Be Good. Be Orange.

In a large college community, often times people forget what they’re really at school for. I sure did. My first term of college was not filled with studying and homework; it was filled with socializing and trying to make friends. For other people, it was filled with football games and kegs of beer. And for many, it was filled with books, and studying, and late nights at the library. All of these things are what shape one’s view on what it means to “be orange.” Our experiences here are always different. These experiences shape our beliefs and our views on what being “orange” actually is. I asked around to my peers in my residence hall about what they thought it might mean to “be orange,” and I got a lot of answers that included phrases somewhere along the lines of “school spirit.” That’s all fine and dandy, but I believe there’s a lot more to being “orange,” to being a part of this community.

I take pride in my school and my community for a lot of reasons that have nothing to do with sports or academic standing. I believe in being compassionate in all things, and my goal for my time at Oregon State is to become a person who exhibits compassion in everything I do. My goal is to be a reflection upon this community that brings nothing but pride. While there are many statistics and Core Values and reasons that the Oregon State website gives students to become a Beaver, no one ever mentions the good things that the students in our community do. There are so many exhibitions of kindness and compassion and I truly believe these things would draw a student to our campus more than most things. When I visited campus for the first time during my decision making process, all I saw was smiling faces and people working together to make this campus a better place, that’s what drew me in. Everyone I talked to said how nice everyone here is, they weren’t wrong.

I think that the most effective way to communicate this message is through actions. My dad has told me for as long as I can remember, that actions speak louder than words, and all throughout my life, I’ve been given this same advice by many, many different people. It doesn’t matter what we say, in the end, what matters is what we do with our time here, the way that we use the skills that we have, and the resources we are given. Oregon State is one of the most unique places I have ever had the opportunity to live in, and I have seen so much love and compassion all throughout campus. For example, during the snow days this past year, multiple people posted on Facebook offering help to anyone who was stuck in the snow with their cars, or needed help shoveling snow from their areas. Just these small acts of kindness are an incredible reflection of compassion upon our community.

I’ve seen so many examples of compassion and kindness in my time here, and regardless of the small amount of people who decide to try and spread negativity on our campus; I believe that the positivity truly outweighs the negativity. Being orange is being compassionate to yourself, so that you can be compassionate to others. It is helping yourself in hopes that you will help others.  I believe that this campus and the people in this community are truly something special. It has taken me a long time to find a place that accepts me for who I am, and others for who they are, no matter what. Of course there are flaws, everywhere has flaws, everyone has flaws, but being “orange” means accepting those flaws, loving them, and spreading compassion in spite of them.