Josie Clark Oral History Interview

In her interview, Josie Clark discusses her childhood and how she bounced around between the South and Oregon, always following her dad’s jobs, before settling in the Pacific Northwest. Due to this seemingly constant cycle of being the new kid at school, Clark shares that she was able to develop her social skills and become practiced at making new friends by participating in lots of extracurricular activities - mainly sports - as a way of adjusting. She goes on to discuss her family's dynamic, explaining that the constant moves made them very close and created a reliable bond. She discusses what it was like for her as the oldest of three children, and how she regarded being tasked with the job of being a role model for her younger two siblings. She also reflects on how she enjoyed sharing her experiences and providing guidance for them. From there, Clark discusses her early aspirations, and how they morphed over time and became shaped by her time at Oregon State University as both an undergraduate and an MBA student.

Clark next discusses her experiences in high school, and what it was like for her adjusting from going to a public school in the South for her freshman and sophomore years to a small private school in Oregon for her junior and senior years. Clark recounts playing soccer for all four years of high school, and further compares the differences between playing sports in the South and in Oregon. During her time playing sports, Clark explains how she felt overwhelmed by certain leadership positions given to her and how she did not fully understand how crucial leadership was as a core value until she got to Oregon State.

From there, Clark addresses how Covid-19 affected her time at Oregon State, offering her perspective both as a freshman living in the dorms and a sophomore living in the Sigma Kappa sorority house. She goes on to discuss her overall experience at OSU, commenting on various extracurriculars she engaged in outside of Greek life and her struggles to balance academic success with being very involved within her sorority. After that, Clark backtracks a bit, discussing how she ended up at Oregon State and commenting on what it was like to transfer from a small private high school to a large public university. She rounds out this segment of the interview by explaining how her core values developed during her time at OSU.

After that, Clark continues to reflect upon her time at Oregon State by delving into her time as a member of the Sigma Kappa sorority. She goes into detail regarding what her recruitment process was like and further discusses how Greek life not only brought her closer to the long lineage of sorority women in her family but also how it helped her find her place at the university. More specifically, she discusses her time as the president and ritual chair of Sigma Kappa. She goes on to discuss her family dynamic more and their connection to Greek life. Clark explains the expectations that are placed on women in her family and highlights some of the progressive thinking that her family practices. She wraps up by mentioning that she has no real opinion on the dissolution of the Pac-12 and explains that her overall advice to current and future Oregon State students is to embrace every school opportunity and to always push your boundaries.