From Childhood Best Friends to Chapter Presidents

BY LAUREN FILIPPINI (ALPHA CHI, BUTLER UNIVERSITY), MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER

When Taylor Browning walked into her kindergarten classroom, she sat down in her assigned seat next to Arden Robbins, who quickly told her, “We’re best friends now.” Fifteen years later, they still are but never could have imagined the ways their friendship would grow – all the way to helping establish their respective Alpha Chi Omega chapters and serving as chapter presidents during the same term!

Taylor and Arden grew up just minutes apart in the small town of Ingomar, Mississippi, building their friendship at school, during church programs and as stunt partners in high school cheerleading. Arden describes herself as a “wild, talkative” kid while she says Taylor was a “sweet rule-follower.” When they decided on colleges in 2021, they were comforted by the fact that they’d be less than two hours apart, with Taylor choosing the University of Mississippi and Arden heading to Mississippi State University.

During their first semester of college, the Epsilon Upsilon chapter of Alpha Chi Omega was being reestablished at Mississippi State, and Arden was drawn to the founding member experience. She joined fall 2021 and quickly got involved on committees, helping build a new legacy of Alpha Chi Omega at the school.

Meanwhile across the state, Taylor was getting involved on campus but says she could tell she was “missing that last piece to the puzzle of college.” The spring of her first year, Alpha Chi Omega was tabling on campus in advance of establishing the Lambda Pi chapter at Ole Miss. Taylor asked Arden if she should look into the experience and remembers her answer: “Yes, 1,000%.”

Arden began nudging Taylor toward Alpha Chi Omega and letting the establishment team know about her, though she also knew her best friend had to make her own decision to join. “That was my dream for her because I knew what it would do,” Arden says. “I felt like she could benefit so much from Greek life and having those connections with women who shared her values.” Taylor kept Arden updated throughout the Alpha Chi recruitment process – and Arden even attended one of the Lambda Pi chapter’s recruitment events – and they were both thrilled when Taylor accepted her bid as a sophomore during Lambda Pi’s 2022 establishment!

Joining Greek life is a wonderful opportunity during college – but being a founding member is a once-in-alifetime experience. It takes someone who is willing and wanting to leave a mark and help shape the experience for future members. This includes helping establish structures, traditions and a presence on campus, as well as recruiting future classes to carry on the legacy of the new chapter. While both Taylor and Arden say their chapter sisters and staff consultants were instrumental to their success, having each other was an unexecpted bonus.

“You have to lean on other people who have been in your shoes, and Arden is one of the only other people in the country who knows what it’s like to be a founding member of an SEC chapter and literally build it from the ground up,” Taylor says. They frequently ask each other for advice and share the joys and challenges of their experiences.

But as incredible as the story is, that’s not where it ends. As Taylor puts it, “I know when Alpha Chi decided to establish in Oxford, they probably never saw this storyline coming.” Because not only did Taylor and Arden decide to share the founding member experience in Alpha Chi, they also decided to lead their chapters, all the way to the highest collegiate role!

The best friends both pursued leadership positions on committees and the executive board, with Taylor serving as Panhellenic delegate and Arden as vice president recruitment. Each woman individually set her mind on being president of her chapter – and then found out the same was true for her best friend! Taylor remembers texting Arden about how nervous she was before her speech to the chapter about why she should be president and getting this response from Arden: “You’re not going to believe this … I’m also slated for president.”

“It was just the craziest mix of emotions,” Arden says looking back on the process. “We were like, ‘This is the best day ever … and now I’m terrified.’” Taylor adds, “We’re both like, ‘What if neither of us gets it or one does and the other doesn’t?’”

When all was said and done, both Taylor and Arden were elected presidents of their chapters for the 2024 school year. And they still sometimes can’t believe it. Arden says, “This is absolutely crazy. … The odds of this happening are just unreal.”

Just like when they were navigating the founding member experience, the women have leaned on each other for support and idea-sharing in the chapter president role. Arden explains, “Sometimes I think that as president, we have so many questions in our mind of what the best way to do something is. And we bounce ideas like that off of each other and share what works. Our individual chapters are so different, even though they’re both in similar phases of establishment, so it’s also interesting to hear different things that work for different people.”

As many leaders have felt and as Taylor’s predecessor shared during officer transitions, it can feel lonely at the top – so Taylor is grateful to “have that support system just an hour and a half down the road … or when we’re home for break, less than five minutes away.”

As they prepared to wrap up their terms, they shared a few things they are walking away from their collegiate experience with.

For Arden, it’s the love she’s given and received from Alpha Chi Omega – knowing she’s gained tenfold the amount that she’s put into the Epsilon Upsilon chapter. “I’m just so passionate about this organization for so many reasons,” she says. “I feel like the amount of dedication and commitment and love and time I gave to Alpha Chi was absolutely unreal, but what I have received back is that much more, through the friendships I’ve made and mentors I have and things I learned about myself.”

“My biggest takeaway would be the confidence and strength I got out of this,” Taylor says. “I was the most scared, anxious freshman on this college campus. I was texting her [Arden] that I wanted to transfer or go home. Then I joined the chapter, and now I truly have the mentality of ‘I can move anywhere, do anything, work anywhere.’”

And in the spirit of true sisterhood and lifelong friendship, Arden is always cheering Taylor on. “That’s the thing that makes me so happy about all this … it’s really full circle of all the things you could want for your best friend.”