I pledged in 1992, I was also in the flag corps and Marching Mizzou. Tau Beta was huge in those days, with at least 50 actives. I had 18 in my pledge class. In fact one of the PTA moms at my school was is in my pledge class. We had lots of fun pledging, did walk out, and of course our scavenger hunt. We hung out a LOT with our Kappa brothers (and we had Kappa sisters starting the next year).
What I liked best was just having all of those instant friends. If you're pledging or an active you had a lot of connections and it made walking in classrooms less scary. We all used to hang out in the coffee bar at the bottom of Jesse Hall. Back in the day Jesse Hall was also the band department. So all of our classes were in the band room, even those of us like me who were not music majors but took every band class!! There was the coffee bar lady - her name was Marie Crump. She was like our mom, and we would hang out there even when we weren't eating her delicious cheese nachos. In fact, my parents would call Marie when they were looking for me on campus, before the age of cell phones, because Marie would usually knew where I was.
My sophomore year I became treasurer of Tau Beta, and then I want to live in England for a year. My senior year I was the president of the chapter, and I think a lot of that leadership helped me I my role as a student teacher, and then an English teacher.
I'm currently a middle school principal, after being in the classroom for 12 years and in a middle school for seven years. Tau Beta definitely gives me the strength to feel blessed to be part of an organization. It's also a great way for me to connect to my music teachers; I wasn't a music major but still have a lot of friends in common with them. I am able to observe and evaluate music teachers because of my extensive collegiate musical performance back.
Thank you, Dr. Porter, for agreeing to be our Alum of the Month!
Interested in being the next Alumni of the Month? Contact Erin McCann at EMMN8C@mail.missouri.edu!
