Name: Alexis Spivak
Year: Junior
Major: Dual Degree in Criminology and International Affairs with a concentration in Public Administration and Political Science
Hometown: Tampa, FL
Her Campus (HC): What are you currently involved with/have been involved with in the past?
Alexis Spivak (AS): Something that I’ve made sure to do while at Florida State is taking advantage of every opportunity that I can! My freshman year I was a member of the social justice living learning community and joined Alpha Gamma Delta. I also began as a ceremonies committee member for Relay For Life as a freshman. My sophomore year I participated in the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) and became a University Ambassador, which are the University’s tour guides. I also served on the Relay For Life executive board as the Ceremonies Co-Chair. Then this year as a junior, I have continued to work as a University Ambassador and I’m still serving on the Relay For Life executive board. I joined the criminology professional fraternity, Lambda Alpha Epsilon and became the Internal Philanthropy Coordinator for Alpha Gamma Delta.
HC: Wow you’re really involved! Can you tell us more about your role as Alpha Gamma Delta’s Internal Philanthropy Coordinator?
AS: As philanthropy coordinator, I am responsible for making our philanthropy happen each semester! This goes into all the planning for the day of the event, extra fundraising, outfits, sponsors and the whole deal! I work with a committee and we split up the tasks to ensure that our event becomes everything we would like it to be!
HC: Can you tell us more about your role with Relay for Life?
AS: I’ve been participating in Relay For Life since high school! I was the event chair for my high school Relay my senior year and I knew that participating in Relay For Life was going to be part of my college experience (that’s actually one of the reasons that I chose to come to FSU)! My freshman year I was on the ceremonies committee and my sophomore year I was the co-ceremonies chair. This year, I began serving as the faculty/alumni recruitment chair, but that evolved into me helping out wherever I was needed!
HC: What motivates you to give back?
AS: Different people have motivated me to give back in different situations. Three of my four grandparents have had cancer, along with many other family members and family friends. I feel like if I can even help out a little bit in finding the cure for cancer I will be able to alleviate someone else’s pain so they never have to hear the words “I have cancer” or have to deal with one of their family members having cancer. My parents are also a huge motivator in my life towards giving back, as well as everything else. They’ve always been my biggest supporters throughout school, extra curriculars and all of my crazy ideas of ways I want to get involved and help others. They are both so selfless in what they do and are the greatest role models in my life.
HC: How has Greek life and your role as philanthropy coordinator benefitted you?
AS: I think that everything you pour your heart and soul into gives you meaning in your life. I have found my purpose in helping others through raising money for our philanthropy, as well as starting to get the women in my chapter more involved in community service. It’s something I’ve known that I always wanted to do, but this opportunity has given me an outlet. Prior to being philanthropy chair, I loved my chapter. I loved the women and everything we stood for. But when I got philanthropy coordinator, it allowed me to grow closer with these women and see the strength and passion in all of them. It’s given me the opportunity to see a chapter full of women who have this dream of contributing to the worlds work.
Another aspect of Greek life that has benefitted me is becoming a recruitment counselor also known as a Rho Gamma. This is a group of 130 women from all of the Panhellenic chapters who will be responsible for bringing women into our community in the fall. These women inspire me to no end in class with the wisdom that they have. It has allowed me to grow and love Panhellenic as a whole.
HC: That’s awesome! So Alpha Gamma Delta’s spring philanthropy is coming up! Can you tell us about the event?
AS: Water Wars is an afternoon full of water activities including a dunk tank and obstacle course (both of those are new this year!), a slip and slide, tug-a-war, water balloon games and so much more. It’s on April 19th in Heritage Grove between Zeta Beta Tau and Pi Kappa Alpha from 12-4pm. [Proceeds benefit Diabetes Awareness and Education.]
HC: How can students get involved with Water Wars?
AS: Students can get involved in Water Wars by sending me an email! The teams are made up of four people (no co-ed teams, unfortunately) and it costs $60. This includes some snacks and a participant shirt. If you can’t attend, you can still purchase a raffle ticket for any of our amazing prizes including a six-month Gold’s Gym membership, a 30-minute massage at Massage Envy or a monogramed quarterzip from Tiny Tulip. You don’t have to be present to win! You can contact me directly or visit our table at Market Wednesday to buy a ticket.
HC: What is your favorite quote?
AS: It’s kind of long, but I’ve loved this quote forever.
“You should know that change is both necessary and inevitable, so try to embrace it as best as you can. Growth is a beautiful, incredibly bittersweet process and there is (I’ve learned) nothing to fear from it. At the end of the day, that’s what you’re here for: to learn, to blossom, and to flourish into whoever it is you decide you’re going to be. Part of that process though, is making mistakes; so be kind to yourself, forgive yourself, and then, keep going.”
HC: What is your favorite FSU memory?
AS: My favorite memory is probably becoming a University Ambassador. From the moment I stepped onto campus, I fell in love with it and becoming an ambassador gave me an outlet to tell everyone else how much I loved the university. It’s given me a great group of co-workers, who also love the University, as well as a way to meet all types of people from around the world.
HC: Last show you watched on Netflix?
AS: So I’m definitely a Netflix addict and have a list of 19 shows that I’ve watched the entire series of, but right now I’m in the middle of Parenthood.
HC: Favorite movie, ever?
AS: Definitely a tie between Anastasia, Matilda and The Blind Side.