Palm - Fall 2007 - (Page 8)

“.. establishing a chapter opened my eyes to the things that we can do when we work together to achieve a common goal.” Austin Pennington Former Texas Tech Colony President message is brotherhood. “Over the years it has been interesting to see how we’ve had to evolve in the ways we help our members understand the concepts of brotherhood and fraternity,” said Smiley. ATO is one of a handful of fraternal organizations that bills individual members for the national dues and insurance. Most other organizations simply bill the chapter. “This is one of the ways we’ve put control of the membership into the members’ hands,” said Smiley. “At the same time, we’re still able to teach them what it means to be part of a larger organization and see the consequences to both their chapter, and themselves.” Individual chapters already know how to appeal to Generation Me, as evident in the messages they use to recruit new members. “When we recruit, we stress the importance of high personal achievement and the fraternity’s ability to compliment one’s drive for accomplishment through its brotherhood,” said Pruiett. THE SILVER LINING IS A MIRROR Increased Narcissistic Personality Inventory scores aren’t an entirely bad thing. Narcissism has been associated with some positive emotional outcomes including raised self-esteem, extraversion, short-term likeability, enhanced performance on public evaluation tasks, shortterm victories in competitive tasks and emergent (not successful) leadership. But, Twenge says without the proper environment, these positive outcomes ultimately produce short-term benefits, which will turn into negative consequences over the long run. Without some external factor to usher in a new mindset, Generation Me can ultimately fall into depression. “Without help in becoming better prepared for the reality of life and learning self-control as opposed to empty self-esteem I’m concerned that we’re going to see an increase in depression,” said Twenge. “When you look at the almost wildly ambitious aspirations of this generation and then see how quickly these false expectations can be crushed, it can be a very scary scenario for young people.” THE PROPER ENVIRONMENT Inevitably, there are chapters that are self-absorbed and only further compound the problem of accelerated narcissistic tendencies. A self-absorbed chapter exists with no goal other than to entertain itself. But according NAVIGATING GENERATION ME FOR GOVERNMENT Provide better Career Counseling for young people Create more support for working parents Nationwide system of paid parental leave Public preschools for 3 and 4-year-olds Make child care expenses tax-deductible Change school hours to be more in line with work hours “Generation Me” by Dr. Jean Twenge 8 to Smiley, a good ATO chapter can be a catalyst to create an environment that fosters a sense of heightened self-esteem through the recognition of actual achievement and merited praise. The challenge is that it takes work to be a good ATO chapter. To its credit, Generation Me doesn’t slack off. “It’s a misconception that this generation is lazy,” said Twenge. “They aren’t afraid to work hard and achieve success, as long as they are being properly praised and recognized for their work.” “For me, ATO has been a launching pad and going from nothing to establishing a chapter opened my eyes to the things that we can do when we work together to achieve a common goal,” said former Texas Tech Colony President Austin Pennington. The chapter chartered with 53 members and within a week of chartering, added 17 new members to its roster. “We invest a lot of time and energy into recognizing successes within our chapters,” said Smiley. “We’ve seen that positive recognition of chapter successes, even the smallest success, can make a big difference in the psyche of the chapter.” Twenge also suggests that the work fraternities do from a philanthropic standpoint can help build the proper environment. At an aggregate level, ATO contributed more than $3.8 million last year in philanthropic dollars and hours. Reinforcing the idea of recognizing and praising merit, every year the ATO chapters that raise the most amount of money for charity and accumulate the largest number of community service hours earn awards and public recognition at the annual awards banquet. “Getting involved in your neighborhood and community is one of the best ways to find deeper meaning in life and build those true relationships that are otherwise hard to find,” she said. “Fraternities can be a good place to help encourage that behavior.” www.ato.org palm

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Palm - Fall 2007 Table of Contents Focus on Generation Me 2007 ATO Award Winners Life Loyal TAU Members Loyal Tau Douglas Rosentein HQ: NHQ News SIR: Success in Review TAU: Alumni News ITS: In the Spotlight

Palm - Fall 2007

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