Love is Kind with Kylie: A Homecoming Happy Ending
Carol Rector- Oct 18, 2023
- 5 min read
On Saturday, October 14, Alpha Chi Omega’s very own Kylie Arnold was crowned part of Virginia Tech’s 2023 Homecoming Royalty, running in support of Domestic Violence Awareness. We interviewed the queen herself to get all the details. Keep reading to hear her story!
Written by: Carol Rector - October 2023
Kylie Arnold, a senior studying Chemical Engineering and Spanish, took a huge step in her Virginia Tech journey and decided to run for the 2023 Homecoming Court. A substantial undertaking, running for Homecoming Court at Virginia Tech is a rigorous seven-month process in which candidates run in support of a philanthropic cause.
Undergoing a process with numerous interviews and responsibilities throughout the summer and into the upcoming fall, candidates’ values of leadership and their commitment to their cause are tested. Despite these challenges, our Kylie managed to go all the way, being crowned one of three Homecoming Royalties this past Saturday in Lane Stadium.
Kylie is unique in that you will never meet someone quite as compassionate, dedicated, outgoing, and genuinely caring. Even in the high levels of stress and the constant go-go-go of Homecoming, Kylie was unwaveringly her bubbly, ray-of-sunshine self that we all know and love here at Alpha Chi Omega.
She was the perfect candidate to represent a cause so heartfelt to us, and so in need of love that is kind.
Kylie’s Inspiration
So, what drives someone to take on the many responsibilities of running for Homecoming Court? It could only be a student with an exceptional passion for supporting their cause and making a difference in their community. In an interview with Kylie, she spoke about her inspirations and passions that led her to make the decision to run on the platform of Domestic Violence Awareness.
“I have been passionate about DVA for as long as I can remember,” she remarks. Knowing that Homecoming was an important Virginia Tech tradition built on the foundation of philanthropy, Kylie seized the opportunity to “publicly showcase [her] passion for DVA on a huge platform with high visibility.” Her friends and passion for leadership were driving forces as well, after being told that she “would be an amazing candidate because of [her] level of involvement on campus.” Putting these things together surely made Kylie a glowing force for all things kind.
Kylie’s true passion for her cause was obvious throughout her entire campaign. Her commitment to spreading awareness about available resources and building a strong relationship with the Virginia Tech Women’s Center made her an advocate with a lot of influence. Specifically, Kylie is “a huge advocate for the prevention aspect of Domestic Violence Awareness.” In believing that bystanders can play a bigger role in the prevention of violent incidents, she wanted “a big part of [her] platform to be encouraging bystanders to learn how to safely intervene, because they genuinely can make all the difference.” This specific motivation for Kylie’s campaign is inspiring because of its potential for real community influence, seeing as we can all learn to be better bystanders.
Campaign Goals
As we've said before, running for Homecoming Court at Virginia Tech is a large endeavor, and only those who are truly responsible and dedicated make the cut. Kylie gave us an outline of her experience with the process, saying that, “running for Homecoming Court requires a ton of stamina because you are elected in March and have responsibilities all throughout the summer into the fall semester.” Despite this rigor, Kylie held fast, saying, “staying motivated was never a problem for me because I am so passionate about spreading awareness.”
Part of sticking with it throughout the Homecoming season is having clear campaign goals. In addition to her love for the cause itself, Kylie strove to make a real, tangible impact in her community. “The thing I love about Homecoming,” she says, “is that it reaches demographics that I would never have personally reached before, so that allowed for the message to be spread farther than I could imagine. That in itself was the fire behind my campaign.”
Kylie remarks that she has “grown so much throughout the process of the campaign,” and that “being surrounded by ten other students so passionate about their platforms really grounded [her] throughout the entire experience and added to [her] motivation for running.” In supporting their individual causes, the candidates are also bound to influence each other, strengthening the bonds of their community and learning a lot of valuable things about themselves. The emotional depth required for a campaign as passionate as Kylie’s is sure to encourage great levels of personal growth.
In regards to growth within her philanthropic platform, she says that her “biggest development…is in the area of communicating clearly on a topic that is heavily personal to a lot of people.” She says, “being an advocate for this type of platform puts you in a position to really learn personal information which is all part of being a resource and someone that others trust to have difficult conversations with.” With these qualities, it is clear that the Virginia Tech community has gained a truly indispensable advocate for Domestic Violence Awareness.
Supporting our Sister
Alpha Chi Omega is so proud to have been the sponsoring organization for Kylie’s campaign. Any opportunity to support our sisters in their endeavors and spread awareness for our philanthropy is one we can’t pass up. With the whole of Epsilon Tau behind her, Kylie says that:
“My chapter of Alpha Chi Omega was entirely supportive of me throughout the entire seven months of preparation and execution of my homecoming platform. I was so fortunate to be uplifted by such a passionate and caring group of girls who know this cause is bigger than ourselves. I could not be more thankful for the strong women in Alpha Chi Omega for being the guiding light of this all.”
After a long seven months and an action-packed Homecoming week, Kylie’s campaign was a huge success. Being crowned part of Homecoming Royalty won her university funding to put on an awareness event of her choice in support of Domestic Violence Awareness, only adding to her influence in our community.
“My campaign was never solely about winning,” Kylie says, “at the end of the day, I knew that if I even helped one person gain resources they never knew were available to them, I succeeded.” With such an inspiring motivation, it is no surprise that students all around Virginia Tech rallied behind Kylie and her cause. We are so proud of what she has accomplished and look forward to all the amazing things she will do in her bright future.
“Love is never conditional. Love should never hurt. Love should be kind.”
- Kylie Arnold
To see more from Kylie's campaign, follow @loveiskindwkylie on Instagram!
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