Cinco

     Ahhhh, change, what a beautiful monster. Personally, I know that change is usually a good thing, and something that can't really be avoided, but no matter how hard I try, I am not always eager to accept it at first. Now when it comes to "who can make change happen?", well that's an easy one. ANYONE is capable of creating change! Haven't you ever heard that quote "One person can make a difference"? All I think it takes to be able to enact change is a little dedication and commitment. Obviously it's not going to be easy and you will probably encounter resistance, but if you stick to what you plan on changing and are passionate about what you are doing, the change will come and you will know that it started with you and probably spread to others through you.
     As a recruitment guide (which would be my 'group' according to the book) I think we have even more opportunity to create some change. Like I've talked about before, we are the first person that girls will come into contact with and we provide that vital link between them and the SFL community. Therefore, if we instill good ideas about the community and values in their heads from the very beginning, they will hopefully carry those ideas on to whatever chapter they choose to join. I think this would constitute benefitting others because we can reinforce minimal rumors and stereotypes being passed on through future generations, and also try to create some strong pride and desire to become an influential member in the SFL community. The best way to do this would be to talk to girls about keeping an open mind and giving all chapters a fair chance in the beginning and also portraying the good image of the community to them so that they will want to join and be an active member.
     I kinda already discussed question three, but to reinforce it, I think that we, as recruitment guides, should remember that not only are we representing the SFL community when we are wearing the PHA logo, but all the time. People remember that we are part of this large group, and also might notice that we don't wear our letters currently, which makes us recruitment guides. Therefore, if we try to portray at all times what wonderful, genuine, caring women we are, it will minimize the times we have to deal with people and the stereotypes they have heard. Also, by doing this, we can hopefully show people what kind of great people are a part of the SFL community, and therefore their opinion might change and they might even decide to become a citizen, even if they had been completely against it at one time. I have to believe that this is in fact possible because I used to be one of those people, and through meeting some of the outstanding members of the community, it completely changed my view and led me to join a chapter. If we all do our best to work at these simple things, I think we can spread change throughout the community, and I'm kind of picturing it like a domino effect (in a perfect world) that eventually reaches every citizen.

Cuatro

I really enjoyed the end of class because we learned about what everyone else's strengths are while also learning about ourselves. It was really interesting that there were some characteristics that no one else had, and that one of them was actually a characteristic that most of us thought we were. I felt that my themes fit me really well, and class only reiterated my feelings because when I heard the descriptions of some of the other themes, I realized how well mine actually fit me and were my top five strengths. I don't think that one particular theme or another is what makes someone a good leader or not. I think that what makes someone a good leader is learning how to best utilize their strengths to help gain success for a group, and that is how this activity related to what we are doing in class, for me at least. This is how it also relates to being a recruitment guide. By knowing what themes fit me, and my partner, best, we can ultimately become the best pair of leaders out there. We just have to work together and play to each other's strengths, while also remembering what themes fit ourselves best, because when we know both of these things, success is inevitable. For example, one of my signature themes is "restorative" which means that I love to solve problems, which in itself is obviously a good strength to have as a recruitment guide because problems are bound to come up. However, one of my partner's signature themes is empathy, which is also really important as a recruitment guide when it comes to solving problems because you need to be able to feel what a girl might be going through and be able to empathize with her. Therefore, by knowing what each of our strengths are, my partner and I can work together to help a girl through a problem because I can look at the logical side of actually solving the problem, while my partner can deal with the emotional and empathetic side. I am very glad we got the opportunity to do this assessment because not only will it help us work together with our partners, but it provided insight into ourselves that we will be able to take away for the rest of our lives.