Week #10

For my remaining time as President and even during the time afterwards, I can use what I have learned through studying the Social Change Model and apply it to my colony.  In this model, I have learned how to theoretically bring about change in a community.  Everything is always easier said than done, but I think that I will be able to apply what I've learned this past semester to my colony.

The most important thing I have learned this semester is the value of being Congruent.  Before this class, I never really asked myself if my actions reflected my sorority's pillars.  I would recite the pillars and talk about them to potential recruits, but I never really asked myself if I was truly living them out.  Through this reflection, I've gained Consciousness of Self.  In the True Colors activity, I read that I am a very rational, logical thinker.  This is something that I've always known, but I never considered the fact that other people literally do not think the way I do.  I never really considered that the way I would like something explained to me is different than the way someone else wants it explained.  The way we communicate truly is different.  Understanding this has helped me tailor what I say to specific people within my colony, and ever since I've gained this skill, I do think that I have become a better president.  This is a skill that I can use for the rest of my life --not just in Greek Life, but in my personal and professional life as well.

Week 9

I'm passionate about a lot of things.  When people read my CV, I feel as though the first thing they think is that I'm not very focused in the things I do:  I have a job as an RA at an apartment complex for paraplegics, I do research on salamanders, I founded and am now president of the first Hispanic sorority on Ohio State's campus, I have played piano since first grade, and I volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, building houses.  I think that it's only natural to be passionate about a wide array of different topics.

I don't think that social change can come out of every passion one has.  However, I do think that social change arises from passion.  Social change is a tough topic because it requires change from not an individual, but from a community.  Only a huge motivational force would be able to make such a huge change in society, and I think that passion is that huge motivational force.  Our passions get us emotional about certain topics.  For example, if I'm an advocate for Women's Rights and I constantly hear about rape cases on the news, this might stir up some anger.  This anger would then drive me to make some change in my community.

One thing that I'm passionate about is the Latino community in the US.  I'm an advocate for that underrepresented community and I do all that I can to make changes within it.  The Latinos are not really voices on our campus.  I tried to change that by establishing the first Hispanic-based sorority on campus.  My sorority now supports other Latino groups on campus, such as LSA.  Slowly, we are trying to create a network of Latino and Latino advocates in our community so that this underrepresented group will have more of a voice on our campus.

For me, it's not hard to stay committed to this particular project because that passion is still inside of me and I'm still very driven to reach my goals.  However, it is tough when perhaps I want to collaborate with another Hispanic organization, but my group as a whole wants to collaborate with someone else.  It is upsetting when individual and group ideas do not perfectly overlap, and that can pose challenges.  However, I think that overall, my group as a whole and myself are still very committed to this project that we took on.  I think we're just as committed now as we were when we first started.

Week #8

In order to work closely with one another in a group, members of the group need to discuss goals and methods on how to reach the goals with one another.  Inevitably, when having these discussions, group members will notice the personal values of one another.  At times, this can be a positive thing.  For example, if a sister values education and is showing how much she does value it by studying at the library, perhaps other sisters will be motivated to take on this value as her own and thereby join her sister at the library.  Sometimes, having individual values rub off on the group can have negative consequences, though.  For example, if a fraternity member joined Greek Life for the wrong reasons and thereby values only the social aspect of Greek Life, this attitude might draw others in as well.  Other fraternity members may start putting more emphasis on the social aspect and less on pillars he/she used to value, such as academics.  I think that being a person of congruence doesn't mean that we are congruent with our values every second of every day.  There will be times where we do make mistakes and perhaps we are less motivated to do work for our philanthropies or put hours in at the library.  I think that this is okay, as long as we don't lose sight of the bigger picture.  It's okay to trip up once in a while, but when we look closely and examine whether a person is a person of congruence or not, I think it's best to not focus on little mistakes, but look at the person as a whole.  We're all humans and will thereby make mistakes so dwelling on solely the times where we were not living congruently might not be the smartest thing to do.  To live a life of congruence, I think that the best thing is to look at our behavior.  If it parallels what we say we believe in, then we are on the right track.  If there are some murky areas, then that gives us an opportunity to ask ourselves why we weren't being congruent at that time and what we can do in the future to make sure that we are living congruently --maybe our values changed or maybe we made a mistake that we can learn from.

Week #7

We come to value things in our lives based on life experiences.  People become passionate about things when they have a personal connection to them.  For example, a woman with a father with Alzheimer's might donate money to research for the cause or a woman with a sibling with breast cancer might walk in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure or if someone has experienced abuse, they might create a help group on campus to help other people suffering from abuse.  People value a lot of things in life, which makes it hard to balance, but overall I think that people typically do a good job of being congruent with their values.

I think that I mostly am congruent with my values, but on occasion there are times when I should be studying, but instead I'm socializing.  Some people might say that in this case I'm not being very congruent, but I think that social interaction is important as well -in fact, Social Interaction is one of my sorority's Principles.  Sometimes, we need to choose between two things we value, and I think those are the times when people look at others and think that they are not being congruent.

Right now I'm struggling with congruency with community service.  I always talk about how important it is to serve the community, but I have not done as much community service as I would have liked this semester.  This is an area where I can definitely improve on.  I think that right now I am struggling with it because I'm focused on academics:  Keeping my GPA up and studying for the MCAT.  Hopefully this summer when I won't have the pressure of school, I will be able to devote more time to community service.

Week #6

I envision my colony in the future as an established and prominent chapter in our campus community.  I see us as a group of powerful young women who are diverse not just on the cultural level, but diverse on life experiences as well.  My hope is that we become a microcosm of what we want the community in which we live to be.  At this moment, we are a small group of young women who exemplify leadership in all that we do.  One of our alum, Leracia, has always lived by the saying "be the change you hope to see in the world" and I think that she did a great job of living up to that quote.  I think that the best way to lead is by example.  If we have high standards and hopes for our campus community, for our country, and even the world, then I think that we need to live up to those standards ourselves.

First off, I want us to continue to accept women from all walks of life and backgrounds.  I honestly believe that our group functions so well because the women that encompass it are so different from one another.  If we hope for our community to be accepting of all people, then I think that it's great that we are already taking the initiative to make our sorority so diverse.  Second, I want us to grow to a larger size of about 30 women.  Thirty seems like an optimal number to strive for because it allows for networking and collaboration without sacrificing sisterhood and bonding.  Other organizations on our campus do a great job of networking, and I think that that is something that we can really work on.  Last, I envision our sorority as being the top organization in terms of community service.  Although we do have five principles, community service is the one that can impact ourselves personally as well as our community, and I think that this impact can be measurable to some degree.  Our other principles, such as academics and morals & ethics, are just as important, but are more personal.  Principles such as these are subjective and mostly are in place in order for us to grow into well-rounded women.  Sigma Lambda Gamma, The Ohio State University, and my family are catalysts on my journey to becoming a woman of distinction.   I have been lucky enough to have so many people and organizations looking out for me and helping me on this journey.   Our community service principle is one that really sticks out to me because to me this principle tells me that people have helped me on my journey and that now is the time to give back some of that help and to pay it forward.

My personal vision, I imagine, is quite similar to my sisters' because we do have the same Mission, Purpose, and Principles, but actually writing it down helped me truly understand how people can really personalize our sorority and fraternity's values to make them our own.

Week #5

My sorority has 5 principles:  Morals & Ethics, Cultural Awareness, Academics, Social Interaction, and Community Service.  They cover such a large spectrum, that it is hard to focus on all 5 principles equally at all times.  Sometimes, I'm sure we come off as valuing Academics more; At other times --Social Interaction, for example.  We try to reflect these principles in our events, in the way we communicate, in our daily conversations, and in our actions, but you can't always equally demonstrate all 5 at once.  For example, I may be studying alone in the library for a whole weekend, thereby fulfilling the Academic principle, but the other principles are not very pronounced during that time.  However, just because we are not actively involved with the other principles in that particular weekend, does not mean we've forgotten them.

I think that the best way to live out your values, aims, and vision of your sorority is to focus on what is most important at that particular point in time --and that's not to say that you've forgotten about the other principles.  I just believe that some instances require you to focus your attention on particular aspects of your sorority's values, but with keeping the general vision in mind.

Week #4

Individuals struggle with collaborating with others for a few reasons.  Depending on the situation, I think that these reasons can differ.  One of these reasons is the "if you want it done right, do it yourself" mentality.  This mentality applies to a lot of different situations -not just collaboration between organizations.  For example, I know that if I ask my roommate to clean the bathroom, she'll just do the bare minimum, but if I do it myself I know that I'll whip out my cleaning gloves, grab the disinfectant spray, and I'll get down on my hands and knees and scrub every nook and cranny.  When it comes to organizations collaborating together, I think that this mentality certainly impacts the collaboration.  Another reason for struggling to collaborate with others is that sometimes collaboration can feel counterproductive.  Sometimes collaboration feels like a hassle because you need to count on others to not only do their work, but also to communicate their progress with you.  In our busy college-lives I think that sometimes it seems easier to just keep the planning to your sisters because you know you'll at least see them every week and can check up on their progress at that time, whereas you can't count on those checkpoints with other organizations.

It can be extremely challenging when one or more members of a group do not want to work collaboratively.  Most people at some point or another become involved in a group project that is going in an unexpected direction.  Maybe you got a group project for a class, and you had a particular vision for the project, but your groupmates decided to go in a different direction.  In these scenarios, I think that the right thing to do is to go with what the group wants.  If you keep trying to fight for your ideas, you're wasting effort that could have been put towards accomplishing the project.  In these cases, I think that the "majority rules" rule should be implemented.  However, it's important to realize that you can still contribute your ideas into the project, even if the project wasn't your idea.

Usually the way things work in my chapter is that someone comes up with an innovative idea for an event. Although it is their vision, the whole entity helps out with the details.  This usually works out great for us because in this way we have at least one person who is completely invested in the event, but every individual gets her voice heard and gets some input into the event.  We have a very diverse group of girls, which is great because that means we get a variety of opinions and ideas to choose from when we plan events.

Week #3

I used to think of citizenship as typical community service:  Volunteering at soup kitchens, picking up litter, tutoring little kids, etc.  Now, I see citizenship as a broad spectrum.  Most people think of citizenship as direct service; that is, giving personal time and energy to address immediate needs.  However, citizenship also includes advocating for the community, voting, creating sports leagues, etc.  The best way to practice citizenship is to pursue what you are passionate about.

I'm being a more effective citizen because I'm spending more of my time involved in the two organizations that I am passionate about:  SLG and Unplugging Society.  Instead of dibble-dabbling in a slew of organizations on campus, I'm moving my focus to these two organizations, which I think is a more effective way to approach citizenship.

Members of my colony still think about citizenship in the traditional sense.  They understand that citizenship means donating funds, personal time, and energy to address immediate concerns.  This semester, SLG is going to be focusing on academics and community service.  Whenever we get on the topic of community service, people still suggest blood drives, can drives, walks, etc.  In fact, we're signed up to host a blood drive this month.  We could do a better job of engaging in different aspects of citizenship, such as "Socially Responsible Personal and Professional Behavior" and "Advocacy and Education".  Although the blood drive we have planned is a great idea, we could do something out of the ordinary.  For example, many of the women in SLG are passionate about women's rights.  We could do a showing of MissRepresentation on our university's campus.  This would address the "Advocacy and Education" category.

Week #2

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time.  We are the ones we've been waiting for.  We are the change that we seek." --President Barack Obama

My first response after reading this quote was to immediately recall the Genovese syndrome, a social psychological phenomenon I learned about in a high school psychology class.  Genovese syndrome, or the bystander effect, refers to when individuals do not offer assistance in an emergency situation when other people are present.  One would think that if one were in an emergency situation, you would want as many witnesses as possible in order to get immediate help.  However, the Genovese syndrome demonstrates that, in fact, the amount of witnesses is proportional to the time it takes for the emergency situation to be taken care of.  This is because when people are gathered in a crowd, an individual's first instinct is not to take responsibility, but to assume that another person will take the lead.  This was evident in the case of Kitty Genovese, who was stabbed to death in New York in 1964.  Her death could have been prevented, had somebody called 911.  Neighbors took so long to pick up the phone because they just assumed somebody else had already done it.  Kitty suffered on the streets of New York and cried for help for hours before any policemen arrived.

President Barack Obama reminds us that we can't be idle citizens.  Kitty Genovese's case seems astonishing because she was physically suffering.  However, it's important to remember that our world is in crisis.  There is always something that somebody can do to help, yet we still do not offer to help.  I think that for locals to help their community, we need to create a sense of urgency.  Hopefully this sense of urgency will encourage people to take the initiative and not fall victim to the Genovese syndrome.

An example that most students have experienced is when we are assigned group projects.  Students don't tend to get a jump-start on the project because they assume somebody else will take the lead.  I have been a part of group projects in the past that get completed in a matter of two weeks, even though we had a whole semester to put the project together.  It is going to be a challenge to have people change this group-think mentality, but it can happen with second order change.

Week #1

            When I used to think of social change, I would think of famous leaders from our history:  Martin Luther King, Jr., President Barack Obama, Rosa Parks, Hillary Clinton, etc.  However, my thought process has changed.  Now, when I think of social change, I think about the group of people who brought about the change.  For example, instead of remembering how Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired our country to strive for equal rights for all, I now think about the Civil Rights March on Washington that he led.  If it weren’t for the hundreds of followers who marched with him in Washington D.C., the march most likely would have not inspired the change that we see today.  My current approach to bring about social change is to know my place in a group.  Sometimes, I may be the leader; other times, I might need to recognize that somebody else has an innovative idea and that it is my responsibility to use my own skills to support the movement this person is leading.  I now see social change as a collaborative effort, and not as a movement brought about by solely one leader. 

            College has really opened my eyes to see that social change is in fact needed in our society.  As a freshman on campus, I quickly joined organizations that share my same beliefs:  Equality, women’s rights, etc.  Small steps like this –simply becoming involved in organizations such as these on campus—have helped me realize that I need to work for social change, and that it is passionate people like myself who can make things happen.  Though there are a variety of problems in our society (environmental, social, civil rights, etc.), we can’t focus on making a difference in all of these categories.  Instead, we need to discover what we are truly passionate about because I think that passion is what drives social change.