Rhian Alley
| Rhian Alley | |
| TIPster | |
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Oh Rhian Alley. Quite the special girl, TiP was forever changed when she came along. An amazing soccer and ultimate frisbee player, she impressed everyone with her athleticism, beauty, and overall amazingness. She was the FMT in 2015, and left her mark on East.
Duke East Term 2 2013 (2nd Year)
Rhian came to East as a First Year Second Year in the summer of 2013. She was in CTA with an amazing group of people, and her roommate was the amazing , and this would prove to be one of the few successful roommate pairings that summer. Rhian met Maddie and Lexie on that first day, and the four of them became fast friends. CTA was fabulous, despite being forced to be a member of a team unfortunately named U! However, thanks to Erica Mast she survived the class filled with scrubs like Harris Bethel and Tommy Bui. Disaster struck the second week, when she became quite sick. She's tough and survived though. Rhian's athleticism soon became apparent in the ultimate frisbee tournament, (because she played for SWAT who were the champs), where she was scouted by the Lazer Dragons and became one of the only girls, much less second years, to play in the student-staff game. She got into a short lived and somewhat disastrous relationTiP with Mitchell Bullington in the second week. That ended badly. Eek. Anyways, many inside jokes were had, and the rest of her term was filled with hilarious spirit days, fun dances, and times she will never forget with friends. Leaving was hard, but she knew she would have a fabulous third year and TiP would return the next summer.
Duke East Term 2 2014 (3rd Year)
SHE WAS BACK!! And this time, things were even crazier. She was in the same RAG as one of her best friends Maddie Daniel and also discovered that she had a super cool roommate once again, Emma Vaughters. She was in International Relations and loved both her class and the people in it. She rekindled friendships with super amazing people like Mia Weathers-Fowler, Riley Knight, Preston Taylor (more on that later), Lexie Harris, Erica Mast, Livia Gobbi, and the rest of the "Third Year Clique" (lol.). She participated whole-heartedly in everything TiP and showed massive amounts of TiP spirit. Class was fantastic, one of the highlights being that she kidnapped Hitler, took Berlin, and pissed off all of Germany and their other leaders (Oops). In the ultimate frisbee tournament, she showed off his mad skills again, this time on the Lazer Dragons for the whole tournament. They defeated the staff in the student-staff game, and she had some amazing catches and throws (sorry Rhian, I'm not really knowledgeable about the whole frisbee thing). Spirit week was epic for her, especially Thug/Thrift/Throwback (whatever it is now) Thursday. (except emo monday cause no matter how hard she tries she can't really be emo. too smiley) Not only did she dress like a total G with her best friend Maddie, but she also borrowed shorts from a boy named Preston Taylor (SOL might I add) who asked her to the dance on that same day. A relationTiP bloomed, and they were soon seen as the most adorable (and attractive) couple ever. During Quadfest, Rhian helped with lots of the planning and also led the Green Team (Third Years) to victory in the soccer tournament. The last week was a blur of alcoves, memories, and laughter, and also being late to RAG meetings. Always. She was on time like twice. Fights with Rick's RAG were common, and she was forever running around doing something. But anyways, the last dance came and she borrowed Emma Vaughter's shoes and looked gorgeous, and she cried a lot but her friends were there to comfort her. The last day was a fabulous ending to a fabulous three weeks in IR. The last night was a blur of emotions especially because she sang Hallelujah with Anna, Maddie, Payton, and Grace Williams after Erica mast sang her version of Stay With Me. Rhian sang beautifully, despite the tears, and made everyone in the audience cry too. Later that night, she was given Frisbee Mom in Training (FMT) (or the newly rebranded SFW) by Riley Knight and everyone was super excited because Rhian will do amazing in such a big leadership role. She loved her new tradition family of Mitchell Bullington (IR Flag), Maddie Daniel (Sexy Mama), Kyle Dickson (SOL), Sebastian Babis (Gentleman's Hat), Charlotte (Lazer Dragons Captain), Colin (Llama Mama), and Spencer (Cuil Theory). No matter how many tears she shed the next day, she knew that she would be back for an amazing fourth year with some amazing people. Love always Rhian.
Duke East Term 2 2015 (4th Year)
RHIAN WAS BACK FOR HER THIRD TIME, AND WE ALL KNOW THE THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM. Anyways, she was the dopest FMT ever and practically was campus mom. In addition, she helped lead the Lazer Dragons to an 11-1 win over staff while simultaneously kicking butt in Bach 2 Rock. Her RelationTIP was Max Karlan.
Rhian returned to East Term II for her fourth year and in 2 hours rekindled her friendships with most returning students, her roommate Simone Burgin, and her old "Third Year Squad". Rhian almost immediately became the campus's most widely recognized figure thanks to not only her outstanding work as the FMT, but also for her welcoming attitude towards new students, key among them Madelyn Kumar and Emily Werner. That year Rhian took Bach to Rock (Instructor: Josh Foy, TA: Ciara Middleton) sitting in the back corner with Kyle Dickson, Emily Werner, Rachel Hass, and Nick Jones. Despite some early apprehension, her first composition- Variations on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star- was one of the most complex of the class, foreshadowing Rhian's future successes; she greatly contributed to the class with her positive and open attitude (her superlative being "class mom") as well as her humorous commentary, but was consistently bothered by two things: Twelve Tone Music, and Downton Abbey. Despite this, Rhian was likely the most-liked student in the class, and was consequently asked to perform in four of the six radio-drama performances . Removed from the classroom, Rhian was arguably one of the most influential if not most important person at East. Primarily this is due to her demonstrative service as the 2015 FMT: she was a role model and leader among the entire students, second, third, and fourth years alike; not only was she welcoming and kind, she was spirited, organized, and passionate. Thanks to her close friendships with Nick Jones and Joseph Hlavinka, Rhian was introduced to the entirety of Harrison's "Fam" RAG, and adopted them by the first week (consequently being called "mom" for the rest of term). Furthermore, as FMT, Rhian was of course very pretty, and attended the dance with Max Karlan, her relationTIP for the term. That weekend, she also worked with the other traditions to reprise the "TIP Llore" activity, expressing her desire to spread the llove amongst the newer tipsters. Meanwhile, her RAG placed second in the trivia competition, putting her in the Top 5 of this activity for three consecutive years. During the second week, Rhian began the arduous labor of creating the Lazer Dragon's Frisbee Team shirts, meanwhile also playing for the team. She made the winning catch against the Third Year "Harder Defense" team, and, with the help of Captain Charlotte Small, completed the shirts in time for the staff-student game; the Lazer Dragons won the game 11-1, with Rhian throwing 2 point-scoring passes. At the same time, Rhian organized the fourth-year boy's TIPSync and also danced with Risky Business, the fourth-year girl's team. The boys danced to a mashup of Beyoncé, Rick Astley, and Shia Lebouef. Risky Business performed the Jonas Brother's "Burnin Up" featuring Kyle Dickson and Harrison's RAG. These two teams tied for the first, although Risky Business eventually won the competition in a dance-off. At Quadfest, Rhian also demonstrated her leadership skills, leading the Fourth Year soccer team to a third undefeated tournament. Rhian also gave Rigel Turner away at his wedding to Mitchell Bullington. In the final week, amidst the confusion of seeking a new FMT, the term's Llama Mama left campus temporarily to handle personal business. In the meantime, Rhian generously assumed some of his roles. She aided Mary Beth Dicks in the organization of Doctor Doctor and also filmed and edited almost the entire Home video, all the while preparing her own Talent Show act. At the show, Rhian sang "The Home the Built Me", a rewritten Miranda Lambert song with Madalyn Foley accompanied by Nick Jones. Despite some tears both onstage and in the audience, they gave a powerful and poignant performance. Later that night, Rhian passed the FMT tradition to Elle Gilleland and also briefed the new traditions on their future roles as ambassadors and friends to the entirety of the 2016 student body of TiP.
Although Rhian left TIP the next afternoon, her legacy will persist indefinitely on the campus. Anyone to have met Rhian will surely remember her bright face and kind words, and are lucky to have known her. She will be the first person to pick you up after a mistake; to comfort you when you're troubled; to dance with you when you're alone. She'll love you all the way to Downton Abbey and back even when it's her least favorite place. Thus will her love will remain in the hearts of tipsters to come for many years. Cheers mom <3.
| Preceded by: Riley Knight |
Frisbee Mom in Training (FMT) | Succeeded by: Elle Gilleland |