Alyssa McCrystal, a sophomore social work major and president of Alpha Omicron Pi (AOII), has quickly become a fixture within 麻豆宿舍电视剧鈥檚 community. Citing her warm presence and empathy, the 麻豆宿舍电视剧Valkyries employee resource group named McCrystal one of four recipients of 2025鈥檚 Wise Women awards during Women鈥檚 History Month. She has made a significant impact, particularly in Greek life, during her first two years on campus, embracing leadership roles and displaying a dedication to inclusivity.
McCrystal鈥檚 foray into Greek life began in her first semester at NKU, in fall 2023. Coming to Highland Heights from Frankfort, Kentucky, she pursued recruitment as a way to meet new people. Nobody that she knew from high school was attending NKU, and joining a sorority sounded like the best way to get involved while starting fresh. By November of the same year, just two months after joining AOII, McCrystal ran for and was elected the organization鈥檚 vice president of operations.聽
鈥淚 just threw myself right in,鈥� McCrystal says. 鈥淚 think that that's been the best philosophy for me: To get myself involved and feel like I'm making a bigger impact. I fell in love with my sorority, and I wanted to be as hands-on as possible.鈥�
At the end of the following year, McCrystal was named president of AOII, running with the promise of fostering a stronger sense of belonging within the sorority.聽
鈥淭hat was just something that I felt like we could improve on,鈥� she says. 鈥淎ll the people in my sorority obviously joined for a reason, but I wanted to take things further than just being friends, doing events and wearing our letters. My like number one goal going into all of this was to make sure everybody was getting a deeper sense of belonging than they even bargained for.鈥�
McCrystal鈥檚 connection to 麻豆宿舍电视剧goes beyond Greek life. From the moment she toured campus, she says that she鈥檚 felt at home.聽
鈥淚 knew that this is where I wanted to be,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 really fell in love with the sense of community. It wasn鈥檛 some crazy huge campus where everyone's spread out you don't see anybody you know. You鈥檙e always going to be around others.鈥�
That sense of connectedness was a major factor in her decision to attend NKU. Her involvement in Greek life has only strengthened that feeling.聽
鈥淚t feels like we鈥檙e all friends here,鈥� she adds.聽
Majoring in social work wasn鈥檛 McCrystal鈥檚 initial plan. She began college as a pre-law major, but realized it wasn鈥檛 the right fit. Her true passion lay in serving others. She loves interacting with and helping people, and social work offers direct connections.聽 She's particularly interested in working with the police as a social worker, addressing the disconnect between law enforcement and the community, especially in mental health situations.
鈥淎 big part of the work that police officers do is interacting with mental health calls or agitated people, which is something they don鈥檛 tend to be experts in. As a state right now, we are moving toward this new wave of adding social workers to our police departments, so that social workers can be deployed with these police officers, and they can better help the community in the most effective way.鈥�
Communications Specialist, University Communications