FIJI Friends Forever

So, I am sitting at the FIJI house right now, hanging out with my friends, Nick Weaver and Mike Cox. Both of them have taken this course before, although in a FIJI-specific class. We were talking about how great it is that we have friends in other chapters. One great benefit is that we can go and hang out, reflect about our own experiences in the community or just pass time with friends.

I met my FIJI friends last Greek week, when we were paired together. And now we're BEST FRIENDS FOREVERRRRRRRRRR. But really. Our Greek week shirts said, "We're the five best friends that anyone could have...". We were the Wolfpack. We actually just had a conversation about the social change model and how to implement it in our lives. Kinda cool how EduP&L 270.04 affects a lot of people, right?

Right!

The Happiest Place on Earth!

Yo, watch that!

And this:

WHO WILL GO SEE AFRICAN CATS WITH ME? I love cats.

Anyway, I chose the Disney Corporation. The company is in charge of a plethora of television channels, theme parks all over the world, and a multitude of other things like stores and merchandise. What really strikes me as great about Disney is that they manage all facets of life. Aside from making me an incredibly happy child in 1997 and 2000 when I visited the parks, they make me happy now at age 21 (in seven days).
Check out this site: http://corporate.disney.go.com/citizenship/environment.html to see what all Disney is doing in terms of environment conservation and awareness. For the past three Earth days, they have released movies showing nature and its beauty. Aside from that, even if their latest animated films (think, "Finding Nemo" and "Wall-E") an environmental focus has emerged.

In fact, Disney encourages young students to get involved. It hosts Planet Challenge-a project-based learning competition designed for 4th-6th grade classrooms enabling teachers to engage and empower their students in environmental stewardship.

I think that Disney does a great job of selling its values to the public through the mass media and through film outlets. But, really, who wants to go see "African Cats"? I do!

Valuable Homework

My own personal values are hard to define. Rarely do I take the time to examine what I find important to me. I know my strengths (Thanks, Strengths-Based Coaching Program through the Ohio Union!): Significance, Competition, Achiever, Focus, and Input. But, those are strengths and not values. So, since it's homework to figure out my values, here we go:

1. Hard work
Without hard work, I believe there isn't a point to do something. The way to success is through hard work, so I strive to do my best on every project. The majority of the great projects that have changed the world have been achieved via diligence and perseverance. Hard work is a core value of mine.

2.  Passion
Whatever I take on, I need to have a passion for it. Whether that means shouting my lungs out for the Buckeyes, or putting together a competition tournament for Mock Trial at OSU, or trying to make change in the community through PHA, I have to be passionate about my work.

3. Trust
A key tenet of any core value system is trust. Friendship and loyalty revolve around trust and an open relationship. If you can't keep a secret, then you will lose the trust of friends. Sometimes that violation of trust can ruin relationships. So, keep up the trust, and all will be well! That is why I value trust so much.

4. Family
As much as I don’t like to admit it, my family means a lot to me. Whether this is my family comprised of my friends or my actual, biological family, I do value them all. They help me do what I do; they challenge me to attain new things; they help me life up to my core values. I love them all for that.

Something of Value

Hey Friends,

So, remember the post I had about if change in the Greek community is feasible? I challenged everyone to figure out ways to collaborate with other Greek chapters. Today I experienced a change of heart. Today, the program Something of Value was put on by PHA (and wonderfully coordinated by Stacy Duh). The program sought to bring all sixteen PHA chapters together to identify the top three risks this community faces that need immediate attention. After risks were identified, break out sessions had to come up with action plans for managing these risks. Common themes that were heard were excessive drinking, underage drinking, disunity between the chapters, social media concerns, and lack of collaboration with the non-Greek community.

We had an attorney from Atlanta preside over a Mock Trial (yeah, MT!) in which a young woman had pre-gamed before going to a TG at Barley's, gone to the O after the TG. She decided to go home by herself. As she was crossing 15th, she was hit by a car and died. We had to figure out who was liable out of her big sister, the social chair, and the chapter president. Turns out they all have been held liable and given HUGE damanges (upwards of ten-million dollars) in previous real lawsuits. I think that it was eye-opening to see who is held responsible for incidents like that one. We then broke for lunch, and talked about issues facing our own chapters with international representatives and chapter advisers in attendance.

Next, all PHA council members were paired with international representatives from women's fraternities and sororities to facilitate the small groups which were comprised of groups like risk management chairs, social chairs, presidents, recruitment, PHA delegates, emerging freshmen, and emerging sophomores. Within each group, we identified problems within the community. Then the groups ranked the top three high risks, broke into four of five groups and created action plans. After the session, we all reconvened as a group of three-hundred Panhellenic women, and we shared our plans for change.

The group that impressed me the most was one of the emerging freshmen leaders groups. They identified our community problems of disunity, problems with philanthropy events, and other hot topics. They also agreed to host a freshmen roundtable to discuss or to continue a notion that we gained through the event called "Greek amnesty". Basically, nothing that was said within the groups would get any chapters in trouble. What happened at Something of Value stays at Something of Value. They still have new ambition for the Community, innovation that will help it grow and thrive here at Ohio State. And, even more exciting than that is the fact that they are the future leaders of both this Greek community and this even greater Ohio State campus. 

All in all, we identified most of the same issues that need immediate attention and crafted action plans for them. Whether it is making all TG's cash-bar and splitting the venue costs with fraternities or hosting sober events before TG's to get to know other Greeks in a sober environment before going out, a lot of great suggestions were made. PHA now knows what the community wants, and I think that a lot of great dialogue about how to improve ourselves occurred. I am inspired to be a Panhellenic woman at this campus at this current moment in the community's history. We are making changes. And it's not just PHA; today showed the rest of the council and me that women in every single council also want change to occur. Now, we just have to take up the flag and begin our journey of progress.

Who are my sisters?

Who are my sisters?

We are passionate.
We are loud.
We are funny.
We are unique.
We are amazing.
We are insane.
We are beautiful.
We are ridiculous.
We are loving.
We are opinionated.
We are driven.
We are scholars
            soldiers
            leaders
            learners
            servers
            changemakers.
We are Delta Zetas.
We are sisters through and through.
We are not four years but for life.

PS

Studying in the Greek life office is pretty awesome. Even if it means I'm not out on Oval Beach. It looks like a party though.

Is Unity within the Greek Community Feasible?

Lately due to a series of events, I have been wondering if it is even possible to unite the Greek community as a whole. Sadly, more often than not, the answer I come to is no. We claim to aspire to attain the best for ourselves; however, when it comes to attaining the best for our community, I believe a schism occurs. Yes, we belong to separate chapter. I am a Delta Zeta, you might be an XYZ, or a ABC, but at the end of the day, who understands what our letters mean? Sure, we all do since we had to learn them to be initiated. But, Non-Greeks probably don't. When they look at our lettered sweatshirts (yes, they are cute, I know) all they see are "sororities" and "frats". Disclaimer-I abhor the word frat in relation to a fraternity. They see only Greek life as a whole.

So, if all that someone might see is a Greek-lettered organization, why is it that we can never seem to get it together, to unite and work towards an amazing Greek-wide philanthropy event? I am frustrated often by this community's lack of effort, or if not lack of effort then definitely a lack of enthusiasm. If we have a great philanthropy, then why can't we join behind an event to benefit an amazing cause?

That is my challenge to this community: come together and support each other. But more than that, come together and support PHILANTHROPY.

So, let's talk about the ways in which we support our philanthropies as chapters. More often than not, we host events where we sell food late at night on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. From 11pm-3am typically, drunks from around campus convene on a house's front lawn and eat delicious drunk food. How is this a good stereotype for our philanthropy events? Answer: it's not. That being said, money is still being raised for great causes, so houses continue to host events. Let's challenge ourselves though to look outside of the box, to think of new and better ways to raise money for our individual causes. Better yet, let's challenge ourselves to look outside of the box, to think of new and better ways to raise money for our community cause!

I believe that when that is accomplished, even if the event admittedly has some flaws, that great things can be done within our community. No event is perfect. We can make great strides towards Greek unity if we move forward and simply say, "Okay, we will go ahead and try this event. If it does not work, then we can always come up with a better idea next time." We need to try and achieve unity or else we will fall apart.

University Archives and Greek Life

Did you know that you can access the University Archives? That you can access every single article that The Lantern has written since its inception in the 1880s? Well, I am here to tell you that you can.

If you go to go.osu.edu/archives and click on Lantern archives, you can search different things related to Greek life at Ohio State, and you can learn so much about your particular fraternity or sorority.

Currently, I am working on creating a Panhellenic-wide newsletter called The Panhellenic Post. As a part of the newsletter, we are trying to feature fun facts about PHA since its inception. Oh, its beginning. Right, when was that exactly? Great question. No one on Panhellenic, myself included, knew that answer. We had no idea when our organization began at Ohio State. So, what did I do? I looked today on the Lantern archives, searching words like "Panhellenic" <OR> "Pan-hellenic" <AND> "women". What did I find? The rich history of our organization which began in 1904. Yep, there you have it: PHA has existed for 107 years, for more years than my chapter has on campus. That is something incredible to behold, right? Exactly.

So, I encourage you to do the same for your chapter. Find out fun stories about its history, and, while doing so, find out more about yourself! :)

Circle of Sisterhood

The Panhellenic Association's new philanthropy is Circle of Sisterhood. Here is a quick video outlining the main ideas of the philanthropy. I am super excited to raise money for such an amazing organization that strives to do so much! Created by Panhellenic women for Panhellenic women, this organization truly inspires me :)

Introduction

Hello, blogosphere!


The creation of a new blog necessitates an introductory post, an introductory post filled with the normal questions one would ask upon meeting someone new for the first time:


[Who am I?]


My name is Meagan Woodall, and I am a third-year, Political Science and Spanish major at The Ohio State University. As a student, I pride myself on being extremely involved in on-campus activities and student organizations. I am President of Mock Trial at OSU--an organization I am extremely privileged to lead and watch grow and succeed as the years progress. Also, I am in Student Leadership Advocates as well as other great student organizations. Most important or central to my success at the University, however, is Greek life. I am a Delta Zeta sister as well as Director of Internal Communication for Ohio State's Panhellenic Association.


[Since I credit Greek life as central to my collegiate experience, the question then arises: Why go Greek? Why join Delta Zeta?]


Freshman year, the thought of joining a sorority crossed my mind. But, that's it. It didn't do anything more than make me think, "Is Greek life right for me?" When I answered that question, I decided to wait and not go through recruitment. I already had involvement with other student organizations, and I didn't want to overload myself with too many commitments. Sophomore came, and I found myself missing something. I wanted to join an organization filled with strong, independent women who wanted to make great change. I decided, then, that Greek life might after all be for me. I went through formal recruitment last Winter and found myself overwhelmed by all of the great women I met. However, amidst the chaos, one house emerged at the forefront: Delta Zeta.


I am in my sorority because of all of my amazing sisters. They really are my family. I never had a sister, so now that I have ninety-some, I know what sisterhood really means. I am a Delta Zeta to make change within the Greek community, to possess the opportunity to help guide my chapter through good and through bad to ultimately better ourselves. To leave our legacy for the future. I am here for Philanthropy, for Service, for Leadership, for Scholarship. Most importantly, I am here to uphold the values of our creed:

To the world,
I promise temperance and insight and courage,
To crusade for justice,
To seek the truth and defend it always: 
To those whom my life may touch in slight measure,
May I give graciously
Of what is mine; 
To my friends,
Understanding and appreciation; 
To those closer ones,
Love that is ever steadfast; 
To my mind,
Growth; 
To myself,
Faith
That I may walk truly
In the light of the Flame. 
— Dorothy Mumford Williams, Alpha Zeta (Adelphi University), 1939[How do I feel after reading the Blogabus?]Initially, when I viewed both of the videos on Tyler's Fraternal Change Blog, I was feeling rather pessimistic. I am one of those students that spends parts of class on my laptop, taking notes while I tweet, facebook, write emails, and check my Google Calendar. The videos demonstrated that times have changed from the Delta Zeta of my mother's generation, for example, to mine. We must recognize those advances in technology and learn to hone them in order to help us, not to hinder us. "You've got a better shot if you take a risk." Change is often risky; however, we must change our organizations and ourselves to meet the demands of a moving society, one in which transitions in technology often overpower and outrace organizations' old traditions and force them to adapt, to change.I like a good challenge. Naturally then, I feel even more compelled now to implement change within the Sorority and Fraternity Life Community.  When people question the validity or the relevance of the community, I feel even more motivated to show them that they are wrong. I was one of the doubters my freshman year. Now, I cannot imagine my life without Greek life. So many amazing opportunities have been presented to me since I joined Delta Zeta. Without them, I would not be as well-rounded or as involved as I currently am.