LAST BLOG!

What does citizenship mean to me?
What role does Alpha Gamma Delta play or should play in defining my understanding of citizenship?

cit·i·zen·ship 
–noun
1. the state of being vested with the rights, privileges, and duties of a citizen.
2. the character of an individual viewed as a member of society; behavior in terms of the duties, obligations, and functions of a citizen: an award for good citizenship.

To me, citizenship means to get involved within my community. Alpha Gamma Delta plays a part in defining what citizenship means to be by being the community where i am placed. I take it upon myself to be an active citizen of my sorority and show my citizenship by actively participating in our sorority functions

Panel

This panel had a lot to share and discuss with us about thier experiences with Greek life and how we can all work together to make it even better than it is. Out of everything they said, three things really stuck out to me:

1.) holding eachother accountable
2.)being responsible yet still having fun
3.)best greek moment

I really liked how they said that it is okay to hold your brothers and sisters accountable for thier actions. I know that a few people in my chapter try to do this and sisters sometimes just get pissed at them for calling them out. But its true. We need to be held accountable and hold our sisters accountable for thier actions as well. In doing this we will grow because we will act according to our values and expect more out of ourselves and others

Also, the one guy said that we need to have as much fun as we can. live life everyday to its fullest because there is so much to love and enjoy. Even if you have to pick up trash around campus, doing it with your sisters can make it so much fun and something valuable to remember. I know people always say "live everyday like it is your last" but it's true. Not everyday is promised to you, and we didn't join Greek life to be bored and burdened with the resposibilities we have as members.

When the panel was talking about their best Greek moments, that one girl said how she was nominated recruitment chair after just being initiated. She talked about how scared she was and how it was her first recruitments and she had absolutely no idea what she was doing. However, all the support from her sisters and having them know that she was capable of doing a great job with recruitment gave her the strength and courage to continue. I thought this was an awesome story because I know that if i were recruitment chair this year, with only being initiated last winter, i would be scared shitless. i think its awesome that she took on the challenge and that her sisters had enough faith in a new member to elect her.

OATH

oath 
[ohth]
–noun, plural oaths
[ohthz, ohths]

1. a solemn appeal to a deity, or to some revered person or thing, to witness one's determination to speak the truth, to keep a promise, etc.: to testify upon oath.
2. a statement or promise strengthened by such an appeal.
3. a formally affirmed statement or promise accepted as an equivalent of an appeal to a deity or to a revered person or thing; affirmation.
4. the form of words in which such a statement or promise is made.
5. an irreverent or blasphemous use of the name of god or anything sacred.
6. any profane expression; curse; swearword: He slammed the door with a muttered oath.
—Idiom
7. take an oath, to swear solemnly; vow.


soooo thats how the dictionary defines oath, and its definition is not too far off
I define oath as a promise that you make
i, for example, made an oath to Alpha Gamma Delta when i was initiated: I gave an oath to hold up to AGD's values and to live them out to the best of my ability.

I swore to myself and to my sisters that i would live by our sorority's standards and values.

To live up to my oath I try to learn from experiences everyday
To take care of myself to the best of my ability by working out and eating healthy
To stay friendly to everyone i meet, no only because i should but because i represent our sorority
I acknowledge and cherish the friendships that i develop with my sisters and to be there for them always
To take part of the opportunity to contribute to those in need by providing service
To know and honor where i am from
To be honest to everyone and hope that in return they are honest to me
To live everyday like it is my last and to admire the beauty around me
To set high standards for myself and for my sorority with the attitude that I/we can achieve them

This was what i promised myself, my chapter, and everyone when i joined Alpha Gamma Delta, and it is my responsibility to attain unto these promises

INcOngRUenCiES

hmmmm why do incongruencies exist? maybe its just because no body is perfect, and no one's chapter is perfect. Everybody has thier faults, even if they work hard to live thier morals and values.
what can we do about these incongruencies? We can continue to hold true our values and morals. But, we need to let people see our values through demonstration and action..not just speak of them. Reciting a mission statement or purpose means absolutely nothing if you don't sincerely believe it and act according to it.

Going Greek is already a controversial topic to begin with. Non-Greeks think of greek life like how they see it on television shows and magazines-as one big party. People not associated with greek life assume that greeks are big time partiers and skanks who don't care about thier school work or going anywhere in life.
us greeks can't understand why people would think this way about us. We try to save face and explain to people how we do soooo much community service and have high GPA's. But how much do we actually demonstrate to non-greeks the studying and community serive that we do instead of only explaining it to them?
NOT OFTEN.
Think about it. Have you ever walked to a TG down high street and gotten wierd stares from people around you. Well, obviously those people are not greek because greeks understand that when people are strangely dressed it is due to a TG (mostly anyways.)
These non-greeks look at us like they do not only because we are bizzarly dressed but also because we are running down the streets drunk screaming "TG TG TG" and some people even spell out thier letters. Once non-greeks realize what a TG is (and they do) they associate it with crazy, partied out greeks.
Dont get me wrong. I LOVE TG's, but there is a way we can be modest about it. We dont have to run through the streets screaming, we dont have to be completely hammered on the walk or bus ride there. If non-greeks realized that TG's were just like fun costume parties they would probably not be as judgemental. Just dont be abnoxious about it.

If non-greeks saw us out doing community service as much as they see us out partying, then we would not have this reputation. I know that i like to think that my chapter does a lot of community service around the area, but lets be honest.

I could easily quadruple the amount of partying i have done over the amount of community service i have done this year.

our purpose states "... contributing to the world's work in the community where I am placed because of the joy of service thereby bestowed.."

in no where in our purpose does it say to party. I'm not saying that partying should not be alowed. It is important to have fun and bond with your sisters and other greeks.
BUT what i am saying is that it is important to live up college life while you can
HOWEVER it is also important to live up to your values as well.

i think that's an incongruency that not only my chapter but other chapters everywhere have as well.

Alpha Gamma Delta

ALPHA GAMMA DELTA: our mission statement

Inspire the Woman,

Impact the World

Mission: Alpha Gamma Delta is an international sorority for women that exists to provide opportunities for personal development through the spirit of Sisterhood

Our chapter is congruent to our mission statement because...
We support lifelong learning as a means to gain understanding
We promote the value of membership and commitment to a higher education
We help prepare members to contribute to the World's work
We advocate lifetime involvement in Alpha Gamma Delta

However, being a newer chapter on campus, we have a lot to work on.

We are incongruent to our mission statement when...

-we signup for something and do not show up

-enough people don't sign up to volunteer

-we go against our purpose

-we don't participate in activities other peoples philanthropies to our fullest

St. Jude's

okay- so sorry for the overwhelming display of video commericals haha

As yall can see, i think that St. Jude's Children Research Hospital does a tremendous job at displaying thier organizational values to the public

I chose this organization because i feel like i always see their commercials on t.v.

but- not only do they have plenty of commericals on what seems like every television channel, each one of their commercials are dedicated to their values. This shows everyone how much compassion and love they have for children with cancer.

I can tell that St. Jude's organizational values are to treat their patients with care, give them hope for the future, and allow them to be a kid. This organization does not allow the children to be afraid of thier illness, but they encourage them that they can get through it.

I have such respect for the people who are apart of this organization. They are just amazing at what they do. They give these children such hope, even if they know their illness is life threatening. They always find a way to stay positive for the children and for thier familes, and i bet that means a great deal to them.

What are my values AND what do they mean to me?

What do I value? welllll here is a list!

-accomplishment
-assertiveness
-creativity
-dependability
-discipline
-ENTHUSIASM
-family
-honesty
-intuition
-trust




Now...what do these values mean to me?

accomplishment- is a big deal. without having a sense of accomplishment we would never set goals for ourselves and we would ultimately never achieve the things we want to.

assertiveness- in life it is important to be strong willed and to act upon things you think are right, even things you think are wrong. If you strongly believe in something, you should stand up for it and be assertive towards your goals.

creativity- i admire creative people a lot. Being able to see a creative light on boring things in life allow you to admire life more.

dependability- if people cant depend on you then you cant really be trusted with important tasks. Being dependable in work, school, with your friends, and family, is a big deal. If your not dependable then your not trustworthy to the people around you.

discipline: discipline comes into account in every aspect of your life. You have to have discipline in order to balance your everyday schedule. You have to discipline yourself to find time to work out, to diet, to study and do homework, and to put full effort into your work.

ENTHUSIASM: just because id rather enjoy life rather than trudge through it : )

family:you cant choose your blood, your family will always be your family. They will be your backbone when i need them most and will always be there for me and in return i will always be there for them.

honesty- "you must always be true to others, but mostly, you must always stay true to yourself"- legally blonde : ) being honest to others, in a kind manner, allows them to respect you for being truthful but also gives you the feeling of knowing that you are speaking your mind and being truthful.

intuition- i feel like i have a really good intuition, i am pretty good at listening to my gut. I know some people who have an amazing intuition and i admire that in a person because it shows that they can sense when something is right or wrong. always listen to your gut.

TRUST- this has to be one of my biggest values (you wouldnt be able to tell from my list because I alphabetized the words : )) without trust you cant have a real friendship or relationship with anybody.

"do not make someone a priority if you are their option"- dont always make it a necessity to go out of the way for someone you cannot trust

Who am I?

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Jessica Lynn Hart. I was born and raised in Springboro, OH ( a town close to Dayton). I went to Archbishop Alter High School which is a small, coed, Catholic school near Dayton.
I played volleyball competitevly since seventh grade and decided senior year of high school to not play in college, but i still love it.
I was captain of the varsity volleyball team for two years in high school and LOVED the idea of being a part of a team. Being involved in a team sport made me realize how you cannot win a game all by yourself, you have to win and work together as a team. We fed off of eachother, learned from eachother, set examples for eachother, and pushed eachother. And thats what we have to do as a society, so that we can make a difference.

"teamwork is less me and more we"

That is partly why I decided to join a sorority in college, so that I can grow and learn with my sisters by my side. ALPHA GAMMA DELTA is one of the best colleges experiences that has happened to me so far and i LOVE my sisters : )

When most people think of Catholic school's they think of the students as being more sheltered. Well, they are right.
I myself was never in a total loss as to what the world was like outside of a private high school's walls, but some of my classmates were completely clueless.
When I came to Ohio State i truly could see all the different people and diversity around me. I was not used to seeing people of different religions and race so frequently, but it was and still is an amazing experience.
My freshman year of college I volunteered at the Nisonger Center at the Ohio State Medical Center. I randomly got assigned to work with kindergarten aged kids with various mental disabilities and i fell in love with it. I recenlty just declared my major as Speech and Hearing Science.
I guess that is one way I want to change the world. I want to help people who are disabled to be able to get along "normally" in society by teaching them to speak and use language properly, or if they are incapable of that then providing them some way of communication.

and since i have absolutely no idea how to put a youtube video in my blog, heres a link! haha enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKzI5q9ORqs