Live It. Love it. Alpha Xi.

So I started off this assignment by looking up Alpha Xi's mission statement to make sure I had it right. Apparently in class, I stood up and said Alpha Xi Delta's vision which is different than the mission.

The vision of Alpha Xi is
Inspiring Women to Realize Their Potential

The mission (to be honest I don't think I've heard this before) is

The mission of Alpha Xi Delta Fraternity is to enrich the life of every Alpha Xi Delta. We will nuture unity and cooperation, foster intellectual, perpetual and personal growth, exemplify the highest ethical conduct, instill community responsibility and perpetuate fraternal growth.

I absoulutely love this and am sad it's something that I haven't seen too many times before. (Im definitely gonna have to do something to change that). Anyways, how do we, the Psi chapter of Alpha Xi Delta live to fufill this mission? Let's take it from the top:

We will nuture unity and cooperation. I'd say my chapter does a pretty good job fostering unity within the chapter, and as of late has been putting in a huge effort to get to a point of unity within the community as well. I've always considered the strength of our sisterhood to be one of my chapter's biggest strengths and it's something I definitely take pride in. In reference to fostering unity in the overall Greek Community, I definitely don't think we are on top of it as we should be but recently we have taken steps to strengthen this. And that makes me proud too:)We just got a cross-council chair to help us focus on our relations with chapters from other councils and we have been working hard to be supportive of all chapters to provide a stronger sense of unity between Alpha Xi and the community. There's always room to grow, but my chapter is working hard to provide unity in every sense they can.

Foster intellectual, perpetual and personal growth: I think this one goes along most with our vision, inspiring women to realize their potential. How does Alpha Xi Delta help our women grow? Well, I'd say we do a lot of things. Our work with service helps us grow into caring and compassionate women. Our academic program stresses the importance of the knowledge we are attaining in college classes. We read our ritual in chapter to be reminded of how our founder's intended each member to grow. Our emphasis on leadership helps each member grow into a strong and confident women. I think personally, without Alpha Xi Delta there is a lot of growth I would have missed out on. I have become a leader. I have not only developed compassion for others, but now act on it all the time. I have learned how to be a friend to others and help them when they need it. I've also learned how to accept help when I'm in need. Alpha Xi has fostered this growth in me, as well as my sisters.

Exemplify the highest ethical conduct: This part of the mission could be emphasized a little more. I think it is pushed to exemplify the highest ethical conduct when wearing our letters or representing Alpha Xi. The thing that is sometimes forgotten is that letters never come off. Each and every member is representing Alpha Xi 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No one is perfect but that doesn't mean we can't all try to be:)

Instill community responsibility: This has probably been the biggest thing I have gotten out of Alpha Xi Delta. I have developed a love and passion for service that I never thought would happen. And it's the Ritual of Alpha Xi that did this for me. As I started to understand the importance of Ritual I went back through it and studied it. There's not a single ceremony that Alpha Xi performs that does not emphasize Alpha Xi Delta and her dedication to service in the community. Upon realizing this, I wanted to do so much more of it. My chapter was supportive of this, and we have so many programs in place to get involved with the community. We go to a dance every week at the Gillie Recreation Center for Seniors. Girls volunteer at ASAP, mentoring kids. I got connected with KIPP Journey Academy and love volunteering with those kids. There's a new service opportunity every day, and Alpha Xi Delta is great at striving to better the community.

Perpetuate Fraternal Growth: I think this one just means constantly working to improve Alpha Xi Delta and giving your all to her mission, vision and values. As a chapter, there are many people that would do anything in the world to better Alpha Xi Delta. Other's maybe would do a little less. I think the biggest thing with this is to hold people accountable to the fraternal growth. It should be a group effort, because no one individual can have full responsibility of the chapter's growth.

To end this blog: I think what makes the sorority and fraternity experiencewhat it is, is it's mission and values. If a chapter loses that, it's nothing more than a club or group of friends. A sisterhood is a group of people all working for a common goal (the mission of the fraternity) and having that common bond is what makes sisterhood lifelong.

Respect, Family and Education

One of the greatest experiences I've had in college has been volunteering at KIPP Journey Academy. KIPP stands for the Knowledge Is Power Program. It is a chain of middle schools dedicated to providing high quality education to kids that live in lower-income communities. I love everything about the days I spend at KIPP, and I am so supportive because the values of the organization, and the values they instill in their students (KIPPsters) are very similar to my own personal values. They are very open about their values, and everyday I am there, it is easy to see what these values are.

Before I get into what those values are, here is a video explaining a little bit more about KIPP Journey Academy, and how and why it got started.

The number one thing KIPP values is education. Walking into KIPP, if you ask a KIPPster to introduce him or herself he will say "Hi my name is _____ and I'm going to college in 2018" (its seriously the cutest thing ever and gives me chills everytime) The staff at KIPP drills it into each child's head that he or she will be attending college and needs to do the work necessary to get there. They teach each and every KIPPster to value education and I love that about it.

KIPP also value RESPECT. There are signs posted everywhere in the school about treating each other with respect as well as the teachers and staff members. They get rewarded for being polite, and if they are 'caught being nice.'

KIPP values the idea of FAMILY as well. They consider KIPP to be a family and encourages everyone to act that way. As a family KIPPsters hold their classmates responsible for upholding KIPP values. I love the family-like atmosphere and kids there really connect with the teachers. It is a much more opening environment than my middle school ever was.

I love KIPP and I think the values of the school are extremely apparent every time I walk in there. Because of this, the teachers create an awesome environment for kids to learn and get excited about school!

"Try not to become a (wo)man of success but rather try to become a (wo)man of value." -Albert Einstein

My values play a HUGE role in my everyday life, my future goals and everything I do/think/say yet articulating what exactly they are is not anywhere near easy to say the least.

Motivation, Dedication, Passion, Loyalty, Honesty, Responsibility

Among others, specifically these are the values I try to hold myself to in any decision I'm making, no matter what environment I'm in, regardless of the topic of decison. I like to live by these virtues and strive to keep them at the surface of my personality. I also admire these things in others, and look for these things in the people around me.

The rest of this blog focuses on specific things that i value and as a result of me valueing these things, they have thus shaped my own personal values. Make sense? I think so.

"Other things may change us but we start and end with FAMILY"

Like most people, I value my family and the relationship we have. My sisters mean the world to me and I wouldn't be the person I am if it weren't for my parents.

( I cannot figure out how to get these pictures in a more appropriate spot but yea those are my sisters)

Andddd, back to values.


"Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make (wo)man a more clever devil" -C.S. Lewis

side note: I hate how all the quotes I like only reference men. hmph.

EDUCATION. This is a huge one for me. I know I wouldn't be where I am if I didn't have the education I do. I could have very easily stayed in Cleveland Public Schools my whole life and would most likely not have ended up at the best university in the nation. Instead my parents moved us to Olmsted Falls where I had a phenomenal high school experience that landed me here, in amazing classes that I love, recieving a high quality education.

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. ~Edward Everett Hale

Compassion for others is another strong value of mine. It wasn't until I fully understood Alpha Xi Delta's ritual that I really developed a passion for service, but now it is shaping how I spend every week as well as what I want to do in the future. I love doing service and have gotten to try so many different things as a member of the Greek community. Putting together my values of education and service, I volunteer at least once a week at KIPP Journey Acadamy helping tutor underprivlidged middle schoolers. I want to continue working for equal education as a career as well.

"Fraternity is the fuel that allows common people to produce uncommon results."

Finally, I value the relationship I have with my friends and my sisters in Alpha Xi Delta. My sorority has completely turned my life around and I would not be who I am without the experiences we have gone through together. I have developed every aspect of myself and my sisters truly make me a better person. I value everything about that relationship and could not imagine where I'd be without it.

=)

Week 2: Who am I and how do I want to change the world?

Hmm who am i? You would think this would be a pretty simple question but for some reason I'm sitting here stumped. It's easy to list off the random facts I say everytime I'm forced to introduce myself in a classroom setting, but anything more detailed and exciting is kind of hard to come up with. I guess I'll start off with some things I like. I was one of three girls growing up, but my dad really wanted boys so subsequently I spent most of my life playing and watching sports. I LOVE volleyball, basketball and soccer. I love playing flag football and watching football. I'm a huge Cleveland fan, and a UNC basketball fan. In college I spend a lot of my time hanging out with my sorority sisters, and staying involved in multiple organizations. I love being busy. I also love concerts and music. Anberlin is my absolute favorite. I want to go to Australia at some point and I love working with kids. I'm a teaching aid at Ohio State Child Care, and a volunteer at KIPP Junior Academy and I absolutely love my kids. I am compassionate and respectful, honest and dedicated and I love everything about The Ohio State University. In a nutshell, that's me.

I've always wanted to 'change the world' and for me it's important to remember that the little things can make a huge impact. I really want to do something to positively impact children. I want to teach in lesser privlidged school districts and work to give students who come from a lower socioeconomic background a solid education. I love kids, and being able to positively influence a child's life is how I want to impact the world.The school I volunteer at now is KIPP Journey Acadamey and it's a college prep middle school for kids from inner-city Columbus. I absolutely love it there, and can see the huge impact this amazing school has on these children. The teachers are truly helping each 'KIPPster' reach their potential so they can go on to high school and college and build success for themselves. I love being a part of that, and want to continue being a part of that.

Anndd I LOVE this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FPfW9j1RrQ

What kind of world do you want?
Think Anything
Let's start at the start
Build a masterpiece
Be careful what you wish for
History starts now...