Poly Reps

We are excited to introduce Monica Phillips, a Poly Reps Alum who graduated with a Journalism degree in 1997. Since leaving Cal Poly, I have lived and worked in France, Minnesota, Washington, DC, New York, and then back to the Bay Area. I earned my Master's Degree in International Education while working full-time as the Marketing Director at a law firm. I led marketing/client service teams with global law firms before moving back to California to launch my coaching and t...raining business, Spark Plug Labs. It started with a focus on business development and it has evolved as I get more clarity on how I help leaders connect to their hearts with a focus on team culture, positive intelligence, leading from within, and disrupting the status quo. I ran a marathon in 2002. That was a life goal. Now in my 40s, I have twice finished first for women in the Lafayette Reservoir Run 10K. I am a 500-hour certified yoga teacher and I host two podcasts. I have an awesome 12-year-old son who is back in school. I remember meeting someone my freshman year who was a Poly Rep. I don't remember her name but I remember how she was always happy and smiling. I would see her in her green shirt and decided I wanted to be a Poly Rep. The Poly Reps interview process is a life skill that everyone should learn. The ability to pause and bring inner calm to a situation is something that we can use throughout life. It was an incredible honor to be an ambassador of the university and share that opportunity with those who were making the big decision of where to go next in life. My favorite advice- let life be messy! Not perfect, not controlled, not polished. It is pretty incredible to know that each day we wake up and get to choose the actions we are going to take and the compassion we carry for ourselves and others. Thank you for your advice Monica! We are lucky to have you in the Poly Reps alumni community! See more

Everyone meet poly reps alumni John Huân V! To earn a living, I serve at PayPal as a portfolio manager and engineering program manager after being a software engineer for over a decade. If you check out my LinkedIn /in/jhv85, you can understand why I'm proud to be serving at a company where I can be recognized professionally and personally after being awarded by my CFO for potentially saving another's life.... I'm humbled to be married to another Cal Poly alum of nearly 7 years owning a home near Downtown San Jose. We are proud to be Airbnb Superhosts welcoming over 500 guests from around the world. In addition to utilizing our gifts to give back to our local community through church, nonprofits, and local government, we enjoy seeing a musical or play, gardening, photographing, developing liturgies and meditations, and preparing a meal for friends to be paired with one of our 300+ wine bottles from our cellar. My experience within Poly Reps was an interesting journey. When I was part of Poly Reps, I nearly left the organization multiple times. Although I loved giving tours and connecting with the university, I never felt that I ever fit in. I created the "John Huan Vu Inclusiveness Award" to encourage Poly Reps to be a more inclusive organization. My goal is to recognize a student who works towards a united organization and recognizes when there are folks who are silent, excluded, or didn't fit in. Of course, I had my own personal issues and have been very thankful to other members who took the time to help me grow up. Without Poly Reps, I would not have made a number of genuine, loving, and authentic friendships, especially those who worked hard to include me. Without Poly Reps, I would not have been able to think on my feet and effectively communicate to multiple stakeholders. Without Poly Reps, I would not have donated to Cal Poly year after year. I hope my award will leave a lasting impression in years to come where I get to meet these awesome individuals who have brought change into the organization!

Happy Alumni Thursday! Today is a special post because we are highlighting not one, but two Poly Reps alumni! Elizabeth Tracy and Christopher Tracy graduated in ‘91 and were married shortly after. We’ve been up to quite a bit in the last 30 years! First and foremost, we’ve raised four incredible kids: Grantland, McKenna, Walker and Reagan. The two oldest are now fourth generation Cal Poly students, with Grantland graduating this year and McKenna who is a Sophomore Busine...ss student. We’ve been very blessed and fortunate over the years. We’ve lived in wonderful places including London (Cal Poly Abroad), Monterey, Boston and the Bay Area. For the last 18 years we’ve called Utah home and absolutely love the people and outdoors here. A few years after Cal Poly, Christopher attended Harvard Business School and has worked as an executive with some amazing companies including AOL, Ancestry.com and now Mastercard. E.T. worked in the wireless industry, and joined the Career Services team at Harvard Business School before becoming the chief executive for our family managing the house with four very active children. She currently runs an ecommerce company, Trampolines.com, which literally keeps her bouncing. We both enjoy the outdoors- hiking in the summer and snow shoeing in the winter, playing pickleball as a family and volunteering in our community and at church ministries. Check out the pictures to learn more about this Poly Reps couple and their advice to students and other Reps! See more

Happy week two and happy Meet The Reps Monday! This week we are highlighting the wonderful Hannah Survilas! Hi! My name is Hannah. My pronouns are she/her/hers. I am a double major in Child Development and Ethnic Studies and hope to pursue issues of equity and equality within the public education system as a teacher post grad My favorite thing to do in SLO is watch sunsets at the beach and take drives through Perfumo. I love Cal Poly and all of the amazing learning opport...unities I’ve had here. Some of my favorite classes have included working directly with children in the on campus preschool, as well as taking Ethnic Studies classes that have completely changed my worldview. I am so excited to be a rep and to have the honor of being a part of such a loving and supportive community!! We love having you in our community Hannah and can’t wait to see the amazing things you do! #meetthereps

Happy first day of Winter Quarter everyone!! We are back with Meet The Reps Monday, and are excited to introduce y'all to one of our amazing Reps, Daryn. "Hello everyone!! I’m Daryn and a 4th year studying Experience Industry Management. Throughout my time here, I’ve been super involved on campus, specifically with Greek life. I started out as a second year being VP of programming for my chapter And later on being VP of Programming for Panhellenic! I was so lucky to joi...n reps my sophomore year! I especially loved being involved with alumni, helping plan our annual events, and giving the most epic tours! From Reps, I was also able to get a job in the admissions office and meet so many leaders within the Cal Poly campus! I feel so lucky to have met my roommates, bffs, and campus officials through this club!" Daryn, thanks for always bringing so much fun energy to this group! We love you! #meetthereps See more

SO excited to announce that our 2020 application is LIVE! Watch our recruitment video to learn more about who we are and what we do. Message us for any questions you have, we are here for you all #jointhereps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvjf5iFY9lE&feature=youtu.be

For this weeks #alumnithursday we are stoked to highlight Thomas McClelland, a 2018 grad in Civil Engineering. After graduating, I flew to Europe and visited my recent ancestors’ homes and villages in Greece and Croatia. Shortly after, I started my career as a project engineer with DPR Construction and just recently celebrated 2 years with the company! I live in San Francisco with my girlfriend and love the experience of living in the larger version of Cal Poly with so many ...alumni (especially Poly Reps and Delta Chis) that are within walking distance of each other. Union street feels a lot like Higuera street on the weekends! Also, I’ve got a passion project in the works that I’ll be releasing in the next month or so stay tuned and I hope some of you tune in and enjoy it! From my first interview, I knew this group was special. My freshman year in this group was arguably my favorite year in college and it was because I was welcomed with open arms and was given the ultimate crash course experience of SLO. #FreshmanThomas is forever thankful for that. I was lucky to be involved in the New Member Recruitment Committee twice and conducting interviews has without a doubt improved my business and professional skills long term. Obviously the greatest reward of those years was being intimately involved in recruiting the next Poly Reps that have all made huge impacts on this group. It was a responsibility I took very seriously and I always look back on those years fondly. Finally, my 4th and 5th years were special because I was able to take on the mentor role like those that I looked up to when I was a freshman. Being able to continue traditions that I experienced was almost as great as creating new traditions with each class of newbies. Get involved early and make sure to reflect on what your balance turns out to be. Get out there, say yes, experience new things, take on responsibilities, but make sure to reflect on how you can manage all of that all while still going to school. It’s ok to take time to refocus and reprioritize. It’s your 4 (5,6, or 7) year college experience. Thank you to all of those Reps before and during, that paved the way for my experience.

Happy Tuesday! Today we are connecting with Skylar who works for Cal Poly’s Disability Resource Center also known as the DRC! We are so grateful for all the resources Cal Poly offers our students, take a listen to get to know more. Thank you for all that you do @calpoly_drc