Sister Spotlight: Mac Powell

Mac Powell is an recent alum in Kappa Kappa and is a part of PC’16. She majored in communication and held a concentration in interpersonal communication. Beginning her Ball State journey, Ball State wasn’t on Mac’s radar. She is from Evansville, IN, and there are two main colleges there. A lot of people in Evansville either went to the two local colleges, Indiana University, or Western Kentucky. Her uncle is an alumni at Ball State and encouraged Mac to look there. At the time, Mac didn’t have her heart set on any particular school, so she decided to apply. Once she applied, she went to a preview day instead of taking a tour. From there, she had the opportunity to tour the campus, talk to a panel of students, and look at student groups and organizations. After experiencing preview day, Mac described, “I basically left being like, ‘Okay, I’m going to Ball State.’” Toward the end of Mac’s senior year of high school, she began to panic. She described her panic, questioning, “Am I really about to move four hours away?” Her mother had Mac when she was nineteen and stayed in Evansville. She was adamant about Mac broadening her horizons and getting the college experience. Sure enough, with a little push and shove, Mac attended Ball State for her undergrad.

Mac came into Ball State as a pre-PT major. She landed on pre-PT because her mom is a nurse, her sister has her doctorate in nursing, and there were a lot of people in her family who went to college and left with some type of career in the health profession. Mac described that it wasn’t for her, so she changed to nursing. Mac laughed as she explained that as soon as she changed to nursing, she failed anatomy. At the end, she came to the conclusion that a career in the health profession just wasn’t for her. Her freshman year, she was really close to her RA, Hannah. Hannah was a communications major and encouraged her to take a communication class. At the time, Mac didn’t realize what she could do with a communication degree. Instead of taking a class and dipping her toes in the water, she decided to change her major to communication. Mac described that she, “Jumped right into communications, jumped right into interpersonal. I planted my feet and started running after that.”

Mac held the position of Vice President of Chapter Development. Mac explained that once you take that role, it never leaves you. Although she may not have had the duties and responsibilities of currently being in the chair, a drive remained to be a positive light and smiling face in the chapter. Mac loved the experience of being VPCD and helping other positions along the way, such as New Member Educator. Mac described that, “People always need a positive person in their life.”

Mac has accomplished many impressive feats during her time as a member of Kappa Kappa and as an undergraduate. Mac was the parade chair for the Ball State Homecoming committee. Mac described, “That was a beast to tackle. Having positions in AOII helped me time manage and delegate.” Her role as parade chair was to be a liaison between Ball State University and the Muncie public for the parade. She had to have direct contact with different individuals in the Muncie community, such as when she had to get convertibles for royalty and committee members to ride in. Mac also had to work alongside the university police and Muncie town hall to ensure that roads would be closed off for the parade. The position was all about communication! Mac had a constant line of communication between committee members and the Muncie community. For the parade day, Mac was in charge of a group of 20 volunteers. Mac explained, “I had to set up an itinerary, I had to make sure they felt comfortable in their position and gave them orientation, I did a parade line up to ensure all of the parade entries would fit in the Muncie central parking lot, I wrote out the script for the parade announcers…as someone who studies communication they utilized me as a resource to talk to news outlets. I was able to not only behind the scenes be a correspondence in the Muncie community, but publicly as well.”

Mac was very honored and proud to win the Rose award, as these awards are based on nominations from fellow sisters. Mac also held two internships during her time at Ball State. Mac had the opportunity to be a diversity and inclusion intern, where she got to go to conferences and start a diversity and inclusion email that got sent out to all of the student athletes. She really enjoyed learning how to use a platform that has the capabilities to send mass communication. From there, she was able to intern at the Foundation. She had the opportunity to write articles sent out to all of the alumni called News From the Nest.

Mac is currently obsessed with Survivor. She described, “I probably watched seven seasons within this quarantine for sure.” Mac has also been playing Animal Crossing like, “nobody’s business.” Mac has recently really enjoyed hammocking. She loves how she can get alone time, yet still be social in a safe way. She loves R&B and is an OG fan of Justin Bieber. The first time she heard one of his songs on the radio, she asked, “Who is this girl?”

Mac’s AOII journey is unique and full of surprises. When she first was asked if she was interested in Greek life, she was absolutely sure it was something she was not interested in. Before recruitment, she befriend fellow PC’16 sisters Claire Scheible and Tess DeBruyn. They were both legacies of AOII and, although Mac didn’t understand what that meant at the time, she decided to follow her friends into formal recruitment. She ha the attitude of, “If I like it, I’ll stay. If I don’t, no harm done.” Mac was surprised that when she visited AOII as the last chapter of the day, she could hear the noise and buzzing excitement. When she entered the room, the women were poised and she was, “vibing.” When one of the women in the chapter stood up and introduced herself, Mac was caught off guard! The woman who was speaking to the chapter shared the same last name as one of her favorite teachers. Mac instantly knew that was her favorite teacher’s daughter. Excitedly, she wanted to speak to her, but understood as a PNM you couldn’t just walk around the room to seek out someone. Instead, she asked for AOII back and visited the next day. When she walked back into AOII, the circle was small and the setting was intimate. Everyone was surprised when the woman who stood up and spoke picked her up at the door, screeching in excitement for Mac’s return! Ever since then, she was obsessed with AOII. At some points in her journey, she was a bit skeptical, however, she soon got the feeling that, “Whenever I’m in a room full of Kappa Kappa, I know I am the best version of myself.” Mac relayed that sisterhood isn’t easy by any means. It’s like having real sisters, but, nonetheless, she has gained valuable friendships and experiences that she is thankful for.

As for the future, Mac is currently enrolled in the Ball State Master’s program Center of Information and Communication Science. She also has the opportunity to be a GA and teach three sections of COMM 210. Mac believes that since everything is so applicable to real life in communications her confidence to share her knowledge and ideas is solid. When she first realized that she enjoyed communication students, she had a goal to become an instructor.