SHANNON URTNOWSKI
The Current Editor
Doing it all isn’t easy, but senior Leslie Horvath does her best to make it look that way. With a weekly schedule jam-packed to the minute, Horvath has learned to juggle a wide variety of extracurricular activities and still sport a smile. She is currently a double major in both speech communication and organizational communication.
In addition to her studies, Horvath is also a Lead Intern with the Office of Admission, the Vice President of Communication for Pi Beta Phi, a member of the Pepperdine Ambassadors Council and an avid traveler with two study abroad programs under her belt. Horvath participated in the Heidelberg and London programs, and she also took part in the D.C. Internship program. She said that those experiences, in addition to her time at the Malibu campus, have given her an appreciation of a number of different activities in life.
Horvath took time out of her schedule to sit down and offer a look into her busy weekly routine.
Being so involved on campus, what activity would you say keeps you the busiest?
Probably the biggest thing is the Office of Admission. I’m the lead intern in there now. We have two lead interns and a panel of interns, so it’s kind of a managerial role. I was an intern last year, and a student worker before that, so I worked my way up as far as I could. It’s a cool job to have on campus because it gives you real-world experience within a student, bubble setting. You have a shield over you while having this real-world office experience. So, that’s one thing that takes up a lot of my time.
In addition to your Office of Admissions work, you are in a sorority. How are you involved with that?
I am a Pi Phi, and I’m the Vice President of Communication. My term is almost up, so it’s bitter sweet, but I’m also very excited. By being the Vice President of Communication, I’m also the Panhellenic representative for Pi Phi. Each sorority has a representative in Panhellenic, which is the neutral board. It’s composed of people from all the different sororities. Also, I re-did the entire Web site this year. It was kind of like my legacy in leaving Pi Phi. I got a web master, and I worked one-on-one with her and wrote information for the site: studentorgs.pepperdine.edu/piphi.
You are also a member of the Pepperdine Ambassadors Council. What does that entail?
I got on the Pepperdine Ambassadors Council, which is something I’ve always wanted to be a part of. I’m very, very thrilled and blessed to be on that this year. It’s such a cool thing to get out of your comfort zone and shake the hand of a complete stranger, or to go and talk to President Benton and tell him suggestions that you think might improve the campus or meet phenomenal people and hear their incredible stories and be able to actually have an intelligent conversation with them.
Do you know what you want to do after graduation?
No, I’ve just kind of narrowed it down. I don’t want to do one thing for my entire life. I am not that type of person, which actually takes a lot of weight off my back right now, because a lot of seniors are trying to find that one thing they want to do for the rest of their life, and I’m not worried about that. I can never do one thing for my entire life — I’ll get so bored. In the long run, I want to eventually go into business or leadership consulting or some type of consulting within the business realm. And then, ultimately, my dream job would be to go into public speaking and do massive conference series’ speaking in front of multiple thousands of people, like at the Women of Faith Conference Series and Revolve Conference Series that I go to.
What has been your best experience at Pepperdine?
Overseas was probably the most awesome experience, as in a-w-e-some. The biggest God experiences happened over there. I went to 14 countries while I was overseas. The experience and the friendships that you have overseas — I think anyone can attest to the fact that you get to know people in a completely different light. You see the best and worst in people and it’s so cool. I probably had some of my worst moments and some of my best moments overseas.
What has motivated you to be so involved and active in the Pepperdine community?
I’ve been told my whole life that whatever you want to do you can, so I’ve always shot for big things. As I’ve grown up, I’ve set realistic goals for myself. It’s about knowing yourself and knowing what you can do and knowing your skills. It’s one thing to know what you want to do in life, and it’s another to know what you’re good at, what qualities you have and what spiritual gifts you’ve been given from God. I actually had an epiphany just the other day about life, because I am so busy as I think a lot of people at Pepperdine are. For me, it’s all about your attitude … and you have a choice. You have a choice to say no to things or not do things or to do things with a cheerful heart. This year could fly right by me or it could be one of the best years of my life — and it’s my choice.
11-15-2007