RSO of the Month

Her Campus Makes Active Presence In Its First Year

In less than a year’s time, Her Campus at Minnesota State University, Mankato had made its presence known through fund-raisers, ongoing activities and blog posts that range from entertaining to empowering.

“It is a great organization that focuses on the women of our campus and empowering each other. It is very inclusive and welcoming. It is also great that we are able to write for an online magazine. Watching our members grow as writers and individuals has been the most rewarding experience ever and I am excited for it to impact more people next year,” said Shaela Nelson, founder, president and campus correspondent of the Her Campus chapter at Minnesota State Mankato.

The Centennial Student Union’s Recognized Student Organization of the Month, Her Campus at Minnesota State Mankato launched Sept. 8, 2015. In her blog post, “The Life-Changing Journey of Starting a Her Campus Chapter,” Nelson recalls discovering the Her Campus website while “procrastinating” studying for finals.

“As I continued to read more articles on this glamorous-looking website, I fell more and more in love with it, deciding I HAD to bring it to Mankato” Nelson wrote. “About two hours of reading articles (procrastinating studying) and a few cups of coffee later, I decided to (apply to) start a chapter. To me, Her Campus was simply a fun online magazine that we would write for.”

The focus of the chapter change after Nelson met with Dr. Brenda Flannery, dean of the College of Business.

“Dean Flannery brought up statistics about women in business and how the enrollment of female business students is declining” Nelson wrote in her blog. “There are other majors that are predominantly male dominated such as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and we knew we could help fix this.”

The chapter turned its energy to empowering women on campus and expanding the Her Campus membership.

“The chapter began to grow more and more and we involved ourselves around campus as much as we could,” she said.

Networking became an important component as members met with university alumni and corporate representatives.

The group also has organized successful community and fundraising events including Camp Patterson Clean Up, Dream Closet Shopping Events, Dance Marathon participation aiding children with cancer, and the Polar Plunge for Special Olympics of Minnesota.

As Her Campus looks for continued growth and campus involvement in the coming academic year, persons interested can to learn more about the organization by visiting the chapter’s website at http://www.hercampus.com/school/mnsu. Questions can be emailed to mnsu@hercampus.com. Persons interested in joining, you may fill out an application at https://hcmnsu.wufoo.com/forms/m3ny7co0977kv7/