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.