Name: Jennifer Lucas
Year: Senior
Major: Political Science
Hometown: Tallahassee, FL
Photo By: Lauren Alsina
Her Campus (HC): You’ve participated in a lot during your time here at Florida State. Can you tell me a little about how you first got involved on campus?
Jennifer Lucas (JL): When I first got to Florida State, I decided to apply for the freshman leadership institute. When I did that, I interviewed with Kathryn Porwoll, who was our vice president at the time and was very inspiring to me. I got into the program, but I had a class at the same time so I could not do it. However, she encouraged me to seek out other opportunities, which is how I got involved in senate. From the beginning, I fell in love with it and by the end of my freshman year I was serving as the RTAC chair where I worked with students who needed money to travel for any conferences or events that they might have had for their organizations. I stayed involved with this for about two years until the end of my sophomore year when I became the Deputy Chief of Staff. I also joined Delta Gamma during my sophomore year, where I served as the Vice President of New Member Education. Besides that, I have also been involved in Garnet and Gold Key, Seminole Torchbearers, Garnet and Gold Scholar’s Society and the Honors Program.
HC: What has been the most exciting activity that you have been involved in during your time here?
JL: I served as an Orientation Leader for the summer of 2014, which was probably one of my favorite things that I ever did on campus. I loved getting to meet the incredible students who came in and getting to work with the other 40 orientation leaders!
HC: What are you most involved in now?
JL: Currently, I am serving as a co-director for the Big Event, which has been my biggest responsibility this year. We have an incredible executive board that has been working so hard to make this event the best that it has ever been. I am also interning at the Early Learning Coalition and have started a book drive here on campus.
Photo By: Lauren Alsina
HC: Can you tell me more about how you got involved in this book drive and what it is for?
JL: The Early Learning Coalition, where I am currently interning, has this program called the First Books Program where they give each child that comes into their office a free book. A lot of these children that are coming in to the office are underprivileged. They have been abused and neglected, so for many of them, this is the first book that they have ever received. When I heard about the program, I thought that it was an amazing way to touch lives and promote literacy. I started talking to everybody in Greek Life and we all decided that it would be a wonderful opportunity to come together as all four Greek councils and put on this book drive. It ends this month and the reveal will be on April 8th.
HC: As of now, the book drive is mostly among the Greek community, but do you have any plans to expand on this in the future in order to reach more people?
JL: My original plan was to start the book drive in Panhellenic because I wanted it to be successful for the first year, and I knew that Panhellenic was the one community that I could definitely tap into. Then I started to realize that this would be an excellent opportunity to build relationships and bonds across the entire Greek community by working together as all four councils. I want it to become an established event that we do every year within the Greek community, but I would also love for it to become a campus wide book drive. The Early Learning Coalition has been trying to tap into the FSU community and I know that FSU loves to give back to the Tallahassee community, so I think that to be able to come back here ten years from now and see that it is an established event with the entire school that happens every year in the month of March would be my dream.
HC: Do you have any instructions on how others can get involved in this book drive?
JL: Anybody can bring books to Delta Gamma where we have a large bucket that says, “Read it Again.” People can bring as many books as they want, preferably children’s books. They can be from Goodwill, the Dollar Store, from their own home, or wherever they want to bring them from. When dropping them off at DG, they should include their name or organization so that we can give them recognition when we reveal how many books we have collected and who contributed to that total. They can also be a part of the reveal ceremony, which will be on April 8th at Westcott. If anyone ever wants to get involved with the Early Learning Coalition, I know that they always love volunteers and would love for people to bring books to them at any time!