Feature: The person behind the signature — Eva Slagle

You have heard her name, seen her face around campus and probably even gotten an email from her. Who is she?

Eva Slagle grew up in Chapin, South Carolina “with a family of six; four kids and two parents that kind of live out in the woods, which is super fun, since we like to go hike and stuff like that.” Growing up, Slagle was treated as the eldest sibling, even though she was the second oldest. Her older brother, Isaac, who recently passed on, had severe autism and epilepsy. Her younger brother, Johnathan, has severe ADHD and anxiety, and their youngest sibling also has anxiety. Slagle remarked that growing up with such a diverse family has helped shape her into the compassionate and understanding leader she is today.

Slagle said she has never viewed herself as a leader and feels as if leadership is something that she “just kind of fell into” and tried to stay behind the scenes during her earlier years. Later, she found that being in the background, which was often the case, was a form of leadership and that “being able to take yourself out, and being others-oriented, is exactly what a leader should do and is expected to do.”

During high school, Slagle never had good leaders to follow who were “leading in good directions,” leading her to not want to be affiliated with them. During that time is when Slagle realized that she had the power to change the direction of the organizations she was a part of.

When Slagle came to college, she waited until her sophomore year to get involved on campus. She did put her toe in the water by working for university housing. During her time working for housing, many of her peers went to her to ask questions and get information from her because they assumed she knew everything on campus. “That’s how I found myself in leadership positions, kind of by nature. Then I decided to respond and do something with it my sophomore year.”

During her sophomore year, Slagle helped start a women’s ministry on campus, Delight Ministry, which is “a very different leadership dynamic than a huge organization or anything else since it is faith-based, personal, vulnerable and full of affirmation.”

At first, Slagle did not consider what she was doing as leadership, but once she began reflecting on what she had done, she realized that she was in different leadership roles where she had fallen naturally, having others look to her as someone who had the ability to influence others through her advice and leadership.

This year, Slagle currently serves as the President of the Student Government Association (SGA), a delegate for her sorority, Zeta Tau Alpha, and the marketing agent for campus dining. She is also still a part of Delight Ministries and serves as a type of adviser to the organization.

When it comes to balancing her time between school, organizations, friends, and herself, Slagle says she does her best. “Everyone knows that they get as much of my best that I can give them.”

Slagle’s schedule is balanced out as much as possible, that way she is able to try and give her all to one thing at a time. She does emphasize that she is human and will mess up.

She shared her tactic for ensuring all organizations get equal attention: “I like to use the visual of a pie chart … to make sure that each organization gets the same amount of my time and energy as possible.”

Slagle will state that she has a hard time balancing school with her organizational obligations. “I don’t want to say I prioritize the organizations more than school, but I know that the work that I am doing with those groups and for those people is more impactful since I prioritize human connection in my academics. I stand by that. Helping building communities and helping others is way more important and impactful for the future.”

Slagle is driven by a quote that her family loves by John Wesley. “My family kind of chose it as our family quote for a while. It’s included everything we do as a family.”

“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you can.”