Be Good. Be Orange.

Submitted by: Jacob Deffenbacher
Oregon State defines being Orange by their core values. These include accountability, diversity, integrity, respect, and social responsibility. In this case accountability refers to good treatment of what the school had provided. The school provides us with a beautiful learning environment, great classrooms, devoted teachers, and a plethora of tools to improve our learning experience. It is our job as students to be accountable to the school and the student behind us to treat what we have been given with care and gratitude. In the large public college setting we are given the opportunity to study and learn along-side students of different beliefs and backgrounds, this allows us to expand our knowledge of the world and the people in it from the comfort of our own University. Integrity can be often overlooked because it is hard to come by anymore, but it is an important value especially in college. As technology continues to advance it becomes easier and easier to take the easy way out and cheat, whether that be on an exam or homework. It is our jobs as students to be stewards of honesty and to make strong integrity an important value in our lives. While it may be a very self-explanatory, respect is an important value to remember. As the old saying goes treat others how you wish to be treated, but is more than that. As a community we should desire the best for each other, and the starts with respect, respect for the University staff as well as our fellow students. I believe social responsibility refers to our responsibility to not only ourselves but to the University as a whole to put our best foot forward in our classes as well as our actions around campus. To represent strong morals and values in our daily lives.
I want be Orange to mean pride and a desire for growth. I want us to have pride in our school and what we have accomplished while we were here. To be able to look at our student community and be proud of what is represents. But to also be proud of our individualism and how even though we may be going through the same motions here at school we are all unique in our own way. I also want Orange to represent growth. That we aren’t to just sit around and watch the world improve around us but that we desire to be stewards and faces of that growth.
In this speech Jeff Daniels from the T.V. show Newsroom is asked why America is the best Country in the World, his response may surprise you.

Although this speech may come from a television show I believe its message and ideas are very important. As American’s I believe it is very easy for us to claim at being the best before actually think about, and some of the statistics that Jeff Daniels shared were quite staggering. He claimed that America isn’t the best country in the world anymore, but it sure used to be. And I would add that it can be again. But that comes down to us, comes down to how we spend these four plus years at Oregon State. Will we be a part of the, “Worst. Generation. Ever. “, or will we be responsible for improving this country, for bringing about growth and prosperity. It is with that in mind that I say Be Proud, Be Orange. It isn’t an arrogant boastful pride of how great at sports you are, or how many parties you blacked out at, or how many woman you’ve slept with, but a pride in the student body, in what we have and will accomplish.

Pride in the student body starts with the individual. Be proud in who you are and don’t let anyone change that. A community isn’t a bunch of cookie cutter copies of people, but a group of individuals, a group of people with differing beliefs, differing ideals, and differing views on how the world works. “If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?” 1 Corinthians 12:17. Everyone has their own role and spot in community, and it is the differences in people that make the community more complete not separated. Each person is responsible not only for their own future but also the future of the community, because it is this generation, our generation that will shape this country for the good or bad in the time to come. It is important to grow as individuals as well as a community and that we direct this growth to help improve the world around us. Whether that be through new technological advances, improvement in the green movement, or even growth in the way we treat and think of others.

It is with that I say be proud, be orange. Be proud of this University and the time you spent here, and when you leave this school live a life that makes the university proud you. When you disperse across the country after your time here be beacons that represent Oregon State and set the bar high for others behind you, show what it means to truly Be Orange.

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