While I sometimes struggle for general topics about my sorority at Mizzou, I knew exactly who I wanted to profile when Homecoming season approached this year. Kellye and I were sisters in the truest sense, confiding our deepest problems and working together on Tour Team, the student recruitment group on campus.
Crockett’s fearless approach to life always inspired me, and we were all so proud of her when she was nominated to Homecoming Court our senior year. Her life is just as impressive almost 20 years later, and she continues to live to the beat of her own drum, even if her three kids may hold it from time to time.
Note: This website was taken down in 2017. The posts I wrote for the blog are no longer available to link to, so I have included the full text below, removing links where necessary.
Fabulous Alum of the Month: Kellye Crockett
Kellye Crockett, ’93, has a hard time picking just one thing to focus on as her favorite memory of being an Alpha Phi at Mizzou. “I loved serenades, mystery dates, shopping at the A Phi mall (trying on everyone’s clothes to find the perfect date outfit), walking down the hallways with my guitar to play the Gambler [the only song she knew how to play]…”
The list is extensive, and the memories are filled with friends that she is still in contact with today, nearly 20 years after she pledged. The people who have stood by her throughout the years, who know her darkest secrets and her happiest times, who know her the best, are Alpha Phis. She admits, “I had no idea what I was getting when I pledged Alpha Phi. Whatever your life may hold, it will always hold Alpha Phi.”
Her most humbling moment was her senior year, when she was chosen for the 1996 Homecoming Court by her fellow Phis. Inspired by her pageant past, she says she “worked hard to deserve the honor of being nominated, the honor of representing both her university and her sorority.” It is something she does to this day, often sharing her pride as an MU alum, and her pride to be an Alpha Phi.
Kellye had no idea that when she was chosen as a Summer Welcome leader that it would be the most defining job of her life. After earning her BES, she worked at MU Admissions for 3 years as a recruiter before working at the College of Education for several years. Asked why she chose to work in education but not as a teacher, she replies, “There are lots of stories about the value and magic of education that simply aren’t told.” This was why she earned her graduate degree in Strategic Communications through the J-School at MU; she wanted to hone her skills and get that message out.
For the last four years, she has been the Director of Admissions, Marketing and Communications for the Barstow Academy in Kansas City, Missouri. While her marketing pieces are up for awards in excellence in communication in the Kansas City area, it’s her relationships with the students at the school that keep her coming back day after day. She smiles, saying “They crack me up. I love that they talk to me and tell me their stories.”
There are many lessons that Crockett learned as an Alpha Phi and is passing down to her three children, Evan, 6; Elizabeth, 2½; and Zachary, 1:
- Say thank you.
- Don’t wear nude hose and open-toed shoes; nix the hose.
- We’re not all the best of friends, but I can work and live with you.
But the best lesson comes from a poem by Veronica A. Shoffstall, and it’s one that Kellye thinks of often, one that’s the definition of striving to be the best Alpha Phi: “Accept your defeats with the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child.”