Be Good. Be Orange.

Submitted By: Shayna Kim

Many people outside of the Oregon State University community believe that Be Orange is seen as mainly school pride because of Benny the Beaver, but that’s not all there is to it. After asking other OSU students, they see being orange as being eco-friendly, reliable, and unique. There is a large amount of words that could describe being orange. Everyone has a different perspective on being orange depending on their own personal values because one may be more important to one person but less important to another. That doesn’t mean we aren’t being orange, we are being orange in our own way.

When I first chose OSU as my college of choice we were told that we were going to be Powered by Orange. This has had a great effect on me because it gave me a sense of a community and unity. All of the OSU students, faculty, and staff are unified under the values of OSU. Be Orange is the same thing. We are all unified under the same moral values that we want as students to better ourselves by being a part of the OSU community.

I see Be Orange as a code of ethics in a way for the OSU community. OSU defines being orange by their core values of accountability, diversity, integrity, respect, and social responsibility. To me, the most important moral value held to Being Orange is social responsibility, basically making the right decisions. In Hawaii, this moral is called being pono. Be pono is to do the right thing. College in general is when we, the students, become adults and we are guided by the moral values of the school and choices we must make as adults. Every day we are faced with challenges that test our values and morality, that’s what makes ethics so important. Question all that we know to know that what we are doing is right for ourselves in our own situations. This is a part of life that I struggled with most and being orange has led me to becoming a better decision maker and making the right choices.

Being Orange means being the best person you can be in the world. Make a difference through what you have learned as being a part of OSU and keep a part of OSU with you for the rest of your lives. Everyone has a different opinion of Being Orange depending on how they want to make a difference in the world and their own personal values. I believe we all just need to do what we think is right for ourselves; not anyone else. Doing the right thing for you will always be wrong for someone else because our world is so diverse. Be Pono. Be Orange.

“Do what you feel in your heart to be right- for you’ll be criticized anyway.”

–Eleanor Roosevelt