails and she competes for the Drexel Track Club. She also likes to attend interior design networking events across Philadelphia. When she graduates, she wants to begin working at a firm in Philadelphia in an interior design position.