You & Starbucks: It's bigger than coffee

Being on a college campus, I have noticed the popularity of starbucks coffee more than ever before. Whether on the oval or in my 8:30am math lecture, I see their product everywhere. Fortunately, I am able to notice more than just a venti cup of coffee. Starbucks serves more than espresso and coffee cake; they serve an ehtical, local and global community. When visiting their website, http://www.starbucks.com/, one may mistake the popular coffee chain for a community service campaign. (Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining!) The first thing that a person sees centered on their website are words such as "volunteer" and "community" in large, bold print. The company claims that together the customer and Starbucks are "bigger than coffee." It's inspiring and quite refreshing to see that a company of this size is working to send a greater message in today's economy. Although this has become a common theme amoung a handful of companies today, it's nice to see Starbucks taking such a personal approach. They work to encourage the public to become more involved citizens by volunteering in their community and have made a larger effort to ensure that their products are natural and environmentally friendly. Starbucks advertises their message in their stores, online and even on their products so that their customers and ultimately the general public are able to see the efforts that they are making to increase the human experience. Service in the local and global community is most definitely the major organizational value that Starbucks is working to promote.

What are your personal core values, and what do they mean to you?

Very fitting to this week's blog assignment, I just got out of a values based leadership conference called Something of Value through PHA. Starting off this morning I was half excited to be getting more involved but half dreading the fact that I was probably going to be hearing the same old information that's said at every other conference. To my surprise, I had a very positive and enlightening experience. The opening speaker started off the morning by reading aloud each sorority's mission. Hearing her read off all of them together like that really made me realize how similar each chapter really is. We all have a common goal of standing for something greater than ourselves and working to uphold respectable values. Shortly after, we listed off values that we each strive to possess such as honesty, respect, responsibility, accountability and positivity. Many of these values were ones that I share in and work to uphold in my daily life. It was very enlightening to know that I not only share common values with my sisters but with other women within PHA as well. We all have more in common than we may think!

Here goes..

Who am I? This is a question that I've been asked quite often recently. Contrary to my prior belief, this question/topic is a lot deeper than it may originally seem. One way to answer would be to state the color of my hair, where I live, or what my hobbies are. So then, I would say I have blonde hair, I live in Ohio (go bucks!!), and I enjoy being active whether that means being on an committee or taking part in some sort of fitness class. This may suffice in some cases however I've recently been trying to dig a little deeper. You may think that this would be an easy task, right? Of course I know who I am and what I want to do for the rest of my life! WRONG.. so wrong! One predictament I'm having at the moment is trying to decide on a career field. Many of my peers suggest that I take what I enjoy doing and just relate that to a career/major. If I simply match these two things up then I will be certain to find something that I will enjoy doing for next however many years of my life. Well, news flash, it's harder than you think. I'm a very complex individual just like the next person. I'm always thinking on what I find to be a deeper level but I seldomnly open up about it, I worry about what others think of me but am entertained by their reactions when I do something to surprise them, I enjoy planning things and taking charge but don't really enjoy working on the same level as others. I'm selfish yet self-less, I'm picky yet undecisive, I'm opinionated yet complaisant. I'm easygoing yet demanding, I'm super organized yet a total mess. So how do I take who I am and match it to one career? This is going to be wayyy harder than I thought. Props to anyone who's ever known exactly what they want to do with their lives. I guess this is something that will take more than a blog post to figure out.

Why am I in my Sorority? To answer this question simply, I chose Alpha Gamma Delta because it fit all of my needs. My sisters are some of the most amazing girls that I've met in college so far. They are caring and responsible young women. Everyone is so kind and welcoming. All of my sisters are different, yet we all come together for a greater good.  I think what orginally drew me to my chapter is the fact that each girl has a passion outside of AGD. I saw them as regular girls and not the typical stereotype. They were a part of this meaningful sisterhood however that wasn't what defined them or took them over. Of course, during recruitment I knew very little about sorority and fraternity life and what these individuals stood for as a whole. Know I know better and I realize that fraternities and sororities are not a stereotype. These groups of unique people are simply individuals who are working to enhance their college experience through service and sisterhood/brotherhood. We strive for academic excellence and work to strengthen our friendships and acquaintances. Although I still have so much to learn about this aspect of college, I know have such a greater appreciation for not only my sorority but for greek life as a whole.

How do I feel after reading this Blogabus in its entirely? Although I am certainly intimidated by the "Blogabus" I'm also ready for the challenge. I'll admit that a little part of me was planning on writing this class off as an easy A. After reading through all of the information about the course however, I've had to reevaluate my assumptions and am realizing that this class is going to be a little more work than I had originally expected. Despite this minor setback I'm really looking forward to what's in store for the coming weeks. I'm particularlly excited about learning more about sororities and fraternitites as a whole so that I can better understand the deeper meaning behind their objectives. Overall, this leadership class is going to be.. interesting. I think it's definately going to be one of those "journey/adventure" type experiences. It won't be easy but hopefully by end of these next seven weeks I'll have gained so much knowledge and will appreciate my involvement with the greek system that much more.