Be Good. Be Orange.

Submitted by Hayden Olson

Being “Orange” at Oregon State University can mean a number of things. As our primary school color is orange, there are primary characteristics people have associated with that color. For example, being Orange is being respectful and understanding of the diversity on campus; having differences allows our culture to be unique and widespread even outside of the campus. To my friends, being Orange is being school spirited and motivated to reach one’s goals; however, each person I spoke to had a slightly different meaning of “Being Orange.” Though definitions differ, the general concept people describe is of hardworking and open-minded individuals who share differences yet are able to collaborate and make positive changes on our community and world that we live in. That is what makes this university so great; the diverse cultures and interests found at OSU all come together to make up a unified body that wears orange apparel and functions with an “Orange” attitude.

When I am being “Orange” I am consciously making an effort to be welcoming of others and representing my school in the most positive way possible. This means I am showing up on time to events, school, and work, I am putting my full effort into my daily tasks, and I am being considerate of those around me. Oregon State is known for being a research school, but it is not the only thing that makes our school successful. Having a diverse culture that share the common belief of working hard and representing their school makes OSU shine in every department.

To “Be Orange” not only means to be ambitious; it also means making smaller, achievable steps in order to progress towards a lager and meaningful impact on the community.  As seen on campus, there is a number of different banners scattered throughout buildings and on light posts stating what it means to be part of Beaver Nation. An effective strategy in communicating these messages would be to incorporate these characteristics into all OSU events. Whether these be at sporting events or orchestral concerts, having a set of characteristics visible or explained to student, faculty, and visitors will allow everyone to understand the moral compass here at OSU.

My interpretation of “Being Orange” revolves around having respect for you and for other. Holding yourself accountable will keep your goals in perspective while understanding others’ differences will allow you to be more adaptable and flexible when collaborating together. Integrity fits the list of “Orange” characteristics because succeeding in college and further into the workforce takes a lot of motivation that can be and is learned through the struggles experienced when on your own (such as college).

Being a part of the “Orange” movement means working hard for yourself and for the common good of the community; however, to do this requires proper communication and portrayal of “Orange” characteristics on a daily basis. It is easy to feel the warmth of Beaver Nation during the civil war football game but it is equally important to express passion for being Orange outside of competitive settings such as when you work with peer on group projects. Being Orange is being on time, being prepared, and being driven to reach your goals.

Submitted by Galen Hoshovsky

There isn’t a specific word that describes being orange; it’s more of a combination of multiple attributes and actions that have positive effects in a community. One of the reasons that I chose to come to Oregon State University in the first place was because I felt it had a strong community that cared for everyone no matter who they were.  I toured many universities and felt that Oregon State had the best environment for my future success.

For many in the Oregon State community, being orange could mean supporting the athletic teams, doing well in classes in order to graduate, or being more sustainable in your daily life. Needless to say, there are countless ways in which someone can be orange or have a positive effect on their community. Corvallis is a community that is very diverse, as the research university attracts people from around the world that want to pursue a professional career. Having that diversity really allows people to explore themselves.

To me, being orange is like being a family, a group that looks out for one another, creating an atmosphere where everyone feels comfortable and confident enough to pursue their dreams and goals. Not knowing a single person when I moved to Corvallis, I immediately felt accepted by other students and community members.

I played baseball all throughout high school and when I decided to go to Oregon State; I thought my competitive baseball career was over. Sure enough, the first two weeks at school, I was contacted via Facebook by a student that was interested in starting a club baseball team through the sports club office at Oregon State to further our competitive baseball career. It’s been three years since we started the club and we have seen it grow into something special. This club baseball team has become the most diverse group I’ve been apart of since we have people from all over the country including a French exchange student, yet we all share the love for the game of baseball. We have managed to become a family, helping each other get better on and off the field. This team has given many students at Oregon State the opportunity to play competitive baseball and at the same time, allow them to focus on their academic career. It has also taught all of us how to better manage our time, as most of us are full time students. Everything that goes along with our baseball team can be considered orange because it brings together a great group of diverse people and gives them an opportunity to play baseball and create friendships.

It takes a whole community working together to promote being orange and Corvallis is setting a great example for other cities and towns to follow. Be good to others and to yourself so that an atmosphere is created where everyone feels comfortable and confident.

Submitted by: Elizabeth Graham-Williams

At Oregon State University (OSU), to Be Orange is an honor, a reflection of school values, and a privilege. At a school where “Powered by Orange” is a phrase used and seen almost daily on campus, there are certain values and expectations that go hand in hand with ‘being orange.’ As I began to explore the concept of ‘being orange’ I was surprised at the many values and interpretations that this simple phrase encompassed.

OSU president, Ed Ray, defines Orange through his strategic plan, using the key values to guide us along the path to our final destination in life. He highlights accountability, diversity, integrity, respect and social responsibility as key components in the OSU educational process, and to be successful beyond. President Ray and the OSU community emphasize the importance of ‘being Orange’ not just at OSU but throughout our lives after college. For example, at OSU we practice diversity in order to improve and foster “our ability to welcome, respect, and interact with other people.” Our ability to work well with other people, as we learn at OSU, is an element of ‘Orange’ that we carry for the rest of our lives. ‘Being Orange’ is not about a color or school pride, it is the community, practices and skillset that each student gains and makes them successful for the rest of their lives; that is what ‘being Orange’ is all about.

Taking into consideration the university values and my own personal experiences at OSU, I think that ‘being orange’ encompasses President Ray’s ideals to create a community that promotes leadership and growth both personally and academically. When talking with several of my close friends about values and experiences they have learned and had at OSU, one thing everyone spoke about was the community setting here. To Be Orange, for example, is to be active in your college and university setting because it promotes growth academically but also promotes leadership and communication, both key ethical values that OSU promotes. At OSU, every individual is part of a community; fellow students and faculty are here to support everyone as we grow academically, socially and personally. These are the individuals that will shape the person you become after you leave OSU.

Personally, when I look at OSU and the phrase ‘be orange,’ I think of growth. It is the ethical responsibility of this university to educate its students and prepare them for their respective fields. When I look back at my four years at OSU, I think of where I began and how far I have come today. To me that growth is what makes me a part of the ‘orange’ community. My growth academically, socially, and personally continues to surprise me. The academic knowledge, social connections, and personal confidence that I have gained at OSU to me represent the concept of ‘being orange.’

To ‘be orange’ may vary from person to person, but the core values are the same for everyone. Just as President Ray said of his strategic plan, being orange is a “map of the foreseeable landscape, with some speculation about what’s beyond the horizon.” ‘Being orange’ provides the students the values and skills needed for life, and it provides the community, support and leadership necessary to face what is beyond the horizon.

By Andrea Bourgeois

Before this assignment, I didn’t understand what the “Be Orange” campaign meant because I assumed Being Orange had one specific meaning, and what that was I really wasn’t sure. You can imagine how this confusion frustrated me while I tried to brainstorm an approach to a thoughtful response. After a few failed attempts, I decided to grab my camera and take a walk around campus hoping that what I saw will spark some ideas. What I found was honestly more than what I thought I was looking for because what I found was my Orange moment. It’s hard to say in words what this is exactly because it completely defines the three years that I’ve been a student here. In a broad sense, however, I found a unique form of unity that describes who we are as Beavers which was portrayed in each photo I took that day. Each photo depicted a different kind of unity found at OSU and each kind of unity I found is explained below, along with its photo.

 It’s not the message in chalk itself that explains what being orange means, it’s the idea behind the message.  This picture emphasizes OSU’s broad community through the unity of meetings and informative lectures from different clubs and organizations on campus.  A club or an organization emphasizes unity through similar interests, which is an excellent way to bring people together who share these interests.  I took a picture of this in particular because of the meaning behind clubs on campus.  These extracurricular activities were put together by students who wish to share their common likes and interests with other students on campus.  This means that these clubs and groups were made for one sole purpose, to bring people together, meaning they value unity.  It’s not easy putting together a club or organization on campus; I’ve had my share of this in High School.  The fact that they put their time and effort into uniting other OSU members and the fact that other OSU members are passionate enough to give their time and participate shows a kind of care and connection OSU members have with one another.  These clubs can range anywhere from a sport to a love for a movie or book, but they all unite through this bond over what it means to be in a club.

Not only do clubs help student connect, they also give a sense of support.  We’re all experiencing the OSU life together and it’s important to have a community that reflects this.  A club can mean many things; to some it means their support system.  A club is indeed a mini community because they share a common space conceptually and literally.

Without looking at this picture, I’m sure that most of us know Oregon State has been around for quite a while now.  This seal only reinforces that statement.  It’s hard to believe that we’re not the only students, staff, and associates of OSU since it’s hard to picture Oregon State in any other time but the present.  This picture symbolizes Oregon States history and how the school has grown.  This is because of what a seal represents, a symbol that implies another idea or meaning.  To us then, this emblem represents the school overall, how we view Oregon State as a school today.  To the associates of the past and future however, their experiences were and are probably going to be a bit different than ours, so the seal is going to have a different meaning. Overall though, this seal brings all of us Beavers together since it represents one main idea, and in this case that’s Oregon State.  Even after we’re long gone and OSU is a memory of our past, this emblem will still unify the Beavers of the past, present and future because it represents this community as a whole.

Oregon State is known for it’s many advances towards public safety, this picture included.  It’s awesome that we’re striving to be a healthier campus since there are so many health issues in the world today.  This sidewalk sign however, may be a bit deceiving since OSU does promote healthy lifestyles, and biking is a big part of that. Before this sign was sketched onto the sidewalks leading into the MU quad, there was a huge safety issue concerning bikers and pedestrians both.  Since it is such a popular area to pass through during the passing periods, there just didn’t seem to be enough room for bikers and pedestrians to share the sidewalk safely, so OSU came up with this solution to keep everyone safe and essentially happy.  How does this unify OSU as a whole though?  Implementing these signs means that we’re trying to make OSU a safer campus, and in following this rule and all rules put in place, we’re respecting each other’s safety.  This in turn brings us together because it means that we care for one another and that each of us will go out of our way to make sure that we are being safe.

This photo is more directed towards the students of Oregon State seeing as we all came here for one reason, to get a degree.  The Valley Library represents academic success through its endless row of book and spacious tables for studying.  This can also be said for almost every building on campus.  These buildings and classrooms are here to help each one of us succeed in our academic endeavors because they provide an open learning environment.  This then unifies the students through success.  It’s upsetting to see a fellow student fail here at OSU because we’re all striving towards the same goal and we all have an equal opportunity to reach that goal.  To succeed as an individual means success as a whole and in this case as OSU.  It’s awesome that we have such a high success rate because it means we care about our future and this brings us together as students because we’re striving for the same thing(s).

 The library puts out a tub full of “Choose Civility” buttons every so often with different messages on them; “lower your music”, “assume the best”, “keep shared spaces clean” and so on.  These buttons represent a pledge taken by all OSU associates who wear one.  It means that they identify with a higher set of actions that set their OSU morals to a “good civilian” level.  This photo parallels the “Please Walk Bikes” photo in the sense that they both unify Oregon State through courteousness.  This is because of the respectful nature found within each saying on the buttons. I find that the buttons remind us that we’re not the only ones who use this space and they help keep our campus looking happy and beautiful through the messages they put out.  Those who choose to wear a button are unified through the underlying message they serve, again being courteous.  Civility is a trait that we all should encompass because it shows that we not only respect the environment (being OSU) but that we respect each other enough to perform those little actions that have us go out of our way to keep everyone that much happier.

 No matter what college campus you visit, you’re always going to find some form of unity through the athletics department.  These two photos not only represent football and basketball but every college sport, club sport, intramural team and everything in between.  It’s awesome that everyone who associates with Oregon State can find some common ground within these sports because finding a common ground within a big community like this is rare.  Yes, there is more of an emphasis on certain sports than others and yes, at times it does seem as if those certain sports are all that matter but most of us didn’t decided to be apart of this community because of those sports.  Most of us came here to either get an education or work to support our families and ourselves.  Sports just happen to be one aspect of Oregon State and it’s an aspect that was worth mentioning since it does bring so many people together.  Overall, I find that this is because a sports team is representing the greater population of fans during the game.  We get a sense of dignity from watching our team play against another team for the “winners” title. To some, it matters who wins and who loses, but to others the most important aspect is the fact that they’re out there in the first place, representing a greater whole.  Whatever the case may be, most of us identify with our sports teams because they bring us together and give us a sense of pride.

I’ve also included a picture of the volleyball courts outside of Dixon because when I say sports, I mean ALL sports and sport teams here at OSU.

These photos give a broad sense as to what it means to be apart of this unified community and what I found that day on campus. It’s amazing with how diverse this community is we all came here to be apart of OSU and this lifestyle for one reason or another. And beneath all of this, we decided to stay and be apart of this community because we found something within Oregon State that shed a positive light on us in some way. This light means something different to everyone, but in general it portrays the unification we share as a university. There’s a reason why we have only one mascot, one school fight song, one set of school colors. We define each of these symbols as meaningful aspects of OSU, which in turn defines us and who we are as a whole. The Be Orange campaign brought to light what I find valuable about being a Beaver and I’m confident in saying I know what it means to Be Orange.

Submitted by Jaclyn Hill

Oregon State University has a new logo, a fierce beaver that is said to represent the key characteristics of Oregon State, as laid out by the athletics department: heritage, strong, victorious, united, innovative, tenacious, dedicated, integrity. As this rebranding was supported and funded by the athletic department, it may be assumed that this rebranding stands to represent the athletics department of the university alone. However, Director of Equipment Operations, Steve McCoy says, “This represents the whole school. Logos, color combos, everything. We don’t want the team to look good. We want the university to look good.” And it is clear that the university agrees, as the new logo proudly flies over the Memorial Union and is on the front page of the school website, among other places.
Furthermore, the school branding requirements say that a brand is, “A consistent visual identity supports a strong brand for Oregon State University by creating a unified look in print and electronic communications. People notice visuals before they’ve read a word. That’s why it’s so important for visuals to immediately identify our communications as coming from Oregon State.”
This generalized pairing of Oregon State and the new branding is problematic because the school assumes that its logo, designed by people other than the student body, stands to represent the qualities required to be a successful member of the Oregon State community. The new logo does not, however, adequately represent the values of Oregon State and what it means to be Orange. It is based heavily on the values associated with athletics—about winning at all costs, being fierce, fighting. Instead, however, the students at Oregon State stand in unity with one another to solve problems, both within the university and outside of it. The learning and growth that takes place at Oregon State is about the process, the acquirement of knowledge and morality—not about the win at the end of the game. Therefore, the school needs to step aside its interpretation of the logo and allow students to take the leading role in deciding what the branding says about the university. By doing this, the university will support compassion because it will recognize the individual human factors that establish what Oregon State and Being Orange means. Compassion is truly what it means to Be Orange.
To Be Orange is to be compassionate. Compassion involves promoting the well-being and happiness of yourself, others, and the environment. The university has echoes of this within their mission statement, promoting the health and well being of the self and the environment, but actually becoming Orange means much more. It requires true understanding of the moral value of compassion. This means that decisions made each day bear in mind the positive or negative response that they will have on the people and the environment. The environment is included as a necessary part of our world that needs compassion for multiple reasons. First, the environment allows the continuation of life for humans, including air to breath, animals and plants to eat, and space to live. Therefore, preserving the environment means allowing life for fellow humans to continue. In addition, however, the environment requires compassion as an entity all its own for the inherent positive qualities it possesses, regardless of what it “gives” to humankind.
In this way, morality is determined by the extent to which a person is compassionate in their actions in the Orange community. Oregon State University offers its own ecosystem of diverse people, surroundings, forms of knowledge, and behaviors. Therefore, practicing and becoming proficient at skills of compassion within the community of Oregon State offers the ability to act as an “Orange” person in areas outside the university, include careers. A degree from Oregon State University shows a person has acquired skills of compassion within the setting of the school, and is therefore able to perform compassion in a variety of situations after he or she graduates or departs from the physical Oregon State community. Because Being Orange is being compassionate, students at Oregon State can transfer their skills of compassion into other environments and when surrounded with people not associated with the Orange community.
Compassion includes a wide variety of thoughts and behaviors. First, it requires knowledge a range of information and skills of what is required to be compassionate. Knowledge is a range of information and skills learned over time, both formally and informally. Learning happens through processes and outcomes, in class, in social interactions, and in other daily activities that occur on campus each day. This knowledge means understanding which actions foster positive outcomes for yourself, others, and the environment. For the self, this may mean positive self-image and self-talk. For others, this may involve moral imagination—the ability to place yourself in another’s position in order to understand a situation from their perspective. For the environment, this requires knowledge of sustainability, a main component already present in the university’s mission statement.
Because Being Orange means to be compassionate, the Orange community is defined as any members contributing or interacting with the university—making them able to learn and display compassion while at Oregon State and in the world beyond. This means that students, faculty, alumni, and other associates can, and should, Be Orange. The “Be” element of this suggests that a person simply exists, or lives, as Orange upon membership of the community. Therefore, the university, when working to the full extent of its mission to create an Orange community, will foster a responsibility for students and others to be compassionate. Responsibility is the duty a person feels to act in accordance with the moral principles of his or her community. Being Orange means existing with the responsibility of compassion. The university would benefit greatly from allowing, and encouraging, the Orange community to define what its logo stands for, and what its values represent.

Be a Leader. Be Orange.

By James Thomas

To Be Orange is to be a leader of yourself so that you can help lead your community and be an active citizen. Being Orange is being a part of the Oregon State University (OSU) community; the OSU community includes students, faculty and staff, and alumni. To be orange requires the OSU students to understand the value of community and subsequently the value of leadership. Throughout this post I will explore the link of the values of community and leadership and how these values represent being orange. I will also define what my degree will mean to me and I hypothesize that the degree from OSU should represent an individual with a global awareness, the ability to think critically, perform research, and be a leader.  Leadership development opportunities for students is immense at OSU and I will propose that we continue to illuminate opportunities for leadership development to the students.

The values that represent being orange include community, compassion, leadership, health, and sustainability. I will focus on leadership and community and will guide my thoughts on community based on the following definition: community includes a group of individuals who seek to achieve a common goal. In this case, one goal is to be a leader. In order to be an active part of the community and practice citizenship, one must have compassion for the other members of the community and must also be a leader of their self and promote active self-care. To be a leader of yourself, practice self care, and to have compassion for your community is leadership; being an active leader to promote citizenship across your community is being orange. OSU seeks to be a sustainable community with major focus on human health and wellness and sustainable ecosystems. As part of this community at OSU, we are all being Orange and must strive to lead our community to sustainable growth and development.

The value of leadership can be broken up into two parts: leadership of one’s self (knowledge of self identity, and core values) , and leading others (either through a direct leadership position such a director, or through emergent leadership). In order to be a leader, one must have a solid understanding of their personal goals and virtues, and should be able to identify their own place in the world. Once an individual has reflected on their self-identity, they are ready to help their community through leadership and through a compassion for others in their community. I have spent a lot of time as an undergraduate student on exploring my own values, learning how I work with others, and learning about the needs of other college students; these components make up my leadership development and I hope that every student at OSU has the same opportunity.

Leadership can be taught in the classroom, however as like most lessons, applied leadership experience is necessary to “learn” leadership. Leadership is a very important value as it requires people to explore their self-identity and virtues, and then impact their own community through social change and compassion. When I leave Oregon State University I anticipate that I will have broad perspective of knowledge of the world through my bach-core classes, and that I will be an ethical leader well in tune with my personal values and aware of the needs of the community I live in. To be orange is to be prepared to lead your community and in turn, an active citizen. Emergent leadership does not require you hold a position of power but suggests that you can inspire positive change for those around you by your actions; this is the type of leadership I believe being orange represents and than an education at OSU will teach.

When I leave Oregon State University I will still “Be Orange” and I hope to bring my ethical awareness to the world in which I live. Through my leadership development here at OSU I have learned how to work with a variety of individuals that come from diverse backgrounds and I have obtained a sense of compassion for the community I am a part of. Being orange is to be a leader of yourself and a leader in your community to promote active citizenship and engagement. During my education at OSU I have had the opportunity to participate in undergraduate research, and explore student leadership and involvement in both applied and academic fashions. I have been a part of student clubs (Student Dietetic Association – SDA, Minorities in Agriculture Natural Resources and Related Sciences –  OSUMANRRS, The College of Business Management Club), and I have helped organized events such as the Leadership Fair and Art of Leadership Conference while working at the Center for Leadership Development. I am working on a Minor in Leadership here at OSU which allows me to study leadership theories and apply what I have learned in class and from textbooks to my work with student clubs, student involvement, and leadership development.

I have learned that leadership requires a check in with your personal values from time to time, and identification of your purpose in life. Once you are in tune with your own self, it is then time to inspire others and work with your community to help one another achieve your goals; this concept is compassion, and it follows the social change model of leadership. This value of leadership leads people to be an active member of their community and practice active citizenship by seeking to take care of their own self and be a positive contribution to society and their community; this value of leadership is what it takes to be orange.

An education at OSU should train people to be excellent citizens in their community by working with the students to ensure the students see how they fit in the world, see their strengths, can identify their values, and so the students then feel empowered to help others to the same. I would encourage every student at OSU to get involved on campus in some way, and to explore what it means for them to “be a leader, to be orange”.

Additional Information:

To identify how other students at OSU define “Being Orange” I reached out to the Facebook community; all of the responses indicated or implied the value of community and were from OSU students.  Here is the Facebook post:

(the names and photos have been blurred, but the post is also public so feel free to view online)

Works Cited:

 –http://oregonstate.edu/leadership/strategicplan/

-Our Class Text Book: Doing Ethics: Moral Reasoning and Contemporary Issues, by Lewis Vaughn

Submitted by Reed Oxsen

To be orange to me means that you complete a degree at Oregon State University and any level. This shows responsibility because there is a lot of time and sacrifices that have to be made to complete a degree at Oregon State. This is also a value that I want people to associate with when I get my degree.

Responsibility is to be accountable for something within ones power. This value reflects being orange because if you conduct yourself and act in a responsible manner people are going to be positively affected. Does just the pure fact that you act in a responsible way make you orange? Not for my definition. Responsibility is a characteristic that goes along with being orange, but being responsible does not make you orange. This is important to discuss because then everyone who does a responsible act would be considered orange and that is not the case. In completing a degree from OSU, responsibility looks like this. Good time management, completing assignments on time, going to class, interacting and communicating with others respectfully and putting in the effort to complete the degree. I would not include professors at OSU in my definition of being orange unless they graduated from OSU because even though you work for the university the experience that was gained by the professor is from another institution, so they are not truly orange because they did not go through the OSU system.

Oregon State has expressed the importance of community as a part of being orange, but I don’t think they do a good job at bringing the sense of community to OSU. A recent example of this would be with the unveiling of the new logo. Majority of the students were not so thrilled with the look of the beaver. If Oregon State wanted to show community they could have offered several different designs that students could have voted for, that way OSU as a community would feel like we have more of a say in what we identify ourselves with. Oregon State stated that the reason why the university chose the logo was to further the athletic program in recruiting. Athletes make up a small portion of the OSU student body, so to make a logo with the intention to cater to them does not promote the value of community that the university markets to us. By OSU saying they promote community and then endorse something that does the exact opposite is unethical and shows a lack of responsibility, which is a value that I identify with being orange.

Another motto that OSU has is that we are Beaver Nation. What does this mean? I looked up what the university defined this as and all I could find was information about the success of the athletic program and the athletes that are excelling in the classroom as well. When I think of Beaver Nation I think of the past and present students of OSU. The definition of nation according to Merriam-Webster is as follows, “A large aggregate of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory.” Only having information about the athletic program does not fit this definition because the athletic program is not something that everyone at OSU is united in common. Many students don’t even go to athletic events, so to have that as the focus does not fit the definition of Beaver Nation. It should be of the education OSU provides because athlete or not everyone has to take classes.

When I graduate I want my degree to show that I am a responsible person who knows how to complete something that they start. I don’t want my degree to looked upon as something that was given to me, but something that I worked hard for and earned because then people are more likely to take what I say as something that is important and credible. If my degree means something that is viewed in a positive way by others then not only do I benefit, but the University does as well.

Submitted by: Hannah Filicky

Oregon State University, OSU, Oregon State, and O State are all names for the place where growth and learning happen.  Experience, courses, and involvement all lend themselves as part of the process of education and personal development.  Oregon State University is a public, higher learning institution that is devoted to research, education, and community impact.  It is made up of students, alumni, staff, and faculty.

At Oregon State, the campaign “Be Orange” stands to hold and envelope the values that the school holds.  “Be” is to exist, individually or part of a group.  Additionally it can be used to explain behaviors or a beliefs regarding a specific group, ideas, or beliefs, in this case the ideals of OSU.  “Orange”, in the case of OSU, does not simply stand for color or a food, but a set of ideals and people.  Orange is a descriptor for people who attend or work at the learning institution, or those that have been a part of OSU in one of these ways in the past. Each of these people must be contributing to the betterment of the community goals and persons.  One of things that OSU values, and I value about those at OSU, is hard work.  Those who are “Orange” contribute by working hard.  Hard work is the process by which a person puts all of their effort into a task to receive the best possible outcome.  It could also include putting a lot of thought, time, or money into any specific action, thought, or behavior.

Hard work at Oregon State manifests itself in many everyday life situations.  Those may be individual or community based.  Individually based, hard work creates personal growth.  As personal growth happens, people become more aware, compassionate, inspired, and willing to create change.  This process helps a person become more aware how they impact their community.  For the community at OSU, it impacts community goals and people.  It affects how OSU reaches outside itself to influence economics, health, and sustainability- as defined as part of the vision for OSU.  One thing these all have in common is that they are complex social problems.  These are of concern to OSU, because we have the opportunity to influence these and make the world better by improving human wellness, contributing to the field of sustainability, and advocate and aid in creating social progress and economic improvement.  Each of these are not only an outcome of hard work, but are also a reason hard work should be continuously happening on the individual, community, local, national, and world scales.

Since OSU’s community is concerned with bettering the world, it is important to understand how our goals interact with the world. Improving human wellness is important because if we as humans are healthy and promoting healthy decision making, we can accomplish the other goals.  Impacting sustainability, social wellness, and the economy are only going to be changed by having humans who are clear thinking, physically and mentally well, and socially connected.  Those who have worked hard to gain social connections and skills can communicate with others to collaborate and change the complex social problems.  Those that can think critically and are healthy will have more energy and ability to appropriately create change.

Contributing to the field of sustainability is equally important as human health, because it impacts our quality of life and the earth which supplies all we need to live.  By each of us pitching in, we can not only sustain our lives but keep in mind that the earth is an important implementation in our ecosystem.

Advocate and aid in creating social progress and economic improvement be addressed by producing the other goals.  If considered, human wellness is mental, social, physical, and spiritual.  Each of these parts are interconnected and impact each other.  When emphasizes that these are important for individuals, we understand that there is a group impact as compassion and moral imagination work in between individuals. Therefore if we can address the issues related to those and empower individuals, that can work together, we will create social progress.  As social progress is created, economic improvements will follow.  Creating more sustainable living and address the needs of human life, we can start to flourish economically.

These goals can be reached by putting emphasis on the elements of hard work.  Since these are multi-faceted problems it takes a community of people to impact them in any way.  The community at OSU works hard to accomplish these by fostering the personal growth of individuals.  This is fostered at Oregon State by creating a community that collaborates, has diversity, encourages excellence and ambition, offers opportunities, and supports by being inclusive. It is a rigorous process to learn how to work hard for your passions and change.  At OSU, having a diverse community that includes people with many different backgrounds, cultures, skill sets, and traits allows for all to learn from new opportunities and personal experiences.  The individual is interconnected with the community because as they grow personally, they contribute to the community to help others grow.  The community then improves through individual’s passions, critical thinking skills, independence, empowerment, engagement, and learning experiences.  This interplay is essential in creating an environment that focuses on solving complex social problems, as well as preparing students to be able to contribute after earning their degrees.

The ways in which the community and the individuals that make it up are interdependent on one another’s hard work is what makes OSU a university that is advancing not only individuals but creating change for complex social problems.  This is what makes us, the individuals that make up OSU, “Orange.”