Social Change Model

Citizenship

1. My understanding of citizenship is that it occurs in result of getting involved in your community. It is “actively working towards change to benefit others through care, service, social responsibility, and community involvement.” Social change through citizenship could be something as simple as helping clean up a park in your neighborhood or something as large as petitioning at townhall. As long as you are benefitting the citizenship of a group or area that you belong to. I think that being a student at Virginia Tech the best thing that you can do for yourself is get involved in citizenship. We have an extremely developed culture here at VT, and I think that a lot of people find it easy to take that for granted because it is such a big school. The idea of “Ut Prosim”, or “That I may Serve,” encourages us as students of VT. We are special people who belong to a passionate and innovative student body. We value tradition and going outside of yourself to help those around you. I don’t think that I would’ve learned citizenship quite as well had I not been a student at VT in the first place. Joining Greek life here and getting involved with the Class Ring Tradition have changed and shaped my life for the better. And through those experiences, I’ve affected the citizenship that other people will have and have had here in college.
2. In some ways, I think that a benefit of learning something like citizenship is just that it makes you a better, more well-rounded person. It is the best way to show gratitude and give back to the community that gave you so much. I think that it’s significant in my life because it made me someone who doesn’t just sit on the sidelines. Learning citizenship makes you an active member of the community. You can come away saying that you did something in your time as a citizen of say, Virginia Tech. You can enact change for people who will join your community years from now. You are not the only person who benefits from citizenship. Your immediate community benefits and future communities can benefit, as well.
3. I think that I will apply this insight in the future, because I think that citizenship is one of the best ways to adjust to change. Coming to Virginia Tech, I was nervous. I had just come from a graduating class of 200 people and was thrown into a under-grad population of around 20 thousand. When you are uncomfortable like that, it can be very easy to just accept it. The change can seem too hard and too big. You know that you’re not as happy as you could be, but you don’t know what to do to change that. Getting involved and developing my citizenship as a student of Virginia Tech is what made me love Virginia Tech. I know that as I graduate college, lots more change will be heading my way. But now I know, that I can do something to ease that transition- get involved in my community. 

Collaboration

1. Collaboration is the awareness that leadership is a group effort. It encourages you to go past your own wants and needs and come together for the good of a group. It encourages differences and is stronger because of that. I’ve experienced collaboration in a lot of different ways. Prior to college, my experience with collaboration was always through sports. It would be amazing to see the improvements my field hockey team would make from preseason in August to State Finals in November. All because of the power of team work. Collaborating and working together towards a common goal bonds people and gives you a special experience. It can feel like a really strong friendship, which is something that I love so much about collaboration. In Rho Gamma class my sophomore year at VT, my favorite experiences were the ones where we expressed our different experiences and perspectives. It felt unifying. While my experience on sorority Executive Council, was far from my favorite leadership experience- what came easiest to us was the idea that we were all working on bettering our sorority. 
2. It’s important to learn the value of collaboration, because it’s the way the world is trending. The idea that “2 heads are better than 1” is true. As students, we always hear our teachers hammering in the idea that “In the real world, you’ll have to work with people from lots of different backgrounds. It won’t just be for a group project in a semester, it will be all the time.” As much as it can be annoying, and class group projects always seems to be the worst portion of a class, our teachers aren’t wrong. When we join the workforce, we will be joined by people from many different walks of life. They may have completely different ideas from us, but still we have to respect those ideas. If not, it could mean something as serious as a job loss. If we practice collaboration often, it will be easier for us to adjust to life after school. 
3. One main way that I will use collaboration in the future, is through the way I look at jobs. I think that my penchant for leadership has taught me a lot in the past 4 years- primarily things about myself. Forging connections with others and embracing diversity is something that comes very easy to me. It’s made me reconsider choosing fashion as my major and leadership only as my minor. As a soon-to-be college grad, it’s made me realize that the types of jobs that I will thrive in are those where I can work with people. Collaborating is one of my greatest skills and is something that makes me truly happy. Finding a job where I can combine my creativity in the fashion world, with the people skills and teamwork that comes through collaboration is ultimately where I see myself in the future.

Consciousness of Self

1. Consciousness of self means having an awareness of your own personal beliefs, emotions, and biases. It’s the process of introspection and the idea that continuous self-reflection is one of the strongest ways to develop your leadership skills. In general, self-reflection one of my highest personal values. I think that in some ways, the only way that you can truly grow from past situations is to reflect on who you were, why you make the decisions that you made then, and how much you have changed and would do things differently now. Consciousness of self is all about change and growth. I just resonate really well with it on a personal level, without any specific experiences I could mention. It’s possible that the resonation comes from the way that I was raised, specifically my Mom’s influence on me. My mom is a super intelligent woman, and for the first decade of my life I was essentially obsessed with her. She also was a literature and education major in college, so a lot of her life revolved around analysis. I can remember reading books with her and doing the comprehension questions at the end from a very young age. If ever we saw something crazy on the sitcoms we watched, it was always followed by “Well why do you think they did that, Cara?” or “What would you do in that situation, Cara?” I come from a culture of reflection, sometimes too much, but I think its shaped me towards having a strong consciousness of self.
2. I think that consciousness of self is important, because like I’ve mentioned, it helps you to grow. It is abundantly clear when those around you are not aware of themselves and I think in a lot of ways it helps you to navigate personal relationships better. When you can take a step back from yourself and think, “Why did I react in that way?” I think it’s especially helpful in something that many people struggle with- apologizing or owning up to your own mistakes. Being conscious of your own weaknesses, or of a particular moment of weakness, is something that only comes with age. Its significance is in the maturity it shows of you.
3. I think that I can apply consciousness of self in almost any situation that life could throw at me. It’s applicable anywhere. An easy example would be in the workplace. Whether or not I’m working on a team, there will always be stressors at work. Being aware of how I handle stress and how to communicate that to my team or supervisors, will make me stand out as an employee. In the same breath, understanding how those around me handle their stress and in some scenarios not allowing that to upset me- will likely be something I need to tackle as an adult. 

Congruence

1. Congruence is another portion of the Social Change model that really resonates with me. Congruence is consistence. Being honest and true to yourself and your values in all aspects of life. Congruence is acting the same way when you make new friends versus behind the scenes with your family. This is another aspect of my leadership that I don’t think comes from a specific experience, let alone my college leadership experiences. I think, though, that my congruence has made me stand out for many of the leadership positions that I’ve applied for. I think congruence is something I’m particularly strong in and not to too my own horn, but that others admire about me. At times, I think that congruence can be a weakness for me because it is hard for me to know when to pull back. My friends and family always tell me that I am someone who is extremely true to myself- that you can see my feelings all over my face. I can’t help but be honest. Sometimes being too honest, though, can hurt others’ feelings. I think that coming to college, though, I have really worked on editing what comes out of my mouth. You can be honest and consistent across all situations without hurting the feelings of those that you love. For example, in my relationship with one of my best friends that I met at Virginia Tech. She was my freshman year roommate, and the first person to make me feel like I knew what having a sister was. Something that we had to learn about each other was that she is someone who is very sensitive, and I am someone who can be blunt. She always tells me that she loves that about me (as I do with her sensitivity), but I know we have had some issues in the past where I was being too honest and accidentally hurt her feelings. Congruence can be staying true to yourself and letting people know where you stand but doing so in a respectful and kind way. 
2. The learning of congruence is important because it shows people that they can trust you. Congruence isn’t really something that you can tell people, you have to show them. Even describing my own instances of congruence just feels weird. I wish you could really know me to see what I am like. Regardless, I think that your peers will always notice when you are able to “walk the talk.” Actions always speak louder than words and anyone can make an empty promise. Staying true to that word, or just letting your actions speak for themselves, shows others around you what you’re really about. It lets them into your life, and if it’s a positive situation then it can result in them letting you into their life. 
3. I can always keep growing in my leadership, and congruence is always something that I can reflect on. As an employee, as a friend, as a girlfriend or a wife…no matter what role I play I think that I can hope to achieve congruence across my relationships. Reflecting on whether or not I am acting according to my own beliefs is easy in hindsight, but for the future being more proactive about my own actions could be a next step. Thinking ahead of time, in what ways does this align with my values? Congruence can assist in being present and taking control of the situations in my life.