It was cold outside but....

....last Friday's class turned out to be very interesting. Each council went out and had to survey greeks on the street. I wish I hadn't left my gloves in the car that day. Our group consisted of NPHC +Clark so when we hit the [cold] streets we split up into two groups.

So we walked around to different sorority & fraternity houses and got people's answers to the questions. In my group, no one gave us any sort of outrageous answer, which I was kind of hoping for just to make it interesting. People said the things their chapter spent the most time on were things like sisterhood/brotherhood, philanthropy, and other good stuff. They may have been lying. Or maybe not. The only eventful thing was having a door slammed in our faces as we approached a house....where another council was already inside doing their survey. What kind of community is that?! RUDE!!

When I regained feeling in my fingers, I began to ponder the purpose of this wintertime excursion we were forced to take. I suppose it was for us to all get a sense of the greek community. Like I mentioned, the chapters we talked to had pretty straight forward answers. We asked one frat what their values were and the guy recited what sounded like their official principles or mission statement. So I suppose there isnt such a HUGE difference in the councils...as some people may have thought. Everyone org has some sort of mission statement/principles/value statement related to sisterhood/brotherhood, bonding, community service, scholarship, etc. Now the only issue is bringing people together. Whats keeping us apart?? I'm familiar with the other 3 councils...have met people from each one. I can name a few orgs in each. I know that their intake processes are different from NPHC orgs. They have formal recruitment and accept huge numbers of people in their chapters. NPHC is pretty much opposite. I'm familiar with some sororities in PHA, particularly the ones with "Delta" in their name and the ones who try and throw up "The Pyramid" :)

So like I asked before, whats keeping us apart?! Nothing serious, just people's ignorance. Why would you join the greek community at OSU and not get familiar with the whole community. I can at least name the other councils....I learned about them shortly after I crossed. Some people have been greek longer that me and still cant do that. I know that other councils do membership intake differently, and they have houses on campus where some of their members live. I know for a FACT that people dont take the time to learn about anything outside their own org or council, because I cant tell you HOW MANY TIMES I've been asked by a PHA member or IFC member some odd question like "so where is you guy's house?" or "why is your chapter so small" or "did you have a lot of girls rush?" WTH?! I resist giving them a stupid look and try to answer their questions in terms they'd understand

Ok ok so what can we do to solve this nonsense? We need to talk to each other more! Duh. We're all Buckeye's right? As a class full of leaders, it's our responsibilty to initiate the changes within our chapter's...so lets do it!

African Violets.....Delta Sigma Theta's official flower. Learn something.

☼Values☼

"What are your values and how do they define you? Where do they fit in terms of your council's values? In terms of the community's values?"

I'm finding it kind of hard to say what my all values are-I have so many and they are the driving force of everything I do in my life. For example, knowledge & achievement are important to me...thats why I chose to go to college. Friendship & sisterhood mean a lot to me....those are some reasons I joined my sorority and I keep my friends close.

During the excersize in class, I listed self-actualization as my number one value because I think it encompasses several values. This is at the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs...more important that any other human need (food, sleep, friendship, intimacy, self-esteem, respect). The way I'd explain self-actualization is "when you become the perfect you." Maslow lists morality, sense of humor, acceptance of imperfections and human nature and care for the greater good as some qualities of a self-actualized person. I get the feeling that some people reach old age, or die without becoming self-actualized. This value is most important to me...I need to be self-actualized...not rich, famous, or surrounded by family and friends (although I'm not about to NOT pursue those things too.)

According to the class activity my personal values don't totally line up with my council's values, but why should they? Service, contribution, quality, and money are values that I share with the NPHC but they aren't ranked the same. The values of the council are based on the needs of the community and 9 organizations.

In terms of my community..it depends on what community I'm in. If I'm back home, with my family and in the community in which I was raised, then a lot of my values fall in line with the people I'm around. Religion/spiritualty came from my Christian upbringing. My appreciation for the importance of education came from seeing my parents struggle through life without college degrees. My need for independence comes from the way my mother raised me and taught me to always be self sufficient. Now switch it up to the college community-not everything is the same. I feel the need to make a difference, do well in school and basically get smarter. I feel I share those values with lots of other college students....but some of my values aren't in line with everyone's. I'm not sure everyone thinks self-actualization is the most important human need. But for the most part, I surrond myself with people who think and behave similar to me, so our values are similar.

Here is the first blog entry..several weeks late

I'm Tiffany Michelle Williams. I'm from Cincinnati, also known as the Nasty Nati. I'm not from the nasty part. I'm a 4th year..senior...not graduating anytime soon. I have two majors- Strategic Communication and Environmental Policy and Management. I want to go to law school for Environmental Law and be an Environmental Activist. I encourage everyone reading this to do their part and recycle.

I just read (most of) the blogabus. Blogging for a class is new to me but I like blogging, particularly "microblogging" (twitter). I'm pretty optimistic about this class...I feel like there is a lot to be gained from a leadership course, particularly for college students, like us, who aspire to be leaders in the "real world" soon.

Anyways, I decided to join my sorority Delta Sigma Theta sorority, inc. during my freshman year. I knew about other sororites, researched them, and decided DST was the best fit for me. I found out that Epsilon chapter only took new members every other year and a new line had been initiated Spring Quarter my freshman year. After a long time of waiting I finally became a member during my junior year on December 7th 2008. Over all its been great. I love doing the work of Delta and I love my sands and the bond we have built. =)

1st blog

I dont really get it. Maybe if I'd went to the first class I wouldnt be so lost.