As fall term comes to an end, it brings about a new turn of leadership in Fraternity and Sorority Life.
A majority of the FSL chapters have already selected, or are in the process of selecting, new officers for the 2015 school year. Many elected presidents are in their junior year, but Delta Gamma is welcoming 19-year-old Tori Ganahl, who will be the sophomore president for the incoming term.
Although it may seem as if a sophomore could not have the wisdom or maturity to be in that position, Ganahl has gone above and beyond both in and outside the FSL community to gain the necessary leadership skills to run a chapter.
Her desire to become president did not just happen recently though. Ganahl has expressed interest in leadership roles through Delta Gamma since the day she joined.
“I knew I always wanted to be president from the first day I started as a Delta Gamma, so I basically just started working my butt off in order to do so,” Ganahl said.
To do this, Ganahl participated in many activities at the school including Junior Greek Council and Victoria’s Secret Pink Street team, which gave her a chance to be more involved with the FSL community.
“I was out in the community a lot and getting to know these people in different sororities and fraternities. It was really awesome,” Ganahl said.
In addition to that, she participated in a leadership class with the director of FSL, Justin Schukas, to give her better insight as to what the position would be like.
“I worked really closely with Justin, and there were a lot of current presidents in the class. We basically just discussed problems that we may face as leaders and how to address those problems and it really opened my eyes to what being president would be like, like all the bad realities, all the good realities of the position,” Ganahl said. “It really, really opened my eyes to why I wanted this position.”
The sorority is excited to welcome Ganahl as their new president and has no doubt that her age will not affect her presidency.
“She’s up for the challenge. People respect her, upperclassmen respect her, I think that’s a huge part of it and she already has that,” Colleen Stott, said UO senior vice president of social standards for Delta Gamma. “I’m really excited for her to take this on, and I think she is going to do an amazing job.”
Ganahl has no hesitations when it comes to being president and feels as if her age will make no difference.
“I knew I wanted to be president from the beginning, but taking on all those other positions and leadership roles made me realize that I could do it earlier on,” Ganahl said. “I didn’t have to be a junior in order to do that, I felt as if all of these things prepared me enough to do it my sophomore year and that’s what I ended up doing.”
Women in Delta Gamma are looking forward to the upcoming year and the new perspective that Ganahl will bring.
“Tori will be a great asset, and I think Delta Gamma will really strive with her as president,” Lauren Diaz, vice president of foundation, said. “I think we’re all really excited to start this new chapter with her in it.”
