RHA president-elect Maggie Recca and vice president-elect Mitchell Davis had different experiences before coming to MU, but there’s one thing they’ve had in common since.
From the moment they arrived, the two loved it here.
“I remember me and my dad were walking, I remember me just like turning to him and saying, ‘Do I even have to apply to any other schools?’” Recca said. “I knew that this was gonna be it.”
“I immediately felt like I was at home when I toured Mizzou’s campus,” Davis added.
The two are close friends. Since meeting last semester, they’ve become involved in the Residence Halls Association, ultimately winning the presidential election. They will take office April 24th.
But their college paths might have never crossed if it wasn’t for a chance encounter. Davis was hanging out in Recca’s residence hall, when she noticed he was well-dressed, presumably for a meeting.
“I was like, ‘This is so weird, but are you in RHA?’” Recca recalls asking Davis. “The next day, he was messaging me on GroupMe making a joke, and I was like, ‘Who is this guy?’”
Davis said that chances like that are important to discovering friends that could ultimately become a big part of one another’s lives.
“It’s crazy to think that, I know this is going to sound very stereotypical, but we’ve gone so far in like 19 years, and we haven’t met some of these people,” Davis said.
Recca grew up as the fifth of six children in St. Charles, Missouri. Early on, she had doubts about coming to MU.
“I was very much against it,” Recca said. “The common stereotype in my area is that Mizzou is just a party school, and that Mizzou is kind of like a continuation of my high school.”
She said that about 30 to 40 people from her graduating class also ended up at MU.
Eventually, she started to consider it more for its nursing program and proximity to home. Once she got to see the school up close, she was sold.
Davis found his way to MU for different reasons. Growing up in the Dallas area, he said that he always wanted to get away for school.
“I wanted a different culture,” Davis said. “There’s Southern hospitality, but then there’s Midwest hospitality. Everyone’s always willing to say, ‘Hi, how are you?’”
That friendly atmosphere, coupled with the reputation of the School of Journalism, is what ultimately helped him make his decision.
The two said being getting to know people in that kind of welcoming environment has made all the difference for their campus experience.
“Everyone just wants to meet each other and be friends with each other,” Davis said. “It’s been really great, just being able to meet people.”
“Putting yourself out there is a very important part of college,” Recca added.
Aside from student government, Davis is a member of Alpha Phi Omega, Zeta Beta Tau and Marching Mizzou. Recca is involved with Tiger Pantry.
Recca and Davis said they share school pride.
“Being able to say, ‘I go to Mizzou,’ I feel like a lot of people have that pride about being a Tiger,” Recca added. “I feel like people are here because they love it.”
Of how that pride felt, Recca was pressed for words.
“It’s indescribable, it’s this intangible like — I am a Mizzou Tiger.”
_Edited by Emily Gallion | egallion@themaneater.com_