Brennan AngelJamie Okazaki wants you to know that she isn’t a stereotypical sorority girl. As the president of the Cal Poly chapter of the Panhellenic Association, the national board governing all seven recognized sororities on campus, she’s dedicated to changing the way Cal Poly views the greek system.
“With Panhellenic, I love being involved because when I was a freshman, I remember seeing the stereotype sororities have,” recreation management senior Okazaki said. “I want to help improve the relationship between the greek community and the San Luis Obispo community, within the school, improve our image to teachers, faculty, staff members, to the police department and to the fire department as well.”
One of Okazaki’s passions is to create awareness about the greek community’s involvement in the area.
As the leader of Panhellenic, Okazaki heads the 11-member board and facilitates their meetings.
“My role is to truly be the most unbiased member, so I disaffiliate from my own sorority in order to fairly represent all the seven sororities on campus and give them a voice,” Okazaki said.
Last year, before Okazaki became president, she served as secretary of Panhellenic and began pursuing campus leaders to find out what they thought of the greek system, their image, and how she could make improvements when she became president this year.
“That was one of my goals this year, to get more people involved seeing what we do,” Okazaki said.
In addition to her involvement with Panhellenic, Okazaki is a full-time student, active member of social sorority Alpha Phi, and student manager at the Cal Poly Rec Center. But being extremely busy and involved is nothing new to the self-proclaimed “leadership junkie,” who was also president of her senior class in high school.
Heather Iwata, graduate assistant for Greek Life, works closely with Okazaki and believes her to be a guiding force in the greek system.
“Jamie has always displayed initiative, led by example and followed through,” Iwata said. “She’s been a pillar of strength and leadership for everyone in Panhellenic, and I’m sure in her house too.”
Although her time as president of Panhellenic will be coming to a close in December when her term is over, Okazaki plans to work hard right up to the end to make sure the board reaches their full potential.
“My goal is to just keep us going strong, and keep my executive board still passionate while they end their service on Panhellenic board,” Okazaki said.
Okazaki doesn’t plan to slow down either. She plans on taking 22 units both winter and spring quarter in order to graduate in June 2007.
Okazaki is looking forward to changing her focus and working towards a career as an events planner for a professional sports team.
“I really enjoy serving people. I like seeing the happy customers or happy participants, so I really love working in customer service and just planning events for everyone to enjoy,” Okazaki said. “I’m hoping to get an internship with a professional baseball team once I graduate from Cal Poly.”