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."