Helen Lee

9/25/15
Reporting 375
Headline: The Greek Life Intern: Shes Just Like You
She lives with the sounds and smells of college lifestudents slamming doors on their

way out to class, the fraternity houses blasting music on weekends, and the occasional whiff of

someones cooking experiment gone wrong.

She experiences all this from the Whites, a student apartment complex at Linfield

College.
But shes not a student.
Sarah Fuller, 23, is the Greek life intern. Only two years out from collegeshes a 2014

Willamette gradFuller has made a huge difference in the Greek community on campus.
Hired in August of 2014, she said she felt an instant connection to the school. You walk

onto campus and you just think, This is a really good place to be. This is a really great

environment and everyone seems really passionate about what they do, and theyre usually doing

a lot because, you know, power of a small college, so theres not a lot of people and theres not

a lot of money. So it just felt perfect.

Fuller works tirelessly with the sororities and fraternities, as well as the governing bodies

of each: the Interfraternity Council and the Linfield Panhellenic Council. She also played a big

part in the introduction and rollout of deferred recruitment, a hotly debated issue at Linfield.
A Pi Beta Phi alum, shes a die-hard Greek supporter. But it hasnt always been that way,

and her experiences living in a sorority house helped shape her passion for helping Greek

communities prosper and succeed.

The senior class in my sorority did something really mean to us when I was a

sophomore. They roasted all of us, which is really rude and disrespectful. So that was a time

when I thought, What is the point of this? And then it changed. I became a leader, went to

conferences, and saw more of what Greek life can really do, Fuller said.
 She said the most valuable and applicable professional skills she learned in college came

from her extracurricular activities, which included working for the health center in womens

health information outreach and a job as an orientation leader in admissions.

These real-life skills, Fuller said, are what she wants to help Linfield students gain from

Greek life.
When Im working with my students I just want them to take a lot out of their

extracurricular activities. I want them to do more than a barbeque. I want them to achieve more

than that, and be proud of it. But theres only so much I can do, Fuller said.
Many of the challenges of her job stem from the narrow age gap between her and her

students.
Working with college students is great and I love it. Im sure I always will. But I do

think that its harder right now than it will be in, like, 10 years, Fuller said.
Even though her age helps her relate to students, she finds its difficult to establish herself

as an authority figure.
Im only like two years older than a lot of the people I work with. So thats weird

sometimes because I feel like you all would be my friends if I was your same age. It comes in

handy because I can be straightforward with students. Like, I can say bad words. I said the f

word one time in front of the fraternities and they freaked out. That was funny, Fuller said.
The Greek life position is busy, Fuller said, and one that often has her running around

like a chicken with her head cut off. She loves the chaos, though, and said she knew she wanted

a job that keeps her on her toes.

When I went abroad, I learned that I didnt want to do the whole American dream thing.

I didnt want to grow up, get married, and have kids, and die. Thats sort of the whole dream, and

that sounded really boring. So I wanted a job that was not the same thing every day, Fuller said.
Fuller is part of the millennial generationa new wave of people who crave adventure,

new experiences, and the opportunity to break the mold.

My mom, all she wanted when she was my age was her own cubicle. Shes an

accountant. That was her dream. And that sounds horrible. That just sounds terrible to me,
 For all that shes done for Linfields Greek life system, Fullers got more ambitious goals

in mind. I need to get my masters degree in student affairs, so thats on the list.
This is her last academic year with the school, and her future hope is to work higher up in

student affairs.
But Fuller isnt quite out of the collegiate woods yet. Despite her maturity and level of

responsibility, she still lives like a college-aged student.

Shes a video game enthusiast whos currently working on Zelda. Not the original

Ocarina of Time, Fuller is quick to clarify.

And sometimes I work out when Im feeling virtuous. And my best friend and I always

say were going to go on adventures, but then we just end up staying at home eating food and

watching movies. But thats OK, Fuller said.

Living in the Whites, Fuller has her fair share of exposure to typical college life. I hear

loud music from the fraternities at times. One time, we were actually at my friends apartment

next door, and we heard this screaming. My friend goes, Those are the men streaking! And Im

like, What? How do you know that by hearing them shriek? She said she just went to Linfield,

and so she knows it was the men streaking through campus.

Sometimes students smoke weed, and I go, Are you kidding? and then I call campus

security, Fuller said.

Fuller admits she wasnt a perfect student either, and that Willamette had its own

problems. For now, though, she uses her recent college experience to relate to students in her

career.
I love people. I like to talk. I love my dogBaxter, hes my baby. And thats mostly it

about me; I care about people, Fuller said.