Citizenship Beyond the "Checklist"

I really enjoy the topic of citizenship because since the beginning of my presidency, one of my main goals was and has been to make a better, stronger, more positive image of my chapter to not only the Greek community but the community of the Ohio State University as a whole. As a younger, more naive student, I used to view citizenship as something where you did your “deeds” to society and called it a day. I saw it as a way to “check off the box of things to do” throughout a certain time period to make you a better person. Now, after experiencing numerous different leadership and community service opportunities, my view has opened up to a broader, more mature standpoint. In this current point in time, I see citizenship as constant engagement with those within the community beyond the required expectations. I see it as an ongoing effort to stay engaged with others in a positive way and working with others to improve the entire community as a whole.
From this experience of growth within myself, I have been able to portray this personal viewpoint to my chapter and try to implement it within our house. In the Greek community, we try to attend as many philanthropy and service events ran by other chapters to help support them throughout the year. We see this as a great act of citizenship because we are not only helping each chapter raise awareness and funds for a great cause, but it also helps us to maintain positive relationships with other chapters. We also do our best to do dinner swaps and collaborative Safety, Health, and Wellness events and service events with other chapters to maintain those relationships among other houses.
In all, having good citizenship is more than just completing a “checklist” of what is required by OSU or chapter guidelines. It is about reaching out beyond those requirements and doing something active and positive to help not only yourself but also others. To be a good citizen, you must transcend the norm or the “checklist” of what we see is right. A good citizen will do his or her best to lend a helping hand to those in need even when the deed has no visible incentive or reward in the end. I feel that if our community works to transcend what some people may see as being a “citizen” and actually gets active and innovative, we can truly work to make some positive changes in our community as Greeks.