Citizenship

Definition: The state of being vested with the rights, priveledges, and duties of a citizen.

This definition seems about right. The only thing I wonder is why when i type the word citizenship into google applications for citizenship are the first thing to come up? To me being a citizen is not something you should have to be tested on or study for. To me, if you are placed in a society you should have the rights and responsibilities of everyone else around you.

The other thing that really bothers me about America's policy of making immigrants citizens is that they actually want to be able to vote, to work, to help their families friends & community.... but those who were born citizens typically take it for granted. So why should anyone who want's to be a part of this be denied? Just because they dont know every president in order?

For my sociology class we were asked to watch the documentary SICKO by Michael Moore. What I thought was going to be a boring documentary paired with a boring assignment brought tears to my eyes. The documentary is about health care in the United States. You may wonder what this has to do with citizenship? Well the thing is, in the US, as you all know, we do not have universal healthcare. This was something i was totally okay with until i watched this movie. Other countries such as France, Britian, Cuba, and Canada all do. Thier justification on why it's better? Your taxes pay in with the amount you make, but the care you gain is whether you need it or not. Here in America people are against that becuase why should they be paying to help sick people if they arent sick? I'll tell you why, becuase we are ALL citizens of this country and it is a priveledge, a right, and a duty to better your community and help a fellow neighbor! Haven't we all been brought up that we should be kind, helpful, and giving to those in need? Well apparently we arent being conguent with those values of being an american citizen becuase things like this occur ever day....

This is why i have such a problem denying people the right to come here, the right to be citizens here, becuase if we go to their country and are in need of help we dont have high bills, we dont have rediculous fees, and we wont be kicked out of their hostpitals...

I may be ranting about healthcare but tis not the actual reform that i care about, it's the problem behinde why the American citizens do not want to work for a better communty, a better country, and a better world!

It's sad to think that we pride ourselfs on our citizenship so much that we force others to take a test, when we are taking for granted every day what it means to live in America, and how we should work to help others.

What I took away from the pannel

The thing I took away the most from the guest speakers was the need to speak up.  NO matter how hard it may be, or what problems it may cause we need to speak up. Speak up against sisters who are making us worry, and things that are going on that are not congruent with our values and standards. Speak up against things that are wrong and people who are not putting their all into our organization. Speak up for what you believe in…

It’s interesting to realize how much each of us tiptoe around the problems we see in our own organizations. I call all of these girls my sisters, meaning that I should be comfortable with them, at least comfortable enough to tell them how I feel right?

….Well not always. But not because I don’t love them, or care about what they have to say, I guess it’s because I care about them and our bond so much I’m so afraid to damage it. But then I wonder, is my bond with them that fragile? I never thought so… It raises so many thoughts in my mind when I think about why I sometimes keep my mouth shut about the things that bother or worry me. Usually I use the excuse that I don’t want to upset anyone, but does it mean that I’m just too afraid?

The thing is, like I said before, these are my sisters. They are my family here at school. We do everything together; we share secrets, stories, memories, a house, and many other things so I think it’s important that we do bring up the controversial issues even if it can cause a temporary problem. I mean we should be able to over come it, we are sisters, we did make a promise to each other to always be loyal….

The reason this comment hit me the hardest is earlier this month I began to worry about one of my sisters. She was not acing like herself, and frankly I was not the only person who had noticed. A few girls had approached me about talking to her about the concern but I brushed it off, and basically said that she would “come around” and I “wasn’t the right person to bring it up”. Thankfully someone else did and I’m so happy that they did, but during our guest speaker last week I couldn’t help but think what if no one had? At that point I knew I should have spoken up, and since I have decided to make it my goal for the year, to speak up to all of my sisters when it is necessary. I now know that my organization is only as strong as it’s weakest member, and to change and improve my organization and my community we ALL need to learn to use our voice.

Oath....

An oath…

Definitions:

1.     A statement or promise strengthened by such and appeal.

2.     The form of words in which such a statement or promise is made.

Synonyms:

Promise

Pledge

Vow

Word

By looking at these two definitions and these four synonyms the word oath carries a lot of weight and importance.

When I first became a new member of Alpha Gamma Delta and the Greek Community at The Ohio State University the last thing on my mind was the importance of the oath I was about to take. In reality I had never really thought about oaths. I knew that you took one in court, and that the president took one right before he was inducted but why did it matter? How can saying words have that much meaning behind them? I mean I had made promises before but  nothing as intense as an oath…

People take things like promises and vows too lightly. Think about how many get married and recite vows, but then turn around and get divorced, or you make a promise and then break it. Words are so powerful when really think about it. They are the core means of communication, so without feeling and truth behind them what do they mean at all? What is even the purpose of communication at that point? But to get back on topic without meaning and understanding behind an oath there is not point in taking it. Especially when it comes to Greek life, I feel that it is really important to know what your pledging to, so that you know what action are and are not congruent with the vows you are taking.

I think that the meaning of an oath, the importance of it, and the things that it is related to should be stressed more before someone goes to take one. 

Incongruencies...

When I think about my sorority and the values and beliefs that we hold ourselves to be true to its sometimes hard for me to remember that we do not always act the same way that we say we do. This would be considered an incongruency and when you say it like that, it makes me a lot more disappointed in my actions as well as those of my sorority.

Although the actions we are taking are not necessarily hurting anyone it is hurting the image of our community as a whole, something that we all want to change.

“To covet beauty in environment, manner, word and thought…”

This is a phrase from the Alpha Gamma Delta purpose that I believe my sisters and I seem to neglect sometimes.

Obviously we are all in college and that means that we like to party. And if you ask me there is nothing wrong with going out on the weekends and having a good time with your friends. The problem is that if we are going to get crazy and out of control it doesn’t exactly look good for your self image, the image of the sorority, or reflect that particular line of our purpose.

If we are to be congruent with this particular line we need to act, and think like upstanding polite women. This does not mean we cannot have fun, it just means we need to be more careful about the way we act, and what we think is acceptable. We need to watch what we say online and in public forums. By doing this we as a sorority and as a community will be able to better the image that we have.

INSPIRE the women, IMPACT the world

I am an alpha gamma delta and our vision is 
"Inspire the women, impact the world" a phrase that every alpha gamm holds near and dear to their hearts. This is a part of our mission statement, along with the following values listed below:

alpha gamma delta  is an international fraternity for women that exists to provide opportunities for personal development through the spirit of sisterhood.

• We support lifelong learning as a means to gain understanding and wisdom.
• We promote the value of fraternal membership and commitment to higher education.
• We help prepare members to contribute to the world's work.
• We advocate lifetime involvement in alpha gamma delta 

Many Alpha Gams would agree that we are congruent with our mission statement. By being in this international fraternity its easy to "impact the world" with so many different chapters and out national philanthropy.

The Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation is the name of our national philanthropy. THis foundation makes efforts towards helping people who have been effected by Diabetes whether in our chapter or in the outside community, considerably contributing to the worlds work. The second part of our philanthropy is congruent  with the development through the spirit of sisterhood. The Alpha Gamma Delta foundation provided Sis Grants, money set aside for alpha gams in need. This is one of the best ways we can give back to our sisters as well as providing them with financial aid and scholarships. 

Alpha Gam, especially at The Ohio State University, strives to promote higher education. Scholaship is taken very seriously within our sorority, and opportunities to improve study skills and grades are provided on a constant basis with the help of our VP of schalrship, the support of our sisters, and the help of our advisors. 

We strive to be congruent with out values, but as we all know its not that simple all of the time. As a member of Alpha Gam you are also so many other things: a student, a daughter, a girlfriend, a sister, a friend, an employee, a young adult ect. With all of these come different roles, values, and responsibilities that can sometimes get in the way of our mission statement. Although AGD supports a commitment to higher education social events, and even the distraction of being with your sisters can easily come in the way. By planning events with fraternities, on weeknights, and involving alcohol we can sometimes be carried away by being a "young adult" or "college student" and leave the studying for the back burner. Not all girls make this choice and overall we all strive to work first and play later but exceptions do arise and for outsiders looking in it does not appear congruent with our mission statement.

I do believe that we do a good job in being congruent with our mission statement and holding true to our values the majority of the time. Alpha Gamma Delta is a great place to be to enjoy your college experience as well as create long lasting friendships and aquire necessary skills to excel in the future...

alpha gamma delta so deep deep

so down down in my heart <3

United Nations

One organization that I choose to keep up with is United Nations. Most people have heard about them with their unicef boxes and food drops to struggling countries but it it so much more beyond that.


Background Info!
1. Created on October 24th, 1945 after WWII
2. 51 countries established it
3. 192 member states
4. Has a general assembly, security council, and Economic and Social Council


Goals
   a.maintaining international peace and security
   b.developing friendly relations among nations
   c. promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights
   d. achieve its goals and coordinate efforts for a safer world for this and future generations


on their website they describe their work to reach every corner of the globe. they are best known for peacekeeping, peacebuilding, conflict prevention and humanitarian assistance. They strive to affect our lives and make the world a better place. They cover a broad range of fundamental issues, from sustainable development, environment and refugees protection, disaster relief, counter terrorism, disarmament and non-proliferation, to promoting democracy, human rights, gender equality and the advancement of women, governance, economic and social development and international health, clearing landmines, expanding food production, and more.

I choose the United Nations becuase they seem like this huge organization that 
helps the rest of the world, but no one realizes that they are present in our everday life. They are striving to create a better world for future genertations.... we are one of those generations! The UN is constantly in the new and around the world dong what is necessary to unite nations and create bettter lifestyles for the people of those countries. By indirectly promoting themselves they make it easy for everyone to see what their goals and values are.


They offer so many opportunities as well to becoe involved in help and voulenteer work. They offer study abraod programs as well as graduate internlike opportunities. I also like them becuase they are so easy to get involved. My favorite is Trick or Treat for Unicef! Here is a quick video of how it works





To learn more about this organization and how to get involved you can visit their website at: http://www.un.org/en/index.shtml

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

val-ue:[val-yoo]
-noun
relative worth, merit, or importance: the value of a college education


When I looked up the definition of value this was the definition the jumped out the most at me. Not only because it didn't have money in it, but also for the example. Clearly we are all here in this school, in our respective chapters, and in this class because we have values. One of our most obvious is that we all value college and the importance of a good education or else we wouldn't be here.


To me college is something I have looked forward to my entire life. As a child I took swimming lessons at my parents alma mater and always dreamt of the dorm life and what college would actually be like. Watching 'Boy Meets World' and countless movies about college gave me hope for a new experience that I was destined, entitled even, to be apart of. I thought this, until I got into high school.

This is my family & they are the reason why I have the values that I do

To them the value of a college degree was never an option. My father paid his way through college and my Mom, well she took it for granted at first and almost had to learn the hard way that a degree is not entitled. Because my family if fortunate to be able to afford schooling with minimal loans I had never taken thought to the fact that some people will never go to college or gain a proper education because they cannot afford it. My parents always made it a point to save money for school, and before I was even a sophomore in high school I was being taken on college visits to relatives former universities and the schools my sister was planning on applying to. I started my search early as a junior having taken the PSAT twice already, the SAT prep corse, and having my mother manage my college board account once a week. I was way more concerned with my social life and the thought of Junior Prom to even consider that this was a privilege that I was taking for granted, a privilege that I should cherish because it will mold the rest of my life.


 If you look all the way to the right that is Bob, my sister's fiance.  He was the person who really opened my eyes to the idea that your education had to be earned... Bob served 2 tours as an army scout. He was shot at, bombed at, attacked, and risked his life for his fellow soldiers as well as us ( the people sitting in our desks, at our computers, taking this whole college experience for granted) all so he could afford to go to school without creating a world of debt for his parents, and so that we could get an education without the constant threat of death or danger. Bob, along with my parents are my heros.

It may seem by now that I'm rambling about how I was ignorant to college and funding and such but I swear this all ties together... For all you country lovers our there, there is a song called "love like crazy" by Lee Brice and the lyrics really apply to my values and what they mean to me in my everyday life.

"Be a best friend, tell the truth, 

and overuse I love you
Go to work, do your best, 

don't outsmart your common sense
Never let your prayin' knees get lazy
And love like crazy"

I value things like education, courage, integrity, dedication, hard work, and love. I'm so grateful to have so many people in my life that have valued those things the same way I do, like my parents and Bob, because they are the reason that I am where I am and I have become the person I am today. They not only share the same values with me but they have fought to make sure I was granted the privileges I have to make me a better person. I couldn't be more proud to say that these people have helped me get to the place where I am today, but that the people I have chosen to share my experiences for the next three years with share those values as well.

I choose to join a sorority and to come to Ohio State was to make new friends, I never realized that the people I would meet would give me the same support, guidance, and direction that I have always gotten at home. These song lyrics above hit hard whenever I listen to it. I want to be the person in this song who is dedicated and passionate about work and love and all of the things that they value close to their hearts. I want people to know that values and they way we choose to live our life according to them all overlap and connect with one another as well as other people. I believe that to become a leader and truly lead successful you have to understand your values: why they are there, where did they come from, and how you accept them. Once you understand that your values will take you wherever you choose to go. For me, in this step of my life, they have brought me to Ohio State, The Design Program, Alpha Gamm, to this class, and to the next best three years of my life so far.