Hi friends! My name is Dani DeFreitas, and I’m beyond thrilled to be the Texas Sweethearts Spring 2023 Recruitment Chair! I’m a senior Government major with a minor in Critical Disability Studies from Houston, TX, and I am also a Spring ‘22 Sweetie. Texas Sweethearts has been such a special part of my college experience, and it helped me grow to love both Austin and UT, as well as meet incredible people and lifelong friends!
I transferred to UT in the fall of 2021 from the University of Houston and it was a really dramatic change with classes also being in person for the first time. I really wanted a place to feel like I had my people so I started looking at a bunch of spirit groups, just trying desperately to find one to take me(which I learned was not really an ideal mindset). However, in this process, Sweethearts stood out to me because of how incredibly easy it felt to talk to people and I loved how their philanthropies centered around kids. Even though I didn’t make it in my first semester, I knew I had to try Sweethearts again in the spring!
Luckily, I got in and Sweethearts transformed my entire UT experience! I was really struggling to adapt to UT and the Austin area in general, but Sweethearts provided me a comfort and a place that feels even more at home than my real home at times. Through this organization I have been able to venture out into Austin with people that I love spending time with, serve a community that I didn’t know before, and also explore this campus and learn new things every day. I could not imagine speaking as positively about my college experience if I had not joined Sweethearts! I love every moment with my fellow Sweethearts, and spending time with these wonderful people has given me an indescribable joy that I never thought I would find in my college experience.
Now going into my third semester in Sweethearts and final semester at UT, I am so grateful for every opportunity this organization has given me. Recruitment is one of my favorite times of the year, and as a two-time recruit this is a very special full-circle moment. I hope you all can find this process as enjoyable and branch out of your comfort zones a little bit!
I am SO excited to meet all of you and for y’all to meet all of our actives, as well as get to know each other and our organization in this process! Words cannot express how excited I am to meet Spring 2023!! <3
With love,
Dani DeFreitas