Kouzes, Ch.5

This chapter really resonated with me and what I'm involved with on campus right now. When Kouzes discussed Regan Bergmark and her struggles with bringing a new organization to her campus, I completely felt for her. This summer, my roommate and I worked toward bringing a chapter of Delta Gamma to the Montana State campus. We got a group of girls interested, connected DG alum in Bozeman, had everything we needed...except for space on campus: the current houses aren't full and so a new house wouldn't be allowed on campus for another four years. But we had all these girls who wanted something from us; so we made a club - a local sorority. We're now at 43 girls - which is big, really big for Bozeman. We have as many girls as the national sorority chapters on campus have (but that's not the point, I'm just bragging). Which brings me to the next point, "Unless external communication is actively encouraged, people interact with outsiders less and less frequently and new ideas are cut off" (80). As our name grew on campus we received extremely mixed reviews from Greek life, but instead of hiding, we reached out. We've so far had socials with three fraternities on campus and have an upcoming mixer with one of the sororities. As we reach out, we can better explain ourselves; we get help and advice, and - most importantly - support from these students who become our friends. I like the Rumi quote on page 81, "Looking up gives light, although at first it makes you dizzy." This is our first semester and so far it looks like this club is holding on for the long haul; we have two girls who have stepped up out of nowhere to organize our first philanthropic event. We're creating leaders out of these women and it feels amazing to be able to do this and to watch them succeed. This is our first semester and we're not even through it yet; the prospects are daunting - dizzying - but exciting. It's just like what we learned when Tom came to class: What you interpret at first as fear is actually excitement.