As I’ve been wrapping up my time with Her Campus, I’ve thought a lot about what my final article should be. I’ve read several final articles from writers in my chapter, and writers around the Her Campus Chapter Network. I had already written something reflecting on my time in the organization as I bizarrely reached 100 articles earlier this semester. I didn’t want to write something along the lines of what I have already written, and I’ve had so much anxiety about what life is going to look like when I am no longer writing these articles. And then I thought about last year’s Her Campus Stout President, Kendra Lamer, who I’m fortunate enough to call one of my closest friends. When I was talking with her about my ideas for what my final article should be about, she graciously agreed to do an exit interview to discuss Her Campus, what comes next, and how she’s looked back on everything.
As President of Her Campus Stout, Kendra was the perfect fit to lead the organization. She majored in Professional Communication and Emerging Media and had a concentration in Applied Journalism. She also had experience writing with other publications such as Volume One and the Mayo Clinic. She worked alongside another student in Professional Communication and Emerging Media, who also worked on our campus newspaper, Stoutonia. Stepping into the Presidency last year made me very nervous, as I would be ending the reign of PCEM Presidents as a Business Administration major. Could they even trust me? Thankfully (?) Her Campus Stout is going back to their usual beat, and PCEM student Breah Hoke is getting ready to take over in the next few days.
We had a lot of conversations about what Her Campus Stout would look like transitioning from her Presidency to my own. She had some fears in the sweeping changes I wanted to make from day one. These changes included adding executive positions such as Sorority Liaison, Treasurer, and Art Director. The incoming President is having conversations about including a Sponsorship Liaison and an official Twitch streamer, and I am very interested to see how that goes. I also made some changes in terms of Her Campus Stout working with other organizations at Stout, namely the Stout Student Association and the People’s Organization of Network Gaming. Only one of those partnerships resulted in her asking if I was “okay”. If anyone witnessed our themed “PONG Appreciation Week,” they probably understand her concern.
One of the things Kendra was surprised by in following Her Campus Stout’s editorial content has been my deviation from alcohol writing. Way back when, she convinced me to join Her Campus while we were out at a bar, and I agreed to join the team as a writer under the condition that I could exclusively write about alcohol. If you click my name at the bottom of this article, and scroll all the way down to my early articles, you might be impressed with how far I was able to stretch that content. And that’s exactly why I stopped featuring alcohol front and center in my Her Campus writing. While it’s a wide ranging field with lots of inspiration in a college town, I did eventually get bored writing about it. Changing it up was scary, and Kendra was subject to many long conversations trying to figure out what kind of content I could write about instead, but I’m really happy to have made the switch.
I learned from the best when it came to writing. Kendra always garnered amazing numbers and wrote about fascinating topics. After graduation she began writing professionally. Kendra started with the McFarland Thistle, and now writes for West Bend Daily News. She’s also become a real-life adult in that time, and moved to a new city with friend and fellow Her Campus Stout alumnus Allison Garrett. I spent New Years with them, and it was amazing to see my old bar buddies thriving in their new lives. I did manage to ask them at least a dozen times if I was doing a good job taking care of their “baby”. In possibly an effort to get me to stop asking, they assured me I was doing a good job with the chapter.
I don’t really know what comes next for me, and what I’ll be doing after finishing out my Business degree and later a certification in Project Management. I’ve had so many amazing experiences at Stout, and especially in Her Campus. I just hope those experiences can help me figure what the future has planned.
HCXO!