The time is now. Will you make a difference?

For ten weeks I have had the privilege to work with four passionate men and women to bring about positive and values based change to my chapter as well as the Ohio State Greek community. Directly experiencing social issues as well as learning about them from peers has shown me that consciousness of self is the most important C in the Social Change Model when becoming a change agent.

Consciousness of self allows an individual to start their leadership journey in the first place. Equipping an individual with the skill set to analyze who they are as a person and leader is a crucial component of growth and positive change that impacts more than just oneself. It is in this part of the Social Change Model where individuals are identified as leaders or followers.

I so deeply believe that leadership is a combination of the active choice to lead as well as the innate and undying passion for positively changing the network an individual belongs to. I had to choose to be the president of my organization. I have to choose every day to wake up and love my sisters more than I did the day before, and to continue to work hard for them to give them the best Alpha Chi Omega experience they can have. I make decisions and I choose to lean on my values when faced with making tough decisions. Arguably, leaders can accomplish "leadership" tasks without strong passion and sense of purpose. But leaders cannot enjoy, learn, grow, appreciate, or love their experience as a leader without it. Intangible feelings push people forward to places they never believed possible. Logic can only get you so far when you want to sincerely change and impact a community.

Becoming a change agents is not met without challenges. I believe two of the biggest challenges to becoming a change agent are believing that your effort can tangibly make a difference and staying committed to the change. The first obstacle might be the largest and hardest to overcome. As I worked to create change with my classmates -- the issues we talked about and addressed seemed so large that no matter what we did we could not bring about meaningful change in any way that would impact anyone besides the five of us. It was clear to me that we learned a great deal about the issues we were confronting and that I had personally implemented change in regard to how I reacted to or lead my officers, chapter or friends. (See... consciousness of self never goes away!) But reading and listening to the concerns of an anonymous group of Greek peers made me feel like 5 chapter presidents could never get a grasp on fixing some of the glaring issues our community members had bravely pointed out.

·         How do you create religious tolerance in an entire community?

·         How do five people get an entire group of individuals to respect one another -- to stop elitism and belittling others?

·         How do a small number of passionate people get other four governing councils to want to collaborate and work together? How do we get the individual councils to operate in a manner that serves its members better?

·         Can five people tear down stereotypes that don't exist Monday through Thursday because Greek members care about values based behavior during the week but not Friday-Sunday? 

As you can see, its easy to get discouraged and think that you can't make any sort of progress towards change. There seems to be an insurmountable, gigantic problem that can't be solved with 5, 50, or 500 people. I know I can start small... I can utilize the four other members of my class who feel passionately about the same issues I do. We may not see the change we wish to see right away... that it comes with generations of Greek members who want to make Greek life better and actively work towards those improvements. With the factors that I have control over here and now, I can make steps towards the change I want to see.

As I am in the beginning stages of implementing the change I want to see (through a collaborative Greek peer organization that actively promotes positive/values based social change), it is easy to say that I am committed to seeing the organization form, grow, and implement change. I know it will behard when members do not place the same importance on the issues I feel are most important. I know I will be discouraged when others do not want to work as hard or for as many hours as I do in order to make this change a reality. My passion for my organization, for Greek life, and for giving the future of the Greek system resources, tools and skills will carry me through to the end. Change can be done. It has been done by those before me and those who will follow me. The only thing is.... is I want to be someone to change the world too.

A successful person is one who can 
lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him or her.  ~David Brinkley