We’ve come to that time of the academic year when chapters begin preparing in earnest to initiate fall new members.  With the end of the quarter coming up, Initiation is only a few weeks away for many of us.  It’s always been my contention that the Ritual is not simply a ceremony that we dust off 2-3 times a year, but rather something that, if internalized, truly becomes a tool to help us navigate The Road.

So why the # sign (hashtag, in the Twitter vernacular) in the subject of this post?  The value of the hashtag on Twitter is that it keeps a conversation going, or simply tags a comment along a continuing theme.  #livingtheritual can be used as a way to point out when students or staff exemplify their chapter’s values and Ritual.  Sometimes, it is used to identify a situation that runs counter to those values.   It’s a small way to hold ourselves and each other accountable to the things we all swore an oath to live up to.

#livingtheritual isn’t always easy.  I suppose if it was easy, every organization would have a Ritual.  But our letters, for better or worse, set us apart from other organizations and hold us to a higher standard.

The challenge (and reward) of #livingtheritual lies in a recent comparison I heard from a UIFI graduate: Ritual is not a wedding, it’s a marriage.  Simply put, the real work of the Ritual begins after the ceremonial initiation of each new member.  Once the symbols are revealed, badges are bestowed, and mysteries are explained, the hope is that we walk out of the hall with a renewed sense of what it means to live as a man of honor.  In marriage, the work begins after the reception is over, when the gifts are opened and thank you notes sent.

Serendipitously, I’ve been fortunate to be a Delt as long as I’ve been a husband, with just over two months separating those two important ceremonies.  I try to live as a good husband every day.  Some days are better than others, like when I volunteer to cook dinner when my wife gets home from work late.  Some days are worse, when I have unfair expectations of my wife’s ability to read my mind and know why I am upset or frustrated.

Similarly, there are days when it is easier to live up to my Delt oath, and days when I rely on my brothers to assist me.  But just as marriage includes the good days and bad ones, so too, does our Ritual.  If your brothers hashtagged your actions with #livingtheritual, would it be because more often than not, you exemplified our values, or because you failed to do so?

Just because many of the elements of our Ritual our secret, doesn’t mean that that how we live out those values should be a secret.

Congratulations to all the new brothers and siters who start their own journey down The Road, I look forward to seeing how you all #livetheritual.

How am I, just an ordinary college student, supposed to change the world?

What exactly does Social Change look like?

Well, thanks for asking.

We thought we would share this video with you.  Its a pretty awesome example of Social Change in action:

Keep on guessing…

Will Smith.

Who would have thought we would be talking about Will Smith in EDU270?

But we are.  Because as it turns out, Will Smith is an excellent example of someone who is scores very high in the “Consciousness of Self” category.  In fact, he is pretty awesome at it.  He has an excellent sense of who he is, what he stands for, and what he lives for.

Take a look…

We had every intention of updating it before now, but its funny how caught up we all get in our daily routines that we forget to stop and take time to do the important things in life… such as reflecting.

And that, is really what this class, and what these blogs, are all about.  Reflection.

It is also funny how we all (the two of us included) get so caught up in our daily routines that we also sometimes forget to put our own needs aside, and find the time and energy to help others.  Or, as our friend Trevor McKinney (aka: the little dude that sees dead people in the Sixth Sense), calls it “Paying It Forward.”

Trevor and his fellow classmates were told by their 7th grade teacher, that their assignment for the quarter was to change the world.  And, according to the teacher, Trevor was the only one who found a way to truly interact with the World.  And what did it take of Trevor to get that recognition?

Not much.  Other than the time he took to stop, think, and act.  And with that, he started Paying It Forward.

Did he solve world hunger?  Did he find a cure to cancer?  Did he solve all of our world’s problems?  Not really.  But he did make our world a better place…even if it is just one person at a time.

And while this is not a Social Studies class, and while we are not a bunch of 7th graders, a lot of the messages you see in this clip, are, well, absolutely perfect for where we are headed with this class.

And remember, while “changing the world” in this class may seem so “weird,” “crazy,” “hard,” and “bummer,” don’t forget that it it is also”POSSIBLE.”

“The realm of possibility exists where?”

Many of you thought the Blogabus seemed pretty cool, but also thought it seemed a little too ideal.  A little, too, utopian, if you will.

But in the words of Haley Joel Osment: So?

And for just 30 minutes last Tuesday afternoon, 34 of us went out into the world, and Paid It Forward.  For just 30 minutes, when each of us were given the assignment to find a partner and to go out onto campus and to “pay it forward,” the two of us got some strange looks.

Are you serious!?

Yes, we were serious!  And you all accepted the challenge, and the things you did, the people you helped, the smiles you made, the lives you influenced, combined, have already made our World a better place.

All it takes is one small action, to knock the dominoes down.  It doesn’t take much.

And all that happened on just Week 1.  We can’t wait to see what happens to our World week 2-10.

Welcome to class, and say hello to your course syllabus. Or, as we like to call it, your BLOGABUS (don’t laugh). Now don’t be frightened at the crazy thought of all the chaos thats going to consume your life without the rigid conformities of pages and pages of reading assignments, due dates, learning outcomes, and policies which confine you to minimal potential. As scary as something as out there as a BLOGABUS may sound, we ask you to jump on board and get ready for a crazy, crazy journey towards our greatest leadership potential.

Lets face it people: its 2010. A lot has changed since the beginning of this institution we call “university.” But we don’t need to explain how things have changed, do we? Lets have YouTube explain it instead:

So, on that note, we believe that with the new year and the new decade ahead of us, a lot needs to evolve – not just within our classrooms, but also within our society. Our collective generation is evolving. Every day:

Check this out.  Now.

The world is changing. Every day. Whether you like it. We know change can be scary, but our beloved friend President Gee says it best on a huge sign he has in his office that reads “If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance much less…”

And well, just as the world needs to evolve in order to conquer irrelevancy, so much Fraternity evolve. The only thing older then the outdated course syllabus, is the concept of Fraternity. Do you know that Fraternity is as old as our country? Do you know that Fraternity has been around for 234 years, with very, very little change. We’ll save the history lesson for class, but, people, listen here: whether we like to admit or not, we are all members of ancient, rigid, old-fashioned, un-2010ish organizations.

Its time to evolve.  Its time to ELEVATE.

But then again, when IS NOT the time to ELEVATE????

Now before we go all debbie-downer on you before our first class period, let place our disclaimer bold and clear right up front for all to see: while many may argue that Fraternity need to evolve with the times, we argue, that as long as we change and adapt to fit the needs of our global, technological, and advanced society, we have the potential to make Fraternity THE (thats right “the”) most relevant organization not only on the college campus, but within our collective society.

So, who wants to join us on this journey to showing our nation and our world that our Fraternities and Sororities know how to adapt with the times and are able to become the greatest assets to our global society?

You do?  Good.

Then you’re in the right place.

EDU 270 that is.

EDU 270 is all about elevating our sorority/fraternity community to new heights not seen before, in order to make our world – that’s right, our WORLD a better place.  Yes, we’re that crazy.  We’re talking about changing the world in this class.

And this Blogabus (and all of the different pages to it) outline just exactly how we plan to do that.  Spend some time now reading the “About” page to learn the conceptual framework behind the class, and what you have gotten yourself into  Then peruse the “Course Schedule” page to see how we will be spending our time.  And, if you want to see your assignments and what you’ll be graded on, check out the “Learning Opportunities” tab.  And then check back on this home page regularly for blog posts from both your instructors, your peers, and some surprise guests, as well as updates to the assignments and course schedule.  Its all here.  Right on-line.  Using Social Media.  It is, after-all, 2010.  And if we expect our sororities and fraternities to adapt, then well, we guess its only fair for us – as your instructors – to evolve too.

So who’s ready to embark on this journey of unleashing our greatest leadership potential and show the world just how conducive Fraternities and Sororities are to our 21st Century? Who is ready to learn about the Social Change Model and how we can use it to change ourselves, our groups, our communities, and our world? Who is ready to explore our personal and collective values? Who is ready to explore the history of our Fraternities and Sororities, and the future of our Fraternities and Sororities? Who is ready to challenge the process, be creative, and think harder and bigger than ever before? Who is ready to ELEVATE the world for the better, by using our Fraternities and Sororities – organizations that were founded in 1776 as a means to collect high aspiring young men and women who espoused commitment to the values of scholarship, citizenship, leadership, and who took a life-long vow to hold themselves and their peers accountable to using those values to make themselves and their peers into the best versions of themselves – as the foundation for creating such elevation?

Ok, so you like the idea of all of this, but think its all a lot of fluff and fancy words?

Your entitled to that opinion, but over the next 10 weeks we hope that opinion will change. While we may not all see ourselves as “entrepreneurs” (yet) take a look at the following,

and think back to when you were a kid, and when everything was possible. Because it still is. Lets get started.