Personally, coming into this class, I thought it would be a breeze and an easy A. I was not too worried about it, but soon did I come to find out how wrong I was. I found it challenging how much work was needed for the class, and how many projects I have. I know that this class may not seem like a class with a lot of work with other people, but when I already have hours and hours of chemistry and math homework everyday, and then add on my two other classes' work, it calls for many late nights in the library. So I think that the most challenging part of this class was prioritizing my homework. Almost all the time, I would find myself starting my homework for WRD at 1 or 2am, after I've been working on all of my other homework all day. I think the thing that surprised me the most was not having to write a ton of papers. For some reason, I had the idea that we would have to write a paper almost every week. I found success in the class when I learned to put WRD before some of my other classes, and not start everything at 2am. I learned that when I started to think and work on my projects in WRD before my other homework, I ended up with better grades on the assignments.

STORY BOARD

Sydney Hoback

WRD 110

Professor Hudgens

17 November 2015

Community Service and Philanthropies in Greek Life

My opening scene of my documentary is I am going to be filming while I walk past my sorority, Delta Gamma, and while I walk through Sorority Circle, getting footage of the different sorority and fraternity houses. No one specific is going to be in this footage except for maybe random people walking by. The purpose of the first scene is to let the audience know roughly what my topic will be about by receiving a glimpse of these Greek houses. During this footage, the song Sorority Girl by Luke Bryan will be playing. A line in this song says, “Yours sisters get you home when you're drunk off your ass.” The song then goes on to explain how sorority girls are loved by all boys because of how hot they are. I chose this song because in this documentary I am trying to inform the audience how sorority girls are misperceived. In the song, there was not one time where he mentioned anything about community service or anything about what sororities are actually about, which is friendship, philanthropies, and academics. I am going to let this song play for a little bit and then I am going to have a voiceover that comes on overtop of the music, and while the video is still the Greek houses. I am going to say:

“Often times, sorority women and fraternity men receive judgement as soon as he or she tells someone else that they participate in Greek life. Personally speaking, when I have too someone that I am in a sorority, it seems that every other person typically replies with a comment along the lines of “Oh wow you must be a big partier then” or “So you're one of those who pays for their friends.” Many times, people don’t know about the actual meaning of a sorority, which is the sisterhood, academic and philanthropy side. Today I am going to focus on the philanthropy and community service side of Greek life.”

I interviewed my friend, Warren, who is not associated at all with Greek life. For the questions that I asked him I am going to type out and project the text, in black letting with white background, in the video for the audience to read. After a few seconds, the video that I recorded of Warren answering the question will play. After he is done answering the first question, the next question will once again appear in black text on a white screen for the audience to read, and once again followed by a video of Warren’s answer. This will be the style of the formatting for the interview. Here are the questions and answers:

• Q: Have you ever heard of the term, “paying for friends and parties” when it comes to Greek life?

• A: Yes, all of the time

• Q: Do you believe in that term?

• A: I mean, it does make sense. It does cost a lot of money. 

• Q: Are you aware of all of the community service and philanthropies that sororities and fraternities participate in?

• A: No I never really hear much about that kind of stuff. 

My next source is an article about Red Cross that I found. At the end of explaining what the article is about I will explain how it ties to the article. In this scene I am going to be sitting with one of my friends in Delta Sig, Andrew, and I am going to explain the article to him and ask him his thoughts about it. I have yet to film this but the article is about how Red Cross is in financial debt. In the article, Holly Hall writes about how Red Cross always gets a lot of donations when disasters happen, but other than that, they are in financial debt. Hall goes into detail to explain how they need any donations and support possible (Hall). Reasons like this are why raising money for these charities is so important. And if someone is involved in Greek life, they will become much more aware of all of these charities and become aware how charities, such as Red Cross, are struggling financially. I am going to explain all of that to Andrew, and ask his opinion on it. 

I think that this interview shows an example of how sorority women and fraternity men are portraid. I believe that it shows a valid example how how many people who are not associated with Greek life don’t know what it is actually about. The next scene is going to be a video of me on screen explaining the previous interview and transitioning into the next scene. I am going to say:

“This interview is one example of what people who are not in Greek life view of it. I also did a survey with 10 people in my dorm who are not affiliated with Greek life and 7/10 of them did not know how involved Greek life is with community service and philanthropies, so now I hope to inform you all about a side to Greek life you may or may not already know about.” I think that this voiceover is a good transition to my next scene, which will be talking about philanthropies and philanthropy events. 

The next thing that is going to flash up on the screen a text that says, “What is a philanthropy?” Right after the audience reads the question, a video of my friend, Maddie, who is in a sorority is going to talk about philanthropies and the events. At first, the video is just going to be of Maddie talking but after about thirty seconds, the screen is going to fade into some pictures of different philanthropy events, and even a video as she talks about them. She is going to start off by saying:

“Every sorority and fraternity here have their own philanthropy that they donate and raise money for. To raise a lot of money for these charities, each sorority and fraternity host a philanthropy event. Each event is different for every chapter, and they vary from throwing pie in people’s face to volleyball or flag football tournaments.” Now, pictures of different philanthropy events are going to be shown while Maddie continues to talk. Maddie is going to continue to talk about  how fun and exciting philanthropy events are. Here is what she continues to say:

“Philanthropy events are so fun to participate in. Whether it is a volleyball tournament or a swim meet, the competition is always competitive and fun since you are competing against all of the other fraternities and sororities. Even if you don’t want to participate in the event, it is still very enjoyable to go watch with all of your friends and cheer on your sorority/ fraternity. Also knowing that all of the proceeded form the event are going to a charity makes being at the event that much worthwhile. This is why I think participating in Greek life is such a good experience, because personally, I would not be as involved in the community as I am if I was not in a sorority.” I think that this explanation of philanthropy events will be very informative to the people who do not know much about what sororities are actually involved in. The following pictures are pictures that are going to be showing while Maddie is talking. They are all pictures of different philanthropy events, showing how people can have a lot of fun giving back and getting involved and how girls and guys in Greek life do a lot more than just party.  I also have a short video that I am going to insert here of a philanthropy event. It is a video of a belly flop competition and I’m going to use it to prove the humor and fun side of these philanthropy events. It was a video taken by Ashely Bremar. 

After the pictures show and Maddie finishes talking, she then goes into more detail about a specific philanthropy event. She is going to say, “For better understanding, an example of a philanthropy event is…”  and she will explain how this picture was taken of Delta Gamma’s volleyball team at Delta Sigma Phi’s philanthropy event, Volleyball in the blue grass. I have not recorded this part yet, but he will talk about how every sorority and fraternity create a volleyball team to participate in the tournament, and all of the proceeds from entering a team in the tournament, and buying a ticket will go to Delta Sigma Phi’s  philanthropy, which is Red Cross.

The next scene is going to be the words that flash up on the screen that say “Greek life doesn't just stop at philanthropy events… They get involved as much as possible here in the community of Lexington.” I am going to have my other friend also by the name Maddie (not the same Maddie as before) talk about her involvement in the community. It is going to be a video of her talking about her volunteering somewhere a could of weeks ago. I do not have this recorded yet, but she is going to say something along the lines of how a few weekends ago her and I and about twenty-five other girls in our sorority volunteered at an event called Jesus Prom. Jesus Prom is an event held at a church for kids and adults with special-needs. Volunteers get a “date” (special needs kid or adult) for the night and help them have the best time of their lives by playing games or dancing with them. She will explain how much of an amazing experience it was and she would not have ever heard of this event or gone if it weren’t for our sorority. She will explain how one girl in our sorority mentioned it and immediately twenty-five girls said that they wanted to go and there was no other way that they would rather spend their Friday night. 

I think that this relates perfectly to my topic because it shows hows girls are very involved in giving back to our community and care about a lot more important things than partying. The next scene is going to be a video of special needs kids playing baseball at Miracle Field. In the video, it shows my older brother, Tyler, volunteering to help the special needs kids play baseball. After a shot of the kids hitting and running around, I am going to have Tyler step aside to talk about Miracle Field and volunteering. Tyler is in a fraternity here at UK. This is what Tyler says in the video:

“I have been volunteering here at Miracle Field here in my hometown for the past eight years. Miracle Field is an organization where special-needs kids come to play baseball and teenagers or adults volunteer to help the kids run the bases or hit a ball or just be their best friends for an hour. When I came to UK as a freshman two years ago, I found out through my fraternity that there is a Miracle Field organization in Lexington. Ever since I found out, me and a bunch of my friends in my fraternity always go volunteer as often as we can. Its amazing how if you're ever having a bad day or week, after spending an hour or two with those special needs kids, your mood will totally change and become so happy. I am so fortunate and happy that my fraternity is so involved with Miracle Field, so I can continue to volunteer at places that I love. If I never was involved with Phi Delta Theta, I don’t think I would ever go. It makes it so much easier when you have brothers to go with because you can never say no when they ask.” I think that Tyler saying this really relates to my topic because he tells how grateful he is that he is able to be apart of a fraternity so involved. 

For the next scene, it is going to to be a video of me talking about a source that I found relating students who are involved in community service and and leadership. I am going to say:

“I found this psychological study conducted by Phillips Hadley who wanted to see if there was a correlation between students who are involved in community service and leadership. Hadley found 500 random students and tested their involvement in the community and also tested their leadership skills. There turned out to be a positive correlation between students who are involved in community service and becoming a leader (Hadley, Phillips). I think that this is very important to my topic because it shows that if giving back and helping isn’t enough to want to get involved in Greek life, you can develop leadership skills that you will be able to keep with you for the rest of your life. 

For my final scene, I am going to interview Warren again, the friend that is not in a fraternity who I interviewed at the beginning of this document. On the screen, the words are going to flash up and say, “After I explained in detail to Warren about philanthropy events and all of the charity that Greek life is apart of, I asked him a few questions again.”

Q: Did you learn a lot of new things about Greek life?

A: Yes, I have never heard a majority of that stuff

Q: Do you still believe in the term “paying for friends and parties?”

A: My view has definitely has changed a lot especially since I never have thought about what sororities or fraternities actually do. All I have done was believe in the common stereotypes. I think it is very interesting to know a lot more about Greek life.

Q: Would you consider greek life now? 

A: It is definitely something that I will think about now. 

The final scene of my documentary is a video of me talking and explaining everything. I am going to say:

“I hope that after today, everyone is more informed about Greek life and understands that the stereotypes of sorority girls and fraternity men are untrue. Personally, if I was not in a sorority, I would never be involved because I wouldn't want to go by myself, and I wouldn’t have other friends to push me and persuade me to go volunteer. If you get involved in Greek life, it may give you the push that you may need to get involved. 

Works Cited

Bremar, Ashley. Anchor Splash, Aquatic Center. Photo and Video. 18 October 

2015.

Bryan, Luke. Sorority Girl. Springbreak 2012. 

Hadley, Phillips, et. al. "The Relationship between Intensity of Involvement and 

Community Service Engagement in the Moral Development of Student 

Members of Greek Organizations." Dissertation Abstracts International. 

2010. Print. 

Hall, Holly. "Red Cross Retools Its Fund Raising to Overcome a Troubled 

Financial Picture." Chronicle of Philanthropy 22 (2009): 7. Web. 20 

October 2015.

Hoback, Sydney. Delta Gamma’s Volleyball Team, Volleyball in the Bluegrass. 

Personal photograph. 2015.

Hoback, Sydney. Miracle Field. Springboro, Ohio. Photo. 8 March 2015. 

Riggs, Kelly. Delta Gamma’s Bring it On. Johnson Center Fields. 25 October 

2015. 

So far, the process for creating my documentary has been a long and stressful one. At first I went back and fourth about what to make my topic exactly. It was very hard to decide-- If I would be able to find enough information for one topic or the other. But once I came up with my topic, I found it challenging to decide what to make my controversy topic- or the problem. However, after awhile of thinking, I finally came up with something. I have also found it a challenge to find secondary sources and peer edited sources that relate Greek life and community service. I'm not sure if I haven't been looking in the right places, searching the right things or what, but it seems to always take me hours to find at least one article related to my topic. Also making everything flow together is a bit of a challenge to me. It is hard to think about that what I may think flows together perfectly, not everyone else will be able to follow. Some successes that I have had with my documentary was, in my opinion, that I could relate working with special needs at home, and I am also able to here at UK within my sorority. I volunteered at a special-needs prom last weekend and I now can't wait to talk about that. Another success is the people who are willing to do an interview for me for my documentary. I have learned many things about my community so far while doing this project. For example, I learned how much charities actually suffer in debt. I never realized that organizations as big as Red Cross would be in such debt, which relates to my project because of the sororities and fraternities that raise money for their philanthropies. I have also learned how participating in community service or philanthropy events increases your leadership.

Secondary Source 2

For my second secondary source, I found a peer reviewed article on University of Kentucky's library website about the correlation of being involved in Greek life and community service. In the article, it talked about how when people get involved with Greek life, they get very involved with community service, even when they are not required to. The community service hours increase greatly because you constantly have people encouraging you and pressuring you to volunteer and get hours in. In an article, the psychologist explained a study that they did a correlation between greek life involved in community service and the student's moral development. They discovered the correlation that the more community service a student partakes in, the greater their morals development is.
       I think this is important to my project because once again, it shows how important community service is. It shows that community service creates well rounded people, and that is what I am trying to show and prove in my project.

Hadley, Phillips, et. al. "The Relationship between Intensity of Involvement and Community Service Engagement in the Moral Development of Student Members of Greek Organizations." Dissertation Abstracts International. 2010. Print. 

Secondary Source 1

         For my first secondary source I wanted to find something that had to do with the charities and community service, and show why Greek life is such a big contributor to different charities. While researching, I came across an article written by Holly Hall that talked about Red Cross and the funding of red cross.
         Before I describe the article, I'll tell you why I chose to research about Red Cross. As I stated before in my photo essay, the fraternity Delta Sigma Phi's philanthropy is Red Cross. This means that every philanthropy that Delta Sigma Phi hosts, all the money goes to Red Cross. I decided to look up the funding for Red Cross and I found out that they were struggling a bit. In the article, it says that the Red Cross foundation has been through a financial rollercoaster the past fifteen years. The foundation will raise approximately $1-2 billion right after disasters, such as the terrorist attack on September 11th, or Hurricane Katrina. However, if a disaster does not happen, then Red Cross struggles to raise money. Since Red Cross was struggling to raise money, they had a fairly large deficit which was about $130 million in June 2009. In the article, it also states that Red Cross spends around $550 million on campaigns for the organization (Hall 7).
           The reason that this article is important for my project is to show that charities throughout the world are in need of a lot of help with funding. Red Cross is not the only organization struggling, a good amount of them are, I just decided to talk about Red Cross specifically since I went to that philanthropy event. These charities are very helpful to others, such as Red Cross always helping those in need, and I think that it is important to give back as much as we can since a lot of us don't realize how good we have it. For this reason, I think that it is important for people to get involved in Greek life, because it is a lot more than just "paying for friends and parties." If more people get involved, that means more money will be raised for these charities in need of funds in order to do their best to help everyone that they can.

Hall, Holly. "Red Cross Retools Its Fund Raising to Overcome a Troubled Financial Picture."   
       Chronicle of Philanthropy 22 (2009): 7. Web. 20 October 2015.

Photo Essay

Sydney Hoback

WRD 110

Professor Hudgens

12 October 2015

Photo Essay

I have always been interested in Greek life, but never really knew a lot about it. I have heard many mixed things about Greek life, such as we are just “paying for our friends and parties,” but once I got to UK, I realized there is so much more to Greek life than I thought. The following paper will inform you more on the chapter that I am involved with, and the reasons that I chose to be in a sorority. 

The picture above was when the fraternity, Delta Sigma Phi, hosted their philanthropy event, Volleyball in the Bluegrass. Many might not know, but philanthropy events are a big fundraiser that each chapter host to raise money for their own philanthropy, or charity. At this event, each sorority and fraternity created a volleyball team to play in a tournament. Each team had to pay a certain amount of money to participate, and if you weren't on a team, you were able and encouraged to buy a ticket to cheer on your friends. All the money that came from making a team or from buying a ticket went to Delta Sigma Phi’s philanthropy, which is Red Cross. Walking around the event, and running into so many people that you know makes it so much fun, and makes people want to go to other chapter’s philanthropy events. These events are a great way to raise awareness and money for all the different charities.

          The next picture I took is a picture of the house of the sorority that I’m in, Delta Gamma. Delta Gamma at the University of Kentucky was created in 1968, and that was when this house was built. Around the side of the house, there is a big white anchor that sits in our lawn since the anchor is our chapter’s symbol. The anchor was also placed in the lawn in 1968, and is still there today. Other than community work, the Delta Gamma chapter focuses on friendship, leadership and grades, and I thought those were all great qualities that I was looking for. 

                                                      

Chapters don’t just stick to one philanthropy event, we are involved in many charity events here in the Lexington community. The picture from above is from an organization called Miracle League. Miracle League is an organization where special-needs kids come to play a game of baseball and have the time of their lives. In order for this to happen, volunteers, or “Buddies,” are needed to hang out with the kids and adults with special-needs and help them hit a ball, run the bases, or even just give them moral support. Personally, I have been volunteering at Miracle League in my hometown for the pasts seven years, and when I got to Lexington, I was thrilled to hear there was a field here that I am able to volunteer at with my sisters. Community service with your sisters is such a great and fun way to get involved, and it pushes more people to volunteer if there’s a big group of girls together. The charity that Delta Gamma partakes in world wide is called Service for Sight. Here at UK, we have two philanthropy events that raise money for Service for Sight called Anchor Splash and Anchor Slam. Each girl in Delta Gamma raised money for this event through out Lexington, and I love seeing our community here come together to support these charities. 

In a news paper from Birmingham, Alabama, there is an article that talks about Miracle League and how it started. Back in 1995, a man named Phillip Deason was approached by a mother who has a child with down syndrome, and she said that all he wanted to do was play baseball. Deason then came up with a bright idea to create a special needs accessible baseball field. The field they created was made of rubber so kids and adults in wheelchairs were able to play. Deason stated, “Those kids and adults love to put on a uniform and run out in the sun and play. You ever have a bad day when you’re at the Miracle League.” The mother of the child with down syndrome said it was life changing being able to see his son run around the baseball field and having the time of his life. Reasons like this are why I think giving back and charity work are so crucial. Miracle League is such an unforgettable experience and I am thrilled that I am now able to share this experience here in Lexington with my best friends (Roberts 7A).

I read an article written by Katie Newman, who was a Delta Gamma at the University of Tennessee in 2001. The article is about how Delta Gamma changed her life. Newman said that going into college, she never really thought about pledging a sorority but last minute she decided to since most of her friends were. The article describes how Newman went from a shy senior in high school to the president of her sorority. Throughout her years at UT and in Delta Gamma, Newman learned a lot of leadership skills, a lot of communication skills and a lot of life lessons that will be very beneficial to her throughout the rest of her life. She describes how he networking that you receive being in a sorority is a huge help for the rest of your life, however the friendships that someone will make being in a sorority, is the best benefit of it all. Newman states, “Joining Delta Gamma was the best decision I have ever made” (Newman 24). 

I hope that I was able to inform you about what Greek Life is all about and the reasons that I personally joined. I don’t think a lot of people realize how blessed they truly are, so that is why I think it is very important to get involved with the Lexington community and charities across the world, and give back. I am luck enough to be a part of an organization, where giving back is our primary goal. 

Total Word Count: 985

Works Cited

Newman, Katharine Michael. "Delta Gamma: My Sorority's Impact on my Life.” University of      
          Tennessee Honors Thesis Projects. Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. May 
          2001. Web. 12 October 2015.
http://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1484&context=utk_chanhonoproj

Roberts, Jeff. “Miracle League: Volunteers Get Joy From Efforts.” The Birmingham News. Pg 7A. 10
          April 2010. Web. 12 October 2015.
http://media.al.com/birminghamentries/other/Community%20News%20April%20B.pdf

Primary Artifact 2

For my second artifact, I decided to interview an older member of Delta Gamma. I met with her today and asked her a few questions of what she thought about how much of our sorority is actually for charity and community service or how much of it is for "partying." I also asked her about her opinion of the phrase "paying for your friends."Below are the questions and answers to the questions I asked.

1. How much does Delta Gamma mean to you?
     -"There are no words to describe how much Delta Gamma means to me. These past few years that I have spent in DG have been some of the happiest and most fun years of my life. I don't know what I would do without DG."

2. What is your favorite thing about Delta Gamma?
      -" My favorite thing about DG is the sisterhood that we have and all the events that we host or take apart of to give back to the community. How could you not be happy when you are giving back and helping others, especially when you are doing it with your friends and the people that you love."

3. Do you go to many philanthropy events?
      -"I literally go to everyone that I am able to. If I'm not participating in the event, I will go to cheer on and support all of my friends and support the charity. It all goes to a great cause."

4. Do you believe the term "paying for parties and friends"?
       -"No, and I get very offended when people say that. Sororities are way more that parties and paying for friends, they have so much more purpose than what a lot of people make them out to be. Many charities benefit greatly from all the sororities and fraternities throughout the country and it makes me sad that many people don't realize that."