Sophomore Natalie Harris, an English and graphic design major, is a highly engaged member of the Honors College and OSU community. Natalie participated in OSU’s spring 2019 theater production of Sense and Sensibility and is in the current staging of The Secret Garden musical. She is a lead officer of the swing club on campus, where she co-teaches and coordinates swing dances a few Fridays every term in collaboration with the Corvallis Swing Society and is helping organize a TEDx event set to take place in spring 2020. On top of all of that, she works in the Honors College as a videographer and media designer and is a leader in her sorority, Kappa Delta.
Originally from Chico, California, Natalie was drawn to Oregon State because the natural beauty of the campus and surrounding parks reminded her of home. What sealed the deal for her, however, was the smaller class sizes, student-faculty relationships, and the “liberal arts” feel of the Honors College. “I had that ‘click’ feeling,” Natalie says. “I felt like I would be supported academically, but also that I would be challenged to try new things.”
The Honors College has given her opportunities to learn alongside people from a multitude of majors through colloquia courses, bond with honors students from both OSU’s Corvallis and Cascades campuses, and work with professional and student staff thanks to her job at the Honors College.
“I get to expand upon my own skills as a human being as I collaborate with others in the classroom and in the community as a whole,” Natalie says.
Natalie has found exactly those same values in her sorority, Kappa Delta. “Both [the Honors College and Kappa Delta] inspire continuous learning, developing leadership skills, and working together to help communities,” Natalie says. She describes both the Honors College and her sorority as an interdisciplinary community where you learn from others in many different ways.
Natalie joined Kappa Delta fall term of her freshman year, in 2018, and she immediately found opportunities for leadership and engagement. From January 2019 to November 2019 she was the vice president of finance for Kappa Delta, and currently, she is the chapter’s academic excellence chair. Natalie believes joining Kappa Delta was one of the best decisions she could have made her first year in college.
“Taking on the role of executive finance…that just really improved my leadership skills more than I could even imagine,” Natalie says.
Being in the high-achieving environments of Kappa Delta and the Honors College has challenged Natalie creatively and helped her think critically about how she wants to shape her college career.
“Both set me up for success in ways I’d never even considered before.”
By Lucas Yao: Media Assistant, Honors College
CATEGORIES: All Stories HC Student Spotlights