It's Four Years, It's For Life

Amanda Powell Smith is one proud UGA alum. She was heavily involved in the Panhellenic community serving as the Panhellenic Delegate as well as President of Kappa Alpha Theta before she graduated in 2008. After college, Amanda settled down in her hometown of Nashville, Tennessee where she was working as a Management Consultant. She is now happily married and just had a baby! Amanda is still very much involved in Kappa Alpha Theta showing that sorority love is truly for a lifetime!

Gameday, circa 2007.

How did your experience as a leader in Kappa Alpha Theta and the greater Panhellenic community benefit you after college?

My officer positions in Kappa Alpha Theta and involvement in Panhellenic gave me incredible leadership experience while in college. When I was interviewing for jobs after school, I could speak to how my roles as President and Vice President of Panhellenic within Theta gave me both managerial experience as well as valuable experience working with teams. As President, I was managing a chapter of over 200 women overseeing finance and operations while adhering to education and compliance requirements from the University and Kappa Alpha Theta National Headquarters. As an active member of the Panhellenic community, I worked across sororities to not only improve Greek Life but also the University of Georgia. This experience is very desirable for any professional organization looking to hire leaders who can work collaboratively to solve problems. Since graduating, the officer positions within Theta have even been renamed to better emulate leadership roles at corporations (e.g., CEO, CEdO, etc.) to highlight the similarities between leadership roles within Kappa Alpha Theta and “the real world.”

In what ways are you still involved with your sorority- friends, volunteer work, job connections?

The friends I made in my sorority are some of my best friends today. Several sorority sisters were bridesmaids in my wedding and even though we don’t all live in the same city, we make a point to get together every year (most often for football games in Athens!). Additionally, I am still actively involved in Kappa Alpha Theta as the Education advisor for the Alpha Eta chapter at Vanderbilt University. It is incredible how sororities and fraternities can help aid you in networking after college and it has been extremely rewarding getting involved in my city’s local alumnae chapter and meeting so many incredible women.

If you could give one piece of advice to a college student in Greek life now, what would it be?

Get involved. There are so many ways to get involved within your own chapter and the Panhellenic community. No leadership role is too small to obtain valuable leadership experience.

What was your favorite part about being in a sorority?

Easy - the lifelong friends.