FSU Trailblazer: Rebecca Grbinich

My fellow Seminoles, I would like to introduce you to a remarkable person who I have had the privilege of speaking with. I got to know about her passion for community service and who she is as we laughed, sharing relatable moments as students, such as the importance of extra credit — you had to be there!

Senior Rebecca Grbinich not only has a good spirit and shows leadership here at Florida State University through her role as Vice President of Service for Alpha Phi Omega but she also takes on any obstacle in her way with determination and passion to guide her way! A hilarious and intelligent member of our very own Seminole family, meet our Trailblazer for this week, Rebecca.

Image via: Rebecca Grbinich

Q: What is your hometown?

RG: St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Q: What’s your major?

RG: Criminology.

Q: What year of school are you in?

RG: I’m a senior.

Q: Why did you pick your major?

RG: I wanted to help people, but I knew I didn’t want to be a doctor. So I thought about going into forensics and I realized that I had more of a passion to help people face to face, instead of DNA.

Q: What is your favorite thing about FSU?

RG: I like the community because people actually want to further their education and because I come from a big football family, which our university is also big on. In high school people only cared about graduating but here at FSU people actually want to continue their schooling and earn a higher degree.

Q: What do you like to do in your spare time?

RG: I don’t have a lot of free time, honestly I don’t. I have 15 credit hours’ worth of class, I work part-time for about 20 hours a week, and then whatever time I have left is spent being Vice President of Service for Alpha Phi Omega. Pretty much all of my free time, majority of that time, is mostly spent getting ready for different service opportunities, making sure people are up to date with their service hours, making PowerPoints for new pledges, and for brothers, or even thinking of new ideas for service opportunities, that’s what my “free time,” is spent doing.

The only free time that I have is probably in my car on my way to work, or to school, or to meetings. But then I’ll listen to some music and bust out some tunes but that’s about the only free time I have. But I enjoy it, I enjoy everything that makes my life so busy!

Q: How would you describe yourself?

RG: I’m passionate, hardworking, but I’m also a regular person. So I procrastinate on things, or I slack off on other things. However, I make sure I get everything done on time, so whether it’s a school essay, I make sure it’s done on time, or whether it’s working on a Saturday night, I always make sure that I get it done at the end of week. But definitely passionate, that’s one thing that I strive to be, is passionate about a task I’m doing.

Q: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

RG:  So I’m going to use a Beyoncé quote kind of idea. In 10 years I just see myself being happy with wherever I am. I have no clue what the next 10 years is going to bring; nevertheless, what the next five, or two years is going to bring. I just really hope that whatever I’m doing I’m enjoying it and that I’m happy that I’m in that spot in my life. Plus I’ll be 31 and that’s kind of terrifying! So … who knows!

Q: What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment during your time at FSU?

RG: Graduating in the spring is going to be a pretty big accomplishment! That’s exciting! Making those lifelong friends that they say you’ll make in college and you think “No, it probably won’t happen,” but then it does. I think that would be my greatest accomplishment because that will last, the friendships, even after I graduate, I’ll still have them.

Q: If you could go back and change something in your time at FSU, would you? If so, what would you change?

RG: I’d probably go back and do one extra credit project in one of my classes to get a better grade. But other than that, I wouldn’t go back and do anything that different, mostly because everything that I did got me to where I am today. But, if I did go back I would do that one extra credit to get a better grade in one of my classes. Every little point counts!

Q: I hear you’re in a coeducational service organization called Alpha Phi Omega. Why did you decide to join the organization?

RG: I joined it because I have family who were in sororities and they loved it! My aunt was in a sorority here at FSU and she loved it. And I thought about rushing Panhellenic. However, all throughout high school I really had a passion for doing community service. So when I came here to FSU I had friends who told me about Alpha Phi Omega and who were currently in it — they have since graduated, sadly.

But I knew people who were in it when I first got here and they told me that it’s a coed community service based organization, and that just really piqued my interest. So I went to one or two meetings just to see what it was about and I fell in love with the idea of getting to volunteer with people who also have a passion for volunteering.

Image via: Rebecca Grbinich

Q: In one word, how would you describe your experience within Alpha Phi Omega and why?

RG: Crazy with a capital C-R-A-Z-Y! Probably because it’s just a completely … it was a completely new experience for me being thrown into this “brotherhood.” I’m an only child so, you know, siblings is not something that I understood necessarily and all of a sudden having people who I call “brothers,” was strange and I thought it was weird.

My mom said I sounded crazy when I was like “Yeah I have 100 brothers,” and she’s like “No, you don’t,” and I’m like “Yes, I do.” It got to the point where every day I was doing a service opportunity and that was crazy of me because I go, “What about school, or what about sleep?” Who knows?!

Then I and the people who I met go, “Some of the people here are crazy.” But then I love them because they’re crazy, and at the end of the day we’re all kind of crazy in our own way. We’re all mad here! Whether it’s crazy because we just love hanging out with everyone, or we always want to go bowling, or go to the Rez, or watch a movie together, or do a service project or look at dogs, just random things that make us brothers. It’s crazy and I love it! It’s a good crazy.

Q: What advice would you give yourself, as an incoming freshman starting their first semester at FSU?

RG: Remember to have fun. Yes I’m here for school, yes I’m here to get an education, and to get a higher educational degree — you know I have my AA and now I’ll get my bachelor’s and potentially a master’s. But also when I started college I was still 17, so I need to remember, yes focus on school, yes focus on graduating, but also I should remember to have fun because these are the years where I have the ability to have fun or have the freedom to go out and go partying or spend a late night out with friends or take a random trip on the Night Nole to Landis at 2 a.m.

This is the time to do that because in a year or even in two semesters, for me, I’ll be at a full-time job and I’ll have responsibilities and it won’t be all simple and happy, so just definitely remember to have fun.

Q: As a student, what have you learned that will help you along your transition into adulthood after you graduate?

RG: A thing that I learned that I’ll take after I graduate is to make connections. I know a lot of people now who have gotten internships or have gotten jobs because of the people that they know and it’s true when people say, “It’s who you know, not what you know,” which it’s true and yet it’s also very important that you know what you’re doing as well, like you’re not going to be able to get a job as a lawyer if you don’t have a law degree, however, if you have a law degree then, if you know someone, you’ll have a better chance at getting a job.

Definitely make connections with people, they will come along in your life later on that will benefit you. Whether it’s as someone to have a shoulder to cry on or whether it’s having that person who all of sudden pops up at your job and now your coworkers, people will come back into your life. So it’s important that you keep those connections just so you know you have a friendly face there for you in the future.

Q: Is there anything you would like to add that I might not have thought to ask you?

RG: At the risk of sounding very cheesy, or very corny, or very cheesy corny … cheesy-corn … It’s very important to be your authentic self especially in college because that’s when you kind of find out who you really are. As a person, as a friend, as a mentor, as a spouse, as a child, or in some cases as a parent, this is the time you find out who you are or who you want to be. Luckily I’ve had the opportunity through Alpha Phi Omega to find out who I want to be.