It’s S-E-L-E-N-A!
Does this remind you of a famous advertising jingle? It should—and if you are thinking of hotdogs and slabs of bologna right now, then Psi Chapter alumna Selena Armendarez is the person to call. She is a bona fide, 100 percent Oscar Mayer Hotdogger!
What does that mean? It means that Selena gets the important (and quite noticeable) honor of driving one of the famous Oscar Mayer Wienermobiles for one year. Aside from driving around the country inside an enormous hotdog, Selena and 13 other lucky recent college opportunities to travel in a 27-foot-long hotdog.” In the coming year, Selena will be paired with a partner and they will drive through the southern states for six months. “We have the opportunity to handle public relations, event planning, and marketing,” says Selena. “After …six months, we get a new partner and a new region.”
But don’t let the big funny hotdog car fool you. Competition for Hotdogger positions means serious business. “This is a much respected entry-level position in the public relations world,” Selena explains. “I am very fortunate to have served as membership assistant, service director, vice president and president before applying for alumnae status in 2007. “OPhiA has taught me so much. I contribute much of my success to my involvement with OPhiA,” Selena says. “It really helped me to transition into a woman (and) it has opened my eyes to the needs in our communities, schools and in the world.”
She will carry fond memories of Psi Chapter to her new job. “One of my favorite OPhiA memories comes from one of (Psi’s) unique projects. Each spring, we host our annual LOVE IN A BOX graduates will act as official traveling spokespersons for Oscar Mayer as they “spread miles of smiles to communities across America.”
“The Wienermobile was first designed by Carl Mayer, the nephew of Oscar Mayer, in 1936,” says Selena. “There are currently seven Wienermobiles in this year’s fleet; six full-sized Wienermobiles and one Mini- Wienermobile that is built on a Mini Cooper.” No word on whether or not she will actually have hotdogs on board.
Selena and her counterparts were chosen from over 1,000 applicants. “I applied for this position for many reasons;” she says, “to achieve experience as a professional, avoid the typical office job for a year, and (to have) this opportunity.”
Public Relations is a field that is nothing new to Selena; she minored in it as a communications major at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, from which she graduated in May 2008. It was also at “Corpus” that she pledged Psi Chapter in the spring of 2005. By that time, OPhiA was in her blood.
“My older sister, Adriana, was in college when I was in high school. She pledged…and I became very close with a lot of the OPhiA girls before I even graduated from high school,” Selena recalls. “I really liked the strong sisterhood bonds and the principles OPhiA is based on. When I went to college, I knew OPhiA was the place for me.”
During her active years at Psi, Selena projects where we sleep in cardboard boxes for 24 hours to help raise money for the homeless,” recalls Selena. “This is the best sisterhood bonding experience. We are only allowed one blanket, one pillow, one meal, and one luxury item (no electronics). We would just stay up for 24 hours laughing, talking and having a blast.”
Selena would like to be an active part of Omega Phi Alpha as an alumna, but admits that she may be hard to pin down for a while with her job as an Oscar Mayer Hotdogger and that her schedule will be filled with exciting adventures this year. Nevertheless, she is excited about her unusual upcoming job. “I (am embarking) on a journey that I will relish forever!” she says.