An East Coaster's Road to Helenes

Mar 25
3 min read

Written by Gracie Spencer, Spring 2026 Rosebud

As I write this blog, it’s currently a sunny 85 degrees, and I’ve got Harry Styles’ Kiss All the Time, Disco Occasionally playing in my AirPods. If I were back home in Massachusetts, it’d be 55 degrees (warm for March) and cloudy, but I’d most likely still have Kiss All the Time, Disco Occasionally playing in my AirPods. Moving to USC from Massachusetts was an adjustment, but one I was excited to make. I spent the first few weeks on campus having to open my maps app, trying not to get lost on my way to my classes. During my first semester, I was eager to take advantage of all USC had to offer. As an ambivert in my core, the extroverted part of me attended many different welcome activities and longed to join the people on the dance floor, yet the introverted side of me talked to a couple people and then called it quits. Even so, I started to find my place at USC. I joined a couple clubs, attended all the football games, and found fun in exploring USC.

After Winter Break, I came into 2026 excited for “The Year of Gracie!” I was ready to get back to USC, join new clubs, explore LA more, and meet new people now that I felt settled in at school. I am happy to say that this is when Helenes came into my life. I had seen them at football games during my first semester, alongside various posts on Instagram. Helenes seemed like the perfect way to surround myself with people just as excited about the university as myself. It also seemed like a great way to get involved with the broader LA community through service opportunities. I went to their website, ready to go through the application process, and that’s when I saw the required weekly meeting time: Wednesdays from 8-9pm. I had enrolled in a class from 7-10 p.m. on Wednesdays, and if I couldn’t make the weekly Helenes meetings then I would have to apply another semester.

Nevertheless, 2026 being “The Year of Gracie” meant that I was not going to let this stop me. I don’t know what about Helenes made me believe in it, but something drew me in. So, I took a leap of faith and moved my classes around so my Wednesday nights would be free. Before even knowing if I’d pass the required exam and interview, I trusted that if I was drawn to Helenes, hopefully, they’d be drawn to me too. From there, I attended various recruitment events (I personally loved the cookie chat) and had my recruitment rendezvous with Nicole, our current director of PR, (where I fully mispronounced Helenes as Helens). For me, I knew I was in the right place when it was easy to be myself within five minutes of meeting current Helenes members.

There is this idea that “Helenes finds you when you need it most,” or when the time is right. As much as this blog focused on how I found Helenes, I really like to think of it as how Helenes found me. So far, I’ve met other Helenes from Massachusetts who understand the significance of the Natick Mall, and gone to baseball games where we were all freezing (yes, 50 degrees is now cold to me). My time in Helenes has been fulfilling and fun, leaving me feeling excited for all the good to come!