Junior Victoria Parker was elected as the president of the Panhellenic Council this past semester. She has high hopes for the future of Greek Life and plans to emphasize women’s empowerment, increase diversity in the community and partner with other organizations of campus. While her life as a Panhellenic woman is important to her, she has also made her mark on many other communities accross campus.

How did you get involved with the Panhellenic Council?

Last year I applied to the executive board of Alpha Delta Pi (ADPi) and I applied as the Panhellenic Delegate for my chapter. I was really excited about that position because it was half ADPi, half Panhellenic. During that year, I saw how the Panhellenic executives worked and saw how other delegates worked. I was really passionate about Panhellenic so I kept doing that and applied for Panhellenic exec this year.

What do you hope to accomplish as the new Panhellenic president?

I think that my main goals as Panhellenic president are to carry on some of the great stuff the previous exec did, like the Women in the Workforce panel and getting the Panhellenic scholarships out there and available to everyone so everyone is able to be part of a sorority. Then some new initiatives, for example, we just added the Vice President of Inclusion position, and Junior Anjali Purohit, who has that position, has some really great ideas to work with women’s history month and to do another Call to Conversation; so carrying on previous successes and morphing them into our own successes.

Panhellenic has made a huge push to promote female empowerment. What are your thoughts on this campaign? How do you plan to address this during your term?

I think that campaigns like the Call to Conversation and the Women in the Workforce panel and things like that empower women. Collaborating with other groups on campus, this semester and next semester, we’re going to be doing a lot of stuff with the Women’s Center, which has the same goal as us — to empower women and be resources on campus. Partnering with them will be a good way to achieve that goal and move forward.

What does female empowerment mean to you?

I would say female empowerment means standing your ground — knowing where you stand on a situation, thought process or problem and then holding your ground, standing firm and not letting other people sway you. By being strong in your own beliefs, you’re able to empower everyone around you. When you see a strong woman who is like, “this is what I’m going to do, and this is how I’m going to get there,” just being around her you feel empowered. I think that if all of us get to that point where we are very strong in our beliefs and slowly empower everyone around us then everyone will be empowered.

What other things are you involved in on campus?

Aside from being Panhellenic president, I’m also the Director of Academic Affairs for ADPi, which is the ADPi Scholarship Chair. I book study rooms, help people with papers and help people study. I’m also the president of Catholic Community, which is actually a very big organization, as there’s over 1,000 Catholics on campus. I’ve been very passionate about that since my freshman year, and I served as their Vice President Peer Minister last year. I’m also on Student Budget Advisory Committee (SBAC) as the co-chair, which is under Student Government. I’m technically an assistant treasurer and I work with allocating the $600,000 that the university gives us to give to student organizations every year.

What’s the one thing you can’t live without?

My heated blanket, because I feel like the weather here is really weird even though I grew up in Winston-Salem. I like having my heated blanket because if it’s cold outside I can get warm but if it’s hot outside, I don’t have to turn it on. Also, my suite can never decide on a temperature, so it’s nice to have.

What’s something that most people may not know about you?

I’m from Winston-Salem, I was born here and then I went to college at Wake Forest so I have never left. My family owns a retirement home in Winston-Salem that my great grandmother started. Family is important to me because I grew up surrounded by both sets of my grandparents and my parents all working at this one place where I would spend my time.

Are you planning to further continue the family legacy with the retirement home?

Yes, I hope to finally move out of Winston-Salem for five or six years, not see the world, but see any other part of America besides Winston-Salem. Then I’d probably come back and have my family and kids here because it is important to me.