Commitment to Alpha Chi Omega

I honestly initially joined a sorority so that I could make new friends and make Ohio State feel a little smaller. Little did I know that joining Alpha Chi Omega not only was the best decision I have made so far at Ohio State, but has changed who I am and my life in so many ways. Alpha Chi Omega is not just another organization I am involved in, it IS my passion. These women have shown me what it really means to be a Real. Strong. Woman. and I strive to seek the heights on a daily basis to be a good representation for the organization. After becoming president my vision and passions for the organization changed tremendously as I realized that I needed to make change to keep morale and membership high for our chapter. I became passionate about changing what it really meant to be in Alpha Chi Omega besides going to socials and sisterhood events. I wanted us to live out the standards as our ritual tells us to do. I wanted our women to actually understand what our ritual meant so that they could live out our these standards and values. This pertains to social change because I think the Greek community as a whole needs to take a step back and acknowledge what their ritual means and reflect to see if their actions meet the ritual. I think we have progressed in terms of risk management, but being in Greek life means SO much more than partying with your favorite fraternity/sorority.

I think the hardest way to stay committed to my individual values in the group atmosphere is definitely at social events with our chapter. It is difficult being the bad guy at events to my sisters. I know my sisters have good intentions at events, but sometimes get a little out of hand. I just know that at one time in my membership, admittedly, I have been the sloppy mess at a TG, and I feel like a hyprocrite yelling at women when I have done similar things. However, I do think members mature as their membership progresses and actions like these begin to diminish as they realize what the organization is actually about. Trying to get members as passionate as I am about Alpha Chi is also often difficult because I know some people are not as engaged and involved as I am.

I think group members should come together and express his or hers personal values to find those that are in common. Once the common values are found, the group can work towards living out and demonstrating those values. Having established values will allow each other to hold another accountable. However, I think that it is still essential for individuals to retain his or her own personal values to stay true to themselves and contribute views and opinions from these. I do not think that it is possible for someone to be congruent at all times. I believe that at some points in our life, we have to make decisions that don't match our personal values, but may be better for the group at large. Sometimes we have to compromise values to come to a consensus about an action that needs to take place.

Values

I think that our values arise from our character and how we choose to carry ourselves with other people. You can assure you're spending time on your values by your everyday actions and behaviors. Congruence is extremely important when it comes to values because if the actions do not meet up with the given value, you do not stay true to yourself and can become distrusted by others. At this point in my life, I value, school, Alpha Chi Omega, my family, friends, community service, and BuckeyeThon. With such a hectic schedule, it can be difficult trying to fit in everything. I have prioritized my values in order of importance to me, and I ensure that I attend to those values first before spending my time elsewhere. I make a point during the week to spend time in each of my values. The most difficult, but one of the most important one to uphold, is spending time with the family. In being at school and not seeing them everyday, I often times overlook fitting them in my schedule and keeping them updated. After school, I most value Alpha Chi Omega and ensuring that the chapter is running as successfully as possible. Although this value is extremely important as well, I sometimes wish I didn't spend as much time and effort into it. Sometimes I put the organization before my school work, when I really should be focusing most of my time and energy in getting my degree at Ohio State. I think making a balanced schedule of all of these values is important to make sure time is being spent in the appropriate places.

Personal Vision Statement

I decided to run for president of Alpha Chi Omega because I saw that it was finally time for change in our chapter. Our sisterhood had been struggling for a few years, there had been several instances of risky behavior, and the members were losing sight of what the organization truly stood for. Members were not excited to come to chapter meetings and purposely scheduled classes for an excuse to not attend. My personal mission statement is to begin to transform the chapter into a values based organization by demonstrating sisterhood and and promoting the standards that we all stand for. My experience in Alpha Chi as a new member was not as strong and meaningful as I would have liked it to be. I could tell that there was a lot of animosity in the chapter, and I often questioned if I joined the right chapter. However, within the past year, I have grown incredibly by being a member of Alpha Chi, and my main mission is to give that back by being a strong role model and resource to our members. I think my biggest strength and weakness in being president is that I have developed several strong relationships in the chapter. This is a strength because I can get members to listen to me, respect me, and take me seriously. However, sometimes people try and walk over me when decisions do not go in their favor. My strongest amibition for the chapter is for members to graduate and feel that they have truly left a better, stronger woman because of Alpha Chi Omega. Personal development and sisterhood for the members is my biggest priority as a leader.

Common Purpose

The biggest aim of Alpha Chi Omega is to demonstrate the characteristics of Real. Strong. Women. Our organization strives to empower other women and support one another in all activities that we do. We achieve this aim by showing our values on a daily basis. These values include character, leadership, academic interest, personal development, and financial responsibiliy. Character is shown through community service activites and holding ourselves to a higher standard. Leadership is shown through holding leadership positions in the chapter such as the executive or junior executive board. Many of our women hold these positions in other organizations as well. Acadmic interests is shown by holding a higher academic requirement than the Greek community. We require a 2.8 GPA and encourage study tables to our members. Personal development is shown throughout the enitre membership period to see if you have become a better women by being in our organization. Finanical responsibility is required from our members by needing to pay bills in a timely manner for the organizatin to function. The biggest way that we reconcile differences between priorities is through compromise with each other. We hash out the pros and cons of issues that exist in the chapter and prioritize what is most pertinent to the chapter. Overall, our chapter does not have a huge issue with conflict among members, but when issues do arise, we do our best to compromise with each other.

Collaboration

Collaboration is so difficult amongst others because often times, individuals think that he or she's ideas is the best way to go and there is no need for inpiut or compromise. When coming up with an ultimate decision, it is sometimes difficult to not upset someone's feelings about turning ideas down or deciding another's is better in the long run. With a group of 140 women who come from different backgrounds and beliefs, it is extremely difficult to collaborate and come up with a common goal and plan to execute that pleases everyone. I know my biggest struggle as a leader is trusting others to complete tasks successfully. I get nervous that things will not get done as well as if I would have completed them. Having that trust to collaborate towards a common purpose is essential with such a large student organization. Another obstacle collaboration faces is competition and compromise between one another. Every one wants to have the best idea and ultimately the idea that is chosen. Compromise can also be difficult to reach when their are too many individual goals that may not be able to achieve with the common goal. When members input their ideas and they do not get chosen, it is discouraging for them to speak up in the chapter again in fear of additional rejection.

Recently, our chapter has not struggled too much with collaboration and has been making strong, unified decisions as a whole. I know as an executive board, we all have made it an expectation that no matter what decision is made during our meetings, we all leave supporting the decision and each other with what was decided. We have spent several hours on issues that pertain to our chapter and try to collaborate on the best course of action for our chapter. I think it helps that chapter members are always asked for their inputs and opinions when issues arise pertaining to the chapter because they feel involved in the process.

In order for a chapter to be successful, it is vital for collaboration to be present and utilized by all executive board and chapter members.

Citizenship within Alpha Chi Omega

Before reading the assigned chapter, I don't think I have ever actually sat down and thought about being a good citizen actually meant. My idea of a good citizen was voting in the elections, volunteering every now and then, and doing good somehow to the community.

Now I know that being an effective citizen means so much more than that. It's being actively engaged in your communkty/communities and providing postive progress or change for the greater good. I have become a more effective citizen within my chapter by constantly thinking about what can be done better and how to approach it to the chapter in the best manner. I think I took initiative last year as recruitment chair when our chapter was severely lacking in morale and sisterhood. Instead of basing workshops solely on recruitment, I incorporated bonding activites for all of us to realize the true meaning of why we are here and devote so much time into a sorority.

I'm becoming a better citizen in the chapter by staying engaged and having good communication with my executive board to ensure that any and all issues are being addressed. Finally, I'm planning SOE events that are actually going to be relevant and benefical to our chapter, so our women can actually feel like she learned something from these events.

My approach to citizenship is different to what I used to think it meant now in the fact that I'm constantly staying engaged. Citizenship is not picking and choosing the times you want to be engaged and deciding which day you want to be a good person and a good example. It's constantly striving for the best, not only for yourself, but for the greater good of the community or organization you are involved in.

I think overall our chapter has a decent perspective on citizenship, but they could definitely use some work. I think most think citizenship within the chapter means coming to mandatory events, such as philanthropy events and chapter, but they are moving a bit past this. Many have shown great citizenship by going above and beyond the required service hours or attending additional sisterhoods than what is expected of them. I think the biggest improvement the chapter can make towards citizenship is how they handle themselves at social events. Being a good role model and acting like a poised women I think is important for citizenship because it ultimately reflects on the image of the chapter and on the Greek community.