Social Change in Action

As I reflect on experiences involving social change, one set of experiences regarding our New Scholar Program keeps coming to mind.  Here's a little background on the way our organization functions.  You are awarded the scholarship as a senior in high school and live-in the house all four years, while on scholarship.  However, you are not an "active" Evans Scholars until you complete the comprehensive New Scholar Program, which spans the length of Fall quarter.  The program can be compared to a pledging process that occurs at most fraternities and sororities.  We set high expectations for the New Scholars, but also provide immense support and structure to help ease their transition to college life.  The program includes names tests, national manual tests, paddle signatures, study tables, skits, team building activities, a white water rafting trip, and a retreat weekend.  We have all gone through the program and understand the rigor and amount of hard work that goes into it, but it provides a sense of achievement, bonding, and group unity that is indescribable and the foundation for your success throughout the next 3 and a half years.  So now we have a background, let's get to the good stuff.

My personal involvement with the New Scholar Program is unique because I have experienced the entire spectrum of perspectives; first as a new scholar myself, then as a member of the New Scholar Committee, next as a member of the Executive Board, then on internship completely removed from the program, and now as President with my best friend as the New Scholar Educator.  I also know a good deal of history about the New Scholar Program and how it got to be the successful program that it is today.

Before my time (from the days of Animal House and unfortunately many years after that), many undesirable activities took place that would be considered hazing.  Our past faculty adviser, Don Denny, worked with the leadership team to create second order change, which means "changing the organization's fundamental values and assumptions" (our book pg. 103).  Mr. Denny passed away last year, but I had the opportunity to work with him on my first stint on the Executive Board.  I didn't realize this at the time, but he had an incredible way of inspiring us to create sustainable change using all of the things that we're reading about now in the book.  He recognized that the best way to do this was through organic change.  He could do this because as an adviser, he had a much more broad and longer view of our program (wet sand), whereas students sometimes fall into the trap of trying to do too much first order change at once.