I visited Tulane somewhat reluctantly in the fall of 2018. I told my mother I didn’t want to go to college in the south, but she insisted we make the trip, partially because she knew I’d fall in love instantly and partially because she had extra vacation days and had never been to New Orleans.
Much to my chagrin, I knew she was right almost immediately. The admissions team gathered our group of uninterested students and overly excited parents in a room in the architecture building, where they handed things over to a group of eager tour guides who caught my attention instantly. Each individual was from a different corner of the country–or globe–and each of them had such a somewhat unconventional pairing of academic pursuits and extracurricular involvement. I was awestruck by their palpable display of passion, their belief in paving a career path so specifically in sync with who they were. By the end of the tour, I’d switched my application from EA to ED, and about a month later, I’d been accepted. At the time, I had virtually no concept of what my future would look like, but I knew that I wanted to determine it surrounded by individuals committed to innovation and progressivism.
I had a relatively passive freshman fall. I made friends of convenience, signed up for clubs and orgs, but never really found the courage to show. Just after winter break, some girls on my floor (Brothers McSherry and Kuhn) mentioned how rushing and pledging AKPsi had defined their short, but proliferating college experiences. Armed with the notion that I really had nothing to lose, I showed up to the first night of rush curious, but not overly hopeful. That first night of rush in the Qatar Ballroom, I rediscovered the warmth and devotion that had drawn me to this campus nearly 900 miles away from the Midwestern comfort I was used to. Everyone was driven, but not enmeshed in competition; open, but not wavering in their own ideals; kind, but not seeking transactional connections. Since the spring of 2020, my continual involvement in AKPsi has allowed my Tulane experience to transform utterly and consistently, moving and growing with me and my peers. As a rising senior, I am proud to lead the organization that built me, and more than that, excited and honored at the chance to leave it in an even better place than I found it.
By Khira Hickbottom
