NEXT GENERATION

"When things go wrong as they sometimes will."
"When the Road you're trudging seems all uphill"
"When the funds are low and the debts are high"
"When you want to smile but you have to sigh"
When care is pressing you down a bit"
"Rest if you must, but don't you quit!"
"Life is queer with its twists and turns"
"As everyone of us sometimes learns"
"And many a failures turned about"
"When he might have won had he stuck it out"
"Don’t give up though the pace seems slow"
"For you might succeed with another blow"
"Often the goal is nearer then it seems to the faint and faltering man"
"Often the struggler has given up when he might have captured the victor’s cup"
"And he learned to late when the night slipped down how close he was to the Golden crown"
"Success is failure turned inside out, the silver tint and the clouds of doubt"
"And you never can tell how close you are, it may be near when it seems so far"
"So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit, its when things seems worst that you must not quit!"


Dear Next Generation,

I hope that by the time you come around Greek Life has improved.  Right now the NPHC is in shambles and it seems like we keep on going in circles.  Just when you think that everything is finally starting to go well the probates start and the disses come out and all of the drama that you have been trying to squash all year comes right back up.  I hope that by the time you are on the e-board all of the organizations on the yard will actually support the NPHC and respect it's authority rather than disown it and not even bother to show up to it's meetings.  In an authoritative position you will quickly realize that you are going to face lots of adversity no matter what you do and how good your intentions are.  You could try and create a simple fundraiser that would give money to all of the organizations and people would shoot down the idea and say that nobody will support it and that it is a waste of time.  My main words of advice would be to develop a tough skin and learn not to take things personally.  Secondly, DO NOT...I REPEAT DO NOT ever show emotions or show that you are agitated, people feed off this and once they realize that they have got into your head they will continue to do it.  Lastly, you must realize that all change is slow and that it will not be easy.  You are going to have to fight and push for every step and you will sacrifice countless hours of work to help better your organization and council that most people will never know about or recognize.  So basically, do not constantly seek recognition for everything you do because it will be hard to find; however, people will always find stuff to criticize you about.  You must keep a positive mind, and attitude and be as optimistic about every situation as possible because if you do not show confidence in a leadership position then you can not expect your peers to do the same thing when they are suppose to follow your lead.  The most important thing that you should know is that not everything you try is going to work and that you must be able to accept failure.  Whenever I start to doubt myself and question whether or not I will be able to accomplish something I think of the poem I wrote above because one will never accomplish something if they do not PERSERVERE and STICK FIGHT THE FIGHT.  I hope that you have an enjoyable GREEK EXPERIENCE and continue to help build and uplift the GREEK COMMUNITY.

P.S ...Make sure you go to AFLV!!!! and win lots of awards the stroll comp!!!

Sincerely,
Robert Rutland
MT. OLYMPUS SP 10

What does citizenship mean to you and what role does your council and chapter play in that understanding?

I believe that citizenship is being an active member in your community and being a positive member of society.  A good citizen helps their community and is aware of the problems that exist in the community.  I believe that my chapter plays an active role with me being a citizen and being active in the community because of the various types of community service that we complete.  It also helps me keep in touch with the community and remain aware of their problems and concerns.  I do not think that my council help me be a good citizen.  I do not think that the NPHC as a whole does any form of community service.  Granted, all of the organizations within the council do some form of community service on their own, it is never as a community.  As far as my actual understanding of what citizenship is, I do not think that either my organization or council helped me develop.  I think that my idea of citizenship developed long before I became Greek or even entered college and it was based more off of how I was raised and the fundamentals that were instilled in me growing up.  I think that my fraternity is simply a way to demonstrate my idea of citizenship, not what cultivated that idea.  Ultimately, I think that being a citizen is being a moral person who stands by their beliefs and always does the right thing despite the adversity that they may face and most importantly exemplifying the high ideals of brotherhood, scholarship, and service.

GOMABBBBBBBB!!!!!

Oath

An oath is a solemn appeal to a deity, or to some revered person or thing, to witness one's determination to speak the truth and to keep a promise.

                Everyone in a Greek organization took an oath of some type when they decided to join their organization.  Typically the oaths were about upholding the principles and goals of our organizations and vowing to always remain loyal to our organization for the rest of our life.  In my specific organization I took multiple oaths before I came a full fledged member; they were the Crescent Chant and the Sigma Creed.  I can not what was said in the oaths because they are considered secret information of the fraternity but basically they were statements in which I declared that I would remain faithful to my organization and uphold the principles created by our founders.

                Oaths are used outside of Greek Life and can be found everywhere in the world.  People take oaths when they are married, when they are in court, and even the president takes an oath.  The purpose of an oath is to make a person swear to remain honest and loyal to whatever they are becoming apart of.  Unfortunately, oaths are not taken as seriously as they used to be; divorce rates are skyrocketing, presidents are being impeached for perjury, and more “letter wearers are entering Greek organizations.

                Why are oaths not taken as seriously as they used to be?  They used to be one of the most important ways to show loyalty.    Has spoken word lost its power or are people in today’s society simply less loyal.  These are all questions that need to be addressed because if one can trust a person when they take an oath to something how is it possible to trust anyone?  More importantly how can we hold people accountable if swearing to be faithful does not mean anything to them?

What do you have to say about your experience at the conference?

AFLV reminded me of why I joined Phi Beta Sigma to begin with; unconditional brotherhood.  I met fraternity brothers from all over the nation ranging from Texas to Indiana to Colorado.  The brotherhood was real and I had an instant connection with all of the bruhs I met.  I was extremely impressed by the entire conference.  From the opening ceremony to the banquet I could tell that much time and effort was put into the entire weekend.  I thought that the speakers that they had at Pathways were high caliber and still young enough to know what is really going on in the Greek Community.  I was lucky enough to have my pathway instructor be the instructor of the Greek life class that I am taking at OSU.  I enjoyed having him as an instructor because he is still fairly young and in touch with Black Greek Life.  Most importantly, I enjoyed meeting people who were in the same situations as I am whether it was on the Chapter level or the Council level.  I was also able to meet people who once had the same problems that my chapter and the Council are currently facing.  We were able to brainstorm and I got a lot of helpful suggestions on what to do that I plan on implementing this upcoming quarter.  I enjoyed all aspects of the conference and especially that it left room for social interaction between all of us.  If the conference was focused strictly on leadership skills and did not leave any room for down time I do not think I would have enjoyed it as much because half of the experience is networking and socializing.  I was also impressed by the stroll competition and  how all councils were incorporated in it.  Ohio State will be in the Stroll Competition next year and WE WILL WIN!!!  I learned about all of the awards that universities can receive and I am positive that OSU will be receiving several accolades when we return to the conference next year.  My goal is for OSU to have the most awards out of any school and hopefully get one of our advisors up there as well.  Thanks to Tyler (squared), Sami and everyone else who helped plan the trip.  I appreciate all of the work you put into it and I just want to let you guys know that it did not go unnoticed.  Can't wait till next year!!! 

What is your sorority/fraternity’s mission statement/oath/creed/object? What are the values of your council? These are broad, sometimes abstract statements. What are one or two ways you will commit as an officer of your council exec board to these values to change the community? Not just that you’ll be honest or study hard, but something tangible, actionable, and measurable.

The principles of my fraternity are Brotherhood, Scholarship, and Service.  The motto of Phi Beta Sigma is” Culture for Service and Service for Humanity.”  My fraternity also has a creed but it is kept secret to only members.  The motto of the NPHC is the "Unanimity of thought and action as far as possible in the conduct of Greek letter collegiate fraternities and sororities and to consider problems of mutual interest to its member organizations.”  As the Greek Liaison on the NPHC E-board I commit to making sure that every decision we make as a council is meant to help out all of the organizations and that we have the entire Divine 9 in mind when we implement new rules.  The purpose of the NPHC is to create a strong community among historically black organizations and to support the different fraternities and sororities in their endeavors.  As a member of the NPHC E-board and a Greek in a general I am always striving to improve the community.  This can range from going to another organizations event to show support or something as simple as waving at another fellow Greek when I see them walking across the street.  I have learned that little gestures such as these make all the difference when trying to build relationships with people.  Within my fraternity I am the education chair.  One of the core values of all Greek lettered organizations is education or scholarship in some shape or form.  It is my goal to promote education to all Greeks, especially within the NPHC.  Education is the reason we are in college to begin with.  None of the organizations would be in existence if there were not universities.  On the Ohio State campus the average Greek GPA already exceeds the average GPA of the undergraduate population, but there is nothing stopping us from increasing the gap and making the difference more drastic.

Think of an organization that you’re familiar with (anything from a personal organization like a church to a multi-billion dollar corporation like Nike), that does an excellent job at displaying their organizational values to the public. Why did you pick that organization, and how do you know what that organizations values are?

I think that Above The Influence does an excellent job at demonstrating it's organizational values.  Above the Influence is a non profit organizations that targets teenagers and tries to stop them from using drugs by being "above the influence".  The group demonstrates through a series of commercials that are constantly being shown on TV.  The commercials typically show a teenager who participated in illegal activities such as smoking weed, drinking, or using various drugs and then shows the consequences from using them.  Sometimes the commercials have more of a positive attitude such as a waiter giving a kid a free meal because he told his friend he could not smoke weed with him because he had to study.  On the other hand, some of the commercials are negative and focus on scare tactics.  In one of the commercials a teenager crashes his mother's car because he used drugs the night before and his father is scolding him.  His friend then walks into the garage and hands him his brain and says "you left this at the house last night."  I believe that Above the Influence is one of the most effective companies at showing their values because their is no question at what they are tying to say after you watch one of their commercials.  Moreover, they never actually show the person using the drug in the commercial because they do not want to promote it in any way, shape or form.  The organisation has a purpose and a good cause which is why I support it.