Balconies of Brotherhood

I have always enjoyed balconies. Balconies overlooking the Grand Canyon, the Mediterranean Sea, and Delta Sigma Pi. I have always gone through the motions of sitting through a student org meeting and for the first time I just observed what went on.

While I can't talk about everything that went on during the meeting, the gist of it really surprised me.

The leader is not clearly defined. There is definitely one person that seems to be the leader because he is in charge of running the meetings, but his executive position is not president.

The followers are the members listening and sitting in the room. They value the core ideals stated in our bylaws and preamble. The members of the organization get involvement, relationships, and strong business ideals from Delta Sigma Pi. Some of the followers tend to talk through some of the meeting and have side conversations with their neighbors. The extra chatter does not help the meeting move along any faster, and is sometimes a total distraction from the rest of the meeting and what is being said.

The context of the meeting is not what you would expect as an outsider to a business professional fraternity. There is a lot more to the organization that just "business". The way the organization goes about their different activities is in the mindset of a business, but many different opportunities await members. For example, a 3 v. 3 charity basketball tournament was announced to help support a scholarship fund for a friend that had recently passed away. There are also professional speakers and fundraising events that support the fraternity.

The overall feeling in the meeting is one of brotherhood, friendship, and well-being. It is evident that everyone is there to support each other and genuinely cares for the fraternity as a whole, and individually as well.

Student Development Theory

Why wouldn't we learn about student development theory? 

As Student Leadership Advocates, it is imperative for us to understand how students develop in college to understand how they develop as leaders. College is a place of learning and growing not only as a student and person but as a leader. We can utilize the student development theory to cater our facilitations to each individual and student organization. Evans notes that, 

"Student Development reflects theories of human growth and environmental influences as applied to in-class and out-of-class personal learning opportunities." 

For our fellow students, the out-of-class learning experience is facilitated by us. SLA directly affects student development through facilitations to student organizations. With knowledge of the student development theory, we have a base to start from in our facilitations, especially when dealing with new student organizations compared to established organizations.

We also benefit from learning the student development theory. We can understand our own journey through development as students, human beings, and leaders. A lot of people come in to college thinking they're hot stuff and are quickly put in their place. With development theory, students are able to look at their life through Chickering's seven vectors and analyze how far they have come and how much farther they need to go. 

If not now, when? 

Learning a foreign language is infinitely easier at a younger age than as an adult. The same goes for becoming a leader. Leadership can seem like a foreign language to some, especially those that don't see themselves as leaders. During your college years is the best time to develop as a leader. Leadership opportunities are endless, with thousands of student orgs, in the classroom, and even socially. With these opportunities, students can start their journey as leaders before entering the "real world". 

At Ohio State, the leadership resources are endless, why not take advantage of them while they are available, and while you are still developing as a student? According to Evans, 

"Student Development Theory is integrative in nature; it requires mutuality, equality, cooperation and collaboration among all parties (students, staff, faculty, and administration)." 

The students, staff, faculty, and administration at OSU are available and willing to further the development of students. A well-rounded student is the most successful student, and all of the aforementioned are here to help and want to see each and every student succeed.