I am a member of The Sigma Chi Fraternity. I have been out of college for 3 years going on 4 and I still say “I am” a member of my fraternity.
Too often we hear about joining Greek Lettered organizations and the so called “benefits” of networking and career advancement that comes along with membership.
As an individual who pledged myself to a fraternal organization I can say that is true, but with a caveat.
The member has to put in the effort to take advantage of the network available to him.
Do you know the old saying “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink?”
That 100% applies to your undergraduate career.
I have encountered numerous brothers who have the resources at their fingertips but forget the crucial step of TRYING.
Call it entitlement, call it laziness, call it sheer stupidity or ignorance, but unless you put in the effort, the rewards and benefits are not going to be given to you.
During my 2.5 years as an undergraduate member of my local fraternity chapter, it was up to me to make the most of my membership and expand upon it.
I knew that I would be held to a higher standard academically and as a member of the college community.
I pushed myself to do better in my classes and I also pushed myself into taking on responsibilities I probably would have laughed at had I not joined a fraternity.
Student Government, Homecoming, Greek Council, Pre-Law Society, Hillel, and the list goes on and on of the places I spent my time volunteering, taking leadership positions not only to gain valuable life skills, but to network with those who shared similar goals, values and ambitions with me.
There were plenty of positions and opportunities I did not get because there were more qualified candidates and that was okay as well. It taught me to work harder and it also showed me to be an example to the other guys in my chapter.
The opportunities at my feet were presented to me because of my work ethic.
When I spoke to new potential members as they came through recruitment every semester, I proudly talked about the benefits of joining and the career advancement and network of brothers across this nation who would be willing to help them, as long as they helped themselves.
I know in my fraternity alone, there are bountiful opportunities for networking and job placements on the numerous Facebook career pages that have been set up by older alumni looking to hire from within, the within being the fraternal order we all took an oath for, that bonds us together for life.
The Delta Gamma House on the University of Oregon campus. Photo Credit: Rick Obst/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
The brothers both old and young who are looking for new careers, entry level jobs in fields they are trying to break into, it is all their at their fingertips.
I cringe every time I hear someone say that their Greek Lettered organization didn’t do anything for them in terms of their career because it means they did not try hard enough.
I recently was featured on the television show “Tomi” and when I was done and the clip became available to me to share, one of my fraternity brothers, not from my own chapter, but one who had been almost a mentor to me, asked if he could share my video with the larger brotherhood in the international page.
I was so blessed by the responses, both good and bad because I knew that would open up even more doors for me to further my job and career prospects.
The Greek Lettered organizations that are on college campuses across the country are regularly under fire for a small sample of people behaving poorly, and those members who are making positive strides on campus often get overshadowed.
Members of fraternities and sororities are CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, they are Presidents of the United States of America, they are doctors and lawyers, activists and hometown heroes.
The only thing that separates them from their peers is that they took advantage of their connections and the networking skills that were afforded to them and made something of themselves.
I am so grateful that I decided to join a fraternity because it taught me to work for what I wanted and that hard work brings great reward contrary to popular belief.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
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German Language Society: Germany’s Word Of The Year Is “Refugees”
The German word “Flüchtlinge,” translated to mean refugees, was selected by the Society for the German Language as its Word of the Year after nearly 12 months of roughly one million newcomers flowing into the western European country, Reuters reported Friday. “Flüchtlinge” is derived from the German verb “fluechten” — meaning “to flee” — and the… Read More
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Missy Elliott Releases First New Song In 7 Years, And Its Pretty Awesome
Missy Elliott, the still reigning queen of rap proved her title this morning after she released her first new single in over 7 years.
The song, titled “WTF (Where They From)” is a upbeat anthem that features Pharrell in puppet form. It is well worth the watch if you need a few minute break during your work day.
Check it out and tell us what you think in the comments below:
Cover Photo Credit: Screenshot/ Atlantic Records (Youtube)
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Science Academia Is Still Sexist As Hell
Science is not supposed to be about gender.
The purpose of science is to allow clarity in a world with very little understanding.
Unfortunately, many in prominent positions of American life have made it about gender.
In 2015, a reporter from Breitbart News published an article called, “Here’s why there ought to be a cap on women studying science and maths”.
Seriously.
We can laugh at the ridiculous concept of it, but science is still a sexist field.
Women are expected to fail because they supposedly cannot handle the competition from being in a predominately male field.
They are expected to either deal with sexism in the workplace, or leave.
Dr. Gillian Foulger works at Durham University in the U.K., and she worries that women are still treated the same way that she was in graduate school during the 1980’s.
Her graduate program gave women 1/10 of the spots that men had.
Students on a class trip to a science fair in 1985. Photo Credit: Chad Kainz/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
Her teachers were supposed to be all female, and there were so few women in geology that many of her professors did not know new scientific concepts.
After she graduated, she was refused the same opportunities that men were getting, such as positions at geological societies and oil companies, despite the fact she excelled in university.
Foulger was forced to look for opportunities abroad, eventually becoming a volcanologist in Iceland.
There, she had to continuously deal with sexist and xenophobic stereotypes during her tenure.
Students in the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment record soil structure. Photo Credit: Dave Brenner/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
At one point, her male field assistant sexually harassed her.
“I had to lock my door at night to prevent him from breaking in and raping me,” she told me over the phone with little emotion.
It was, and still is, a fact that women are commonly sexually harassed during their time in academia.
“This is the sort of thing I have done for science, Hannah,” Foulger said to me as her voice hardened slightly. “I have done this because science is me. I love science. I don’t consider myself really ‘a woman’, or ‘a man’, or ‘a person’. I consider myself ‘a scientist’.”
She accepted the scorn and abuse from her male colleagues in order to further science.
The main argument of the Breitbart article is that the retention rate for women is low, so funding women in science is a waste of money.
The author is not wrong about the poor retention rate.
Women may earn more than 50% of the degrees in STEM PhD programs, but after graduate school, the numbers of women in science begin to decline rapidly.
Dr. Foulger told me that women leave science because “the environment is stacked against women.”
She also said it is hostile to women.
“Women are not in positions where they can help those who are at a more junior level than themselves,” Foulger said. “So of course they drop out! They are forced out! Males expect women to drop out.”
If you also consider that married mothers are 35% less likely to get a tenure track position than married fathers, and 27% less likely to become tenured, you can probably guess why women feel like they cannot succeed in science.
Dr. Catherine Cardelús, an ecologist at Colgate University, has a similar perspective.
“The author [of the Breitbart article] does not look at the heart of the problem, which is that women do not have the support or infrastructure that they needed,” Cardelús said.
When Cardelús got her PhD in 2002, she was married with children to another professor, and she said that the men in her program expected her and the other women to fail.
Dr. Catherine Cardelús, is an ecologist at Colgate University. She claims that science is not welcoming to women. Photo Credit: Colgate University
Luckily she and one of her friends, who was also a mother, made a deal that they would not drop out of their program.
Despite the discrimination against them, the two women received their degrees and pursued success.
The best way to deal with discrimination in science is by creating representation.
“My presence alone as a woman in science teaching tells people that women can do it,” Dr. Cardelús said, leaning across the small wooden table in her office, her eyes full of defiance. “Everybody should be able to do what they want. There should not be barriers.”
Unfortunately, it is difficult to convince anyone to pursue a career in academia when the odds are already stacked against you.
A lot of the time, it is less emotionally draining to leave academia with a PhD and pursue opportunities in industry.
To compensate for the extra pressure women tend to feel in science, it is important to build a community.
While we can succeed alone, science is much more likely to move forward with everyone working towards a common goal—education and progress.
The best way to get more women in science is establishing a community of women from the beginning, and moving past stereotypes to allow women to take on more important roles.
We need to support our women and other oppressed groups as they pursue a career in science, because the inclusion of different perspectives will push science into the future.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
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