Be Good. Be Orange.

By Will Schlechter

From the first day you step on Oregon State’s campus you see the marketing slogan “Powered by Orange.” At first notice this phrase is taken lightly, but after my fourth year here this “Orange” thing is definitely taking form. So what does it mean to be orange? Ed Ray, the President of the University has a list of core values which include integrity, respect, accountability, diversity and social responsibility (http://oregonstate.edu/leadership/strategicplan/).Even though these key values are a big part of being orange, they do not fully define what it means to be orange.

When walking away from Oregon State, what values will be taken away? How will others view the community from a third person perspective? Every student, teacher and alum has an impact on our community. We are all forever associated with Oregon State as a team but we all have different values which allow us to bring different things to the table. This is why one of my key values for being orange is being an individual. This value is comparable to President Ray’s value of diversity. He defines his core value of diversity as “We are committed stewards of the loyalty and good will of our alumni and friends and of the human, fiscal, and physical resources entrusted to us.” Diversity is a key value because we need understanding from different resources in order to see the big picture. Individuality is a key value because staying true to you and striving to be different is what brings out the maximum potential in all of us. In my opinion reaching potential is the goal of education. The main difference between these two values is that we are born diverse, we all come from different backgrounds and upbringings. Individuality is learned, it is natural for us to conform and not ask questions. Some people are naturally individual but for the majority it is easiest to follow the path of least resistance.

I see the Oregon State community as a team of Individuals striving for knowledge. The team is always evolving and ever changing which is why you can never fully define what it means to be Orange. Being Orange changes case by case, person to person. Being Orange is all about learning your role on the team and evolving as the team evolves. Whether the team is the Oregon State community, the populace of the whole world, or your fellow employees, that striving for individualism is what gives the unit its most potential.

In a university as large as Oregon State, it sometimes feels as though any one student is just a drop of water in an Oregon rainstorm. Everyone rushing from class to class, just trying to get through their own day; but what if everyone was to notice the struggles of their classmates, their community, or of their students? I believe that when anyone in our community pauses their own busy life to feel sympathy for another, or tries to help a stranger, they are acting on compassion. This sympathy and act can be as simple as picking up books after someone drops them, or can be as significant as donating countless hours to an organization that helps community members that are less fortunate.

As a psychology student I see the need for compassion in my studies and life every day. While other OSU students in a different major or community members may see being orange as a way to show school pride during sports or possibly meaning working hard on a degree to get a good future job. To me showing compassion for others is what it truly means to be orange.

The Oregon State strategic plan identifies the core value of respect, which can be simply defined as showing appreciation for someone. However, I think that just respecting the value of someone is not sufficient to create a caring atmosphere. I believe that creating a compassionate environment at OSU, where the struggles of life are met with sympathy and the desire to better the lives of others is a legacy that our current generation of community members should strive to fulfill. If the OSU community were to create a compassionate environment for everyone, I believe that everyone would benefit from it; there would be more acceptance for individuals who do not have the same life experiences as each other, there would be more of an open dialogue between students and community leaders, as well as less of a struggle for any one community member as it would be distributed among several other individuals who simply want to help another.

In closing, as a community we may not know everyone who currently is needing compassion, but we can always be compassionate to one another day in and day out, to create a caring atmosphere that will be our legacy for OSU generations to come.

Be Respectful. Be Orange

Submitted by Megan Hall

What does it mean to be Orange? Being Orange can have many different definitions depending on who you ask. “Being Orange” in its simplest terms can be described as upholding to Oregon state Universities core values which are: Accountability, Diversity, Integrity, Respect, and Social Responsibility (listed in OSU’s strategic plan). These words can have many different meanings to the students, faculty and the Corvallis community, therefore I believe it is important to define these words as I see them.

Accountability: taking responsibility for our actions and the results of your actions.

Diversity: having variety in all aspects of life including race, religion, age, sex, opinions, and ideas.

Integrity: honesty, upholding true to one’s self.

Respect: showing appreciation for the worth of someone or something.

Social Responsibility: acting in a way that benefits the society as a whole.

I see demonstrations of these core values every day on campus through advertisements, school programs, sports, community outreach programs, and actions of students and faculty. The value I see the least and truly believe needs the most improvement is respect. I don’t necessarily believe people are disrespectful to others, thought I have seen that as well, but I see a lot of people being disrespectful to themselves. I often hear other students talk badly about themselves or listen to the bad choices they have made involving their person life and or their school career and it demonstrates how little respect they actually have for themselves. It makes me wonder, if they do not respect themselves, how can they possibility be living up to the core values of the very school they go to? How can they be Orange?

Being Orange to me means being respectful to all of you come intact within our school, the community, and to yourself. I believe that learning how to be respectful to yourself and others will enhance the educational experience and atmosphere that will increase the success Oregon State University students achieve while attending. Respect is integrated into the other four values listed in the OSU’s strategic plan and believe it is important for us as a school and a community to start respecting ourselves.

Respecting yourself takes a great deal of patience and involves self-compassion. You have to understand that you will make mistakes in life and be able to learn from the outcomes of those mistakes, instead of allowing those mistakes to control you and lead to more mistakes. We need to understand that

Submitted by Kalee Wake

Oregon State University’s ideas for what being “orange” represents is stated in the university’s strategic plan. Their core values include accountability, diversity, integrity, respect, and social responsibility (“Strategic Plan”). This means being loyal to alumni and university supporters, welcoming to all people, honest in all that we do, civil to each other, and involved in society’s progress. Other Oregon State marketing groups have represented being orange as using our resources learned on campus to make a difference in our world with the Powered by Orange campaign.

Be passionate. Passion is defined as any powerful or compelling emotion, feeling, as love, or hate (“passion”). Being “Orange” for me is being passionate about life, education, and others. Oregon State is made up of people who are looking for a way to improve their life, through education, experiences and belonging to a group. Reasons for being a part of Oregon State University are different for every person, but whatever those reasons, it is important to be passionate and care about that reason for coming to Oregon State University. I am orange because I am passionate about being a beaver. The beaver campus, people and athletics are what I love about Oregon State. I am passionate about my education and future goals, which Oregon State has helped me to pursue. I show my passion of being orange by going to my classes, attending sporting events, and taking part in activities on campus.

Passion can also be shown negatively. People are passionate about their personal feelings but this does not mean it is morally right. A person can show passion for Oregon State by putting down the Oregon Ducks. Insulting another school for the benefit of your own school is an extreme example of using passion. Being over passionate is negative because a person who is over passionate can cause that person to act on their feelings and emotions. This can lead to immoral actions such as insulting, discriminating, and excluding a person or groups of people. Having no passion can be seen as lazy, uninterested, and unengaged. Being a part of Oregon State and having no passion for the school and education is immoral. This shows that going to Oregon State University and being a Beaver takes a certain amount of passion.

Passion can be shown in a variety of ways. We can be passionate about school and getting good grades. We can be passionate about learning new concepts and ideas. This does not necessarily include getting the best grades. We can be passionate about our friends, greek life, or club at Oregon State. We can be passionate about arts, creating and developing new things. We can be passionate about school spirit and athletics. I hope that in a way everybody is being passionate about making a difference. The difference does not have to be big, but I think the main goal for everyone should be to make a difference the life of a person, community, or population. It takes a passionate and motivated person to make a difference.

Work Cited

 “Passion.” Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 18 Mar. 2014               <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/passion>.

“Strategic Plan.” Leadership. Oregon State University, n.d. Web. 18 Mar, 2014. <http://oregonstate.edu/leadership/strategicplan/>.

Ake’la Ventura

Be Original, Be Orange

There are many other Universities out there that can “be” something, but it is difficult to just define a school by one word. Here at Oregon State University we are known for “Being Orange” and it describes our whole campus. To understand our campus and our community, we first must understand that to be orange has many meanings to the diverse population here at Oregon State University.

The colors of our school have a strong influence on what “Being Orange” means. Even though our school color choice represents what it means to “Be Orange”, it isn’t half as much of what “Being Orange” truly means. To most of us here on campus we think of collegiate sports and dressing up for the games when we imagine what “Being Orange” means. “Being Orange” can relate to much more than greatness. It represents each person’s individual values whether it be pride, dedication, or intelligence. “Being Orange” is a value that we students and faculty pride ourselves on. This value represents our greatness that Oregon State University has to offer us. The idea that the color orange embodies our community in a way that it encompasses everyone that has a relationship with the university whether it be a student, staff, or a sports fan.

To me “Being Orange” is being original. You are your own person and that makes Oregon State University diverse. Everyone brings something to the table whether it is being from a different state, being from out of the country, and a boy or a girl. For example, the piece of art that was built out of branches outside of the MU Quad, that is unique to our campus and brings some culture to campus. Being original means that you can be yourself and not care what other people think because you are just being you. You are unique and powerful in your own way. You are intelligent and should be proud of how far you have gotten in life. “Being Orange” doesn’t just mean to excel at sports and academics, but encompasses being philanthropic in your community and to be someone that anyone would be proud of. Alumni of Oregon State University represent “Being Orange” in what they do, no matter how big or how small. We want each generation in society who has graduated to have values that derive from what they have gained from Being Orange at Oregon State University.

To positively show what it means to “Be Orange”, we need to show the community how to come together so that we can all be united and complete a common mission of “Being Orange”. There are already many activities around the university that implements acts of “Being Orange”. What should happen is we ought to express “Being Orange” throughout other communities and not just our own. I feel that the student athletes would make more of an impact at doing just that. They are well known and the travel during their sports season. I think that the progress in academia and showing our student athletes to the community would be a positive.

Since there have been recent acts of racism and segregation. I would love to see our university as an accepting place where we can live together in peace and harmony. Since we are a diverse campus there are groups and cliques that need to be dissolved. “Being Orange” means being a part of something different and original. Not only that, but being a part of Oregon State University. This could encourage the community to be mindful about what is going on and the can connect to the different values of “Being Orange”. The better the community is at “Being Orange”, the better we can all get along in an optimistic, respectful and empathetic way the more better Oregon State University will become.

Submitted by Jason Walker

As I enter Beaver Nation, the cones in my eyes are flooded with exuberant orange. Flags, posters, and billboards all display the attention grabbing color that unites us as a community. Many influential citizens have received their educational foundation here at OSU including Nobel Prize winning Linus Pauling, Gordon Bell Prize winning Phillip Emeagwali, and Douglas Engelbart who invented the computer mouse. All of the following dedicated their lives to improve the quality of life for the people of the world. The orange from the community of OSU seeped into the veins and arteries of these icons and circulated a shared quality. Being orange, is being bold.

Oregon State University is dedicated to improving the quality of life. This institution is here to help mold educated individuals who have the potential to positively affect society. Revolutionary thinking is encouraged in all departments. We pride ourselves on finding new ways to become a more sustainable species. Meanwhile, the Public Health department is researching new ways to combat obesity and other epidemics. Simultaneously, the Philosophy department is busy evaluating our habits and actions as a whole while assessing the ethics that need reform. OSU is constantly seeking new and efficient options instead of becoming complacent with society’s development.

Innovation requires boldness. You must be willing to take risks and put yourself out there. You must be bold enough to pursue your ambitions despite what people may think. Being orange is being bold.

Be Bold: Set high goals for yourself, and strive to reach them

Be Bold: Stand up for what you believe in, despite society’s views

Be Bold: Question existing norms

Be Bold: Be yourself

Be Bold: Separate yourself from the rest through excellence; do not fear success

Be Bold: Strive to reach your full potential

The following is a personal antidote of how I am striving to fulfill my responsibility to Oregon State University by being bold:

I think that it is unethical to remain idle in the face of an immoral action or event. It seems that we as a society value acceptance over our own moral code. We have all been in those situations in which a friend, or even a stranger makes an unethical remark or gesture towards someone else while we remain silent. For example; an associate of mine often makes very discriminatory remarks about Asians. He’ll usually make these comments among a crowd of peers who all respond with laughter or confirmation. I myself am guilty of condoning this action by not speaking out against it. The problem is that any form of racism is completely against my moral code. So why in the face of overt racism do I not practice my beliefs?

I know for a fact that I am not alone in this. This same concept can be seen on a much larger scale. I’ll use the Jim Crow laws as an example. I saw a documentary that covered a very light-skinned African American family who worked and saved enough money to buy a magnificent house in an all-white neighborhood. The main character was better off than most blacks because he could often pass as Caucasian. They moved next to a white family who had strong moral beliefs about fairness, equality, and equal opportunity. However, many people in the neighborhood were upset that a colored family had moved in to their area and brought their property value down. They organized a committee and pressured the neighboring family to take the colored family to court. They abided.

Even though racism went against their morals, they agreed to take the colored family to court in an attempt to uproot them out of their new home. They succumbed to the pressure of “society’s values” and completely devalued their own moral code. Why?

There are legit and valid reasons as to why they went along with the community’s plan. The family had their own image to protect. If they would have openly opposed the motion to uproot the colored family then they may have fallen victim to hate crimes themselves. They could have received hate mail, had their property damaged, been excluded from social events, etc. Their own physical and interpersonal safety was at stake.

I believe that when we bear witness to an unethical event, we have a moral obligation to ourselves to stand up and confront it. If I would have spoke up and told my associate that discriminating against someone based on the color of their skin was wrong, and that I won’t accept that sort of talk while I’m present, I would have experienced personal gratification. Yes, the situation would have been awkward for a short period of time but I ultimately think I would have gained even more respect in the eyes of my peers. This sort of action can only be done by someone who is bold. It takes courage to stand up for what you believe is right, especially when that idea challenges the majority. Being orange is about having the moral competence and boldness to act on your own accord. From now on, I will no longer remain silent in the face of an unethical event.

This is just an example of what Beaver boldness means to me. Being orange may apply to you in different ways. However it may be, Oregon State University instills the ideal that boldness is an essential trait to being successful. So be bold, be orange!

“Submitted by Devereaux Filipe”

What’s Your Why?  What’s Your Orange?

            Being orange… What does it mean to be orange?  Is it a value our school puts on a pedestal? Is it just statement that makes the students of OSU feel a sense of community?  It could represent our schools strategic plan that values accountability, diversity integrity, respect, and social responsibility?  Well that’s interesting because the OSU strategic plan just summed up our ethics class.  It contains the importance of knowledge, responsibility, community, citizenship, and being good.

In the world of psychology orange represents our gut instinct or gut reaction, going after your dreams and not looking back. Orange is a positive color the represents optimism and relates to keeping us motivated and helping us look on the bright side of life during tough times.  Try to think of anything negative that has to do with the color orange.  It is definitely a tough task.  It also relates to adventure, risk-taking, confidence, competition, and independence.

The funny thing is to me being orange is much more then a set a values, or a sense of community because you are doing what your suppose to do. I believe being orange is more of an ideal, and emotional connection to our self and our school.  All these other answers to what it means to be orange our based on group for example “the students of OSU are different, we different races, religions, backgrounds” well so does every other college in the world.

We go to school, of course we are held accountable for our actions we pay money to be here they don’t pay us, it’s our job to be honest and respect one another we have been taught that since we were born, and responsibility, if we weren’t responsible we would’ve never put in the effort to be here.  What I am trying to say is being orange is not our duty as students it’s not our job, it’s not something that we can be taught, it’s a choice, it’s our individual why.

Why we worked so hard to get good grades in high school so we can get accepted here, why we get up for early morning classes when we don’t have to, why we study long hours just to make sure our teacher believes we work hard even though we ain’t going to remember half the stuff we learn anyways, why we choose to be here, why we want to succeed as a student here at OSU.  To me being orange is being you… being a teacher who stays up late to correct exams losing precious family time, being a student far away from home fighting to be somebody who will change the world, or being an athlete working hard on and off the field to prove something.

Being orange is being motivated, being passionate, being a believer, having faith in why you choose to be here no matter how tough it gets, being orange following your dreams even your the only one who believes in it.  Being orange is more than some values written on paper, being orange is being you, becoming who want to be, it’s what drives you, because you believe in yourself and your dreams.  Being orange represents your why, your reason for doing what you do every day, so tell me what you want to be?

What’s your why? What’s your orange?

“Orange” is a representation of the values that represent Oregon State University, these values are that the administration here at Oregon State want all of its students to embody. These values range from accountability and diversity to integrity. Many of these values are lined out in the OSU Strategic Plan that was put in place by the President in 2004. This plan lays out what accomplishments that OSU wants to do along with the values that the administration wants to instill in its students. These values that are laid out in the Strategic Plan are accountability, diversity, integrity, respect, and social responsibility. Every student is a part of the Oregon State’s community and is a citizen of Oregon State, however the values that are stated in the Strategic Plan are values that state what the required values that one needs to be an exemplary citizen of Oregon State.

While Oregon State as a whole have a definition of “Orange” values students have other values that they also identify with. Many students talked about defining “Orange” as a value of pride. Pride is a high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct. Pride can be expressed by confidence in oneself or by overconfidence in oneself and his or her abilities. The reason that they give Oregon State this value is for the fact that we stick behind our sports teams even if they are losing. In other words they stated that as students they have pride in our school and what it stands for these values are the ones stated above in the strategic plan. Many people that I asked that gave me values when I asked them why they picked this value they refer to our athletics teams. This is what some believe “Orange” stands for however I want “Orange” to stand for something besides this.

The two main values that I want “Orange” to mean are honor and integrity. One of these values is already in the Strategic Plan and I wanted to emphasize this values importance and the other I wanted to show the importance of this in personal and work relationships between people. The reason that I want this is that if students have honor and integrity they will be desired because out in the work place for the fact that they will have the honor to be trustworthy to others and have the integrity to ask help with problems along with having the integrity to finish their work. Integrity is adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character. Integrity can be demonstrated by one’s ability to adhere to their own principles even when others around him or her are trying to convince them to do otherwise. One example could be not giving into peer pressure.  The reason I believe it is a good value because it requires work and thought to be a person of integrity. This work and thought require a person to take time and be mindful so that they can assess their values so that they can put their values to use when the time arises. Honor is honesty, fairness, or integrity in one’s beliefs and actions. Honor can be shown by simple acts such as not cheating on a test and telling the truth. As a value honor is very simple to do in many cases on a basic level but when a person exemplifies honor they go beyond what is asked of them. Honor requires a person to asses themself and to be true to their beliefs. The reason that I find these values to be extremely valuable to ethics is that they require one to think and asses themselves to see who they are and what values they stand for.

An effective way to introduce and communicate my message of integrity and honesty is to introduce it early by incorporating these values into the first year experience. The reason for this is that people are very impressionable with their first impressions and if students are started with these values they will carry them on for their entire time at Oregon State. This method can be compared to the anti-tobacco message that is given to kids in elementary school. If you introduce a concept early enough people will pick it up and incorporate it into a part of themselves and that is my idea of incorporating it into a part of the new first year experience which is part of the introduction of freshmen to Oregon State then it will be more effective in incorporating it if this were to happen. This method is like the old proverb of striking while the iron is hot.

The implementation of this plan would be most effective by putting a part of Orientation week that all new and incoming freshmen are a part of. This way a majority of freshmen will participate in the event. However this alone will not be enough to have it stick in their minds. Only covering this once will be ineffective in the long term because freshmen like most people will forget about it. And that is why to make this program the most effective there will need to be reinforcement sessions during the school year. Now these reinforcement sessions will not be possible in large groups because of classes and commitments that freshmen will have during the term. My solution for this is to train the Residents Assistance to then teach the freshmen. There are two Resident Assistance per floor in most halls with around 40 for each Resident Assistant. This way there will be smaller groups which will facilitate learning. It is feasible to do this once per term any more would put too much pressure and commitment upon both the Resident Assistance and the freshmen in the terms of time. This is the basic outline for implementation for me it can be tweaked and reworked so that it will be more effective.

Submitted by Barret Neumayr

If you take a look around the Oregon State University campus, you can see how often the phrase “be well. be orange” is used. There is no specific definition to what being orange actually means. It could be used in a variety of ways, I believe the school’s definition is that of the strategic plan. The strategic plan has a set of core values, they believe these values are fundamental to our success. There are five core values on the strategic plan; accountability, diversity, integrity, respect, and social responsibility. Each of these values could mean a variety of things, although they all have one thing in common and that is being orange.

I think being orange means following the Oregon State strategic plan. I would say I don’t really have a true definition of being orange. It is not something you do, but something you are. I do believe that as students of this University we should treat everyone with respect and integrity. Being orange is much more than that. It is the ability to do what is right, no matter what the scenario. Being orange is having the courage to do what you believe is right. Being orange is being yourself and not following a crowd just to fit it. Being orange is going after your goals, but not pushing people out of your way to do so. Being orange is not being number one to everyone else, but being number one to yourself.

From a day to day basis a key example of being orange is going out of your way to help someone. If you see a person struggling to carry their groceries out to their car, we should help them. It doesn’t need to be some big event to help someone, but just little things. This would follow the social responsibility of the action plan. I think we all have a responsibility to help others that are obviously struggling with something. Sometimes it may be harder to really see if someone is having a hard time with something or someone who is being bullied. This is why Oregon State needs to have students take courses that help students spot this situations. If we are able to seek out those in need of help we will be able to engage with those people and really try to help them. Some people don’t always need help with physical issues like carrying out their groceries to the car, some people just need to talk to someone. That’s where being orange comes in, if we can show compassion to others just by taking a minute and listen to their problems we can help them find a solution. This can improve their life and of course improve yours. Those little acts of kindness add up, they make yourself feel better as well as the people around us.

We can take being orange into our careers as well as everything else. I will use my field of study construction engineering management for example. There are many ethical decisions that we must make in this field. A major problem in the industry is bid shopping. Bid shopping is when an owner allows a contractor to see another contractors bid in hope for that contractor to bid lower than that so they can get a lower price for their project. This is against all the laws and codes about the bidding competition for jobs. Now, when I am in a situation like that I need to be orange. I need to make the decision to do the right thing. If I work for the company that is doing the bid shopping then I should tell them that I do not agree with what they are doing and will not continue to work for them if they continue this unethical practice. If I was working for the contractor then I should not give them a lower bid, but in fact inform other contractors what they are doing. Allowing the other contractors to make a decision if they want to continue working with them. I make the right decision, even though it could cost me my job. It is my responsibility just like how Mill said that we should seek pleasure, but not at the cost of others pain.

Besides the social responsibilities and accountabilities, being orange also brings together a community. We all have a particular characteristic that brings us all together, no matter what are major or passion is. Of course, that characteristic is being a student at Oregon State and being orange. Along with any community there is citizenship to that community. We all have rights and duties to ourselves, our school, and our community. As we go through our education, we are constantly getting moral values and ethics drilled into our head. At some points I tend to find it repetitive, but it is better to drill it into our heads now, then to have to learn it the hard way in the future. If we can’t show the core values of the strategic plan on ourselves, there is no way we can use them in our community. Everything starts with yourself, you can’t be respectful to someone else if you can’t even respect yourself. That is what being orange means, being able to have personal integrity, self-respect, and self-accountability and then being able to take those values and use them out in the community.

If we take accountability, diversity, integrity, respect, and social responsibility and mix them with courage, compassion and ethic spotting, we get the true definition of being orange. We could go through hundreds of examples of what being orange is, but at the end of the day being orange is all about just making the right decision. If you know you can help someone, no matter what the problem or situation is, help them. It is being respectful to everyone, no matter who they are. It is having the courage to step up and do what you believe is right, even if everyone else disagrees with you. Every person that graduates from Oregon State will have their own passions, their own career path, and their own life, but at the end of the day, no matter what they do, we will always “be orange”.

Be Proud. Be Orange. By: Matthew Guzman

“What does it mean for you to be Orange?” That is the question most people ask students and alumni from Oregon State University. Many people respond with different answers such as: “We’re known for our sports programs”, “Our engineering program is one of the best on the West coast”, or even “The community is so large, yet close with one another”. Whatever people think about the Orange community, we think about it in a positive way that is mostly true because whatever one thinks, most people of the same community think the same way. Being in a community means that people grow with one another and when the opportunity arises, they will not hesitate to help those that are in need. The academics aspect are true, we do have one of the best university engineering courses in the PAC 12. Including the many academic clubs that continue to excel, there are many social and athletic clubs that bring people closer together through sister and brother hood that form bonds into the working environment. But being Orange, first and foremost, to other students that attend Oregon State would be that we’re a school that takes school pride seriously; an example is that we wear and represent our school colors proudly. Being proud about our school is one of the reasons why people like our school. A lot of peers from different schools wear our shirts even though they go to schools like UW, USC, or UCLA. Something else about school pride is that when people ask “what college do you go to?”, tell them “Oregon State”, and if they respond ‘the ducks’, we will always proudly say, “No we’re beavers, get it right”. When coming from a small island community such as Hawaii, it’s safe to say that people bond when you know someone else is from the same place. You mostly have the same values and interest, therefore you feel comfortable with them. Oregon State is the same way, when someone says that they are from Oregon State, most people will always feel comfortable in a stressful environment.

Currently, being Orange as I have explained it is the best example of how I want it to be. Being proud about where a person comes from is great for confidence in making other choices that translate to the real world. Making key choices that affect your life positively can make one more ambitious, which is what employers look for when interviewing potential candidates for positions. I want Orange to mean that everyone part of our community is accepting of others that aren’t apart it, to also instill the positive values that we have learned to them so that we can let them feel what we feel. If students of Oregon State don’t feel the close bonds of being classmates, lab partners, roommates, athletes etc., after graduating, then I don’t think that the institution hasn’t done its job. It hasn’t made one come in contact of others that can potentially help guide people through college and make it a more enjoyable experience. What I want Orange to be is that to get the best education that I can possibly get, in order to fulfill on of my goals of getting a job for a successful career in a field that I want to go into. When people fulfill their duties when graduating, I want them to continue acting how they would if they were still at Oregon State.

The phrase “Be Orange” can be spread how anybody sees fit in a positive way that it should be. Even if it’s just helping someone with a small task, that person is representing Oregon State University, because if that person happens to be in the work environment and asks where you’re from, you’ll impact the school’s reputation in a positive way. Being proud is setting the tone for any activities that you undertake, whether it is a personal project or an altering decision that affects other individuals. It creates a positive mental attitude that other people can feed off of and therefore create a team that can accomplish difficult feats. When creating this team, one inadvertently creates an environment of a community, which comes back to the first and foremost value of my definition of “Be Orange”. There is a purpose about how people act in a community, they provide for it and reap the benefits of those actions when presented.