Founded in fall 2022, Freshmen Radiating Eagerness in Serving Humanity, or FRESH, looks to engage servant-hearted leaders with the community.
FRESH founder and economics sophomore Eleanor McGahan thought of creating a freshman leadership organization, or FLO, to give more freshmen a chance to find their homes.
“I felt like there was a hole in the FLO world that I could fill,” McGahan said. “I think the FLO world can be so competitive that really good kids can slip through the cracks or not find a FLO they can call home. I wanted to create a FLO to give more kids a chance to find their home.”
Before FRESH started recruiting freshmen, the organization had to recruit a staff of directors and counselors. Director and finance sophomore Cole Braaten said he had specific character traits in mind when recruiting potential staff members.
“What I first looked for was people I knew personally because if I knew who you are as a person then I can trust you to be a part of something I am so passionate about,” Braaten said. “Then, I also looked for people with a background in service. One of our execs is in [The] 12th Can and he was someone I immediately texted ‘Yo, please come be a part of this org. I think you’d be perfect for the role of service exec.’”
Braaten said he was happy to have interviewed those he didn’t know well for a staff position.
“Half of our staff are people I interviewed,” Braaten said. “That half is who I’m really proud of finding because I got to develop relationships with these people and I know they are going to be a shining light on this organization.”
FRESH had the opportunity to create its own recruitment schedule since they are not a part of the Freshmen Leadership Advisory Council, or FLAC. All new FLOs must serve a probation period during their first year with freshmen members before applying to become a FLAC-recognized FLO. FRESH attracted over 250 applicants, conducting interviews for each in the span of 25 hours over a week. McGan said she was thrilled to attract so many applicants.
“It was so unexpected because you never know what you’re going to get in your first year as an organization,” McGahan said. “It was such a heart-warming experience to attract that number of students.”
FRESH Executives came together and decided that 54 freshmen were the optimum number to accept for their organization. The organization sent out its acceptance decisions on Sunday, Oct. 11. The accepted freshmen will form six different councils, headed by two counselors and an exec, within the FLO: Outreach, Funds, Arrangement, Internal Social, External Social and Design.
McGahan said what sets FRESH apart from other FLOs is how fast the group bonded.
“What sets us apart is how connected we’ve come in such a short amount of time and how different we all are but how in the end, we are the perfect puzzle reaching this goal of creating a perfect home for the freshmen,” McGahan said.
FRESH looks to also connect the freshmen with Destination Bryan and the chamber of commerce because the group’s main focus is to connect freshmen with the local Bryan/College Station area.
“The freshmen that end up getting into FRESH will have an increase in their network and grow so much as people in having the opportunity in growing their service hearts and minds,” Braaten said. “I’m really excited that this came to fruition and didn’t fall in the dust.”
To learn more about FRESH, you can visit their Instagram page @TAMU.FRESH.
