Bringing the Creed to Life Developed By Heather Matthews Kirk, Zeta Tau Alpha Director of Education & Communications Learning Objectives: 1. To understand how The Creed and ZTA values relate to everyday life. 2. To map how you spend your time as a student and member of ZTA and how that relates to the core values of ZTA. Handouts: The Creed Week in Review Worksheet Time Needed: 40 minutes Group Size: Entire chapter Physical Setting: Any facility where the group can sit comfortably, facing the facilitator Preparation: Copy The Creed and Week in Review handout for each chapter member. Ask the chapter members to bring a pen or pencil.
INTRODUCTION (5 minutes) The facilitator should introduce the program topic. Ask for the audience s attention and interaction during the discussion. How do you make decisions? What is your road map as a member of ZTA? If you didn t have a New Member Educator, an Executive Committee, a Big Sister, a chapter advisor, Province President/ Mentor or Director of New Chapters to provide advice, what would guide you? One of our ZTA roadmaps was first introduced to Zeta Tau Alpha at the 11th National Convention in 1928. Shirley Kreasan Strout, an alumna of Tau Chapter at Millikin University, was charged by National Council to create a statement that embodied the principles of ZTA and spoke to our core values. This statement became The Creed of Zeta Tau Alpha. More than 80 years later, The Creed is one of the first things we teach new members, showing its importance to the organization. Wrapped up in this one sentence are our five core values and the charge to every Zeta to Seek the Noblest both in herself and others. CRITICALLY READING THE CREED ACTIVITY (5 minutes) I will pass out copies of The Creed for you to write on. Let s take a closer look to see how it directly relates to you as a member of Zeta Tau Alpha. Please distribute copies of The Creed. Call out the following instructions slowly. Give members time between each to complete the task. Circle the words that speak to you and mean something to you personally whether in ZTA or not. These are the words that you think you live out on a daily basis. Underline the words that you would like to do a better job of living. Box the parts you think that the chapter does a great job of living. Put a squiggly line under the words that you think the chapter needs to do a better job of living. THE CREED DISCUSSION (5 minutes) Pose these questions one by one to the group and ask participants to share answers. How do you think The Creed relates to you personally in your life? How are the values within The Creed expressed as a chapter? How do other people see our values expressed in The Creed? How do you integrate what The Creed teaches into our daily interactions as a chapter? How do we do a better job of living our Creed as a chapter? Do you spend most of your time working on things that relate to our Creed, our mission and our purpose? The goal is to create an understanding that The Creed is an everyday tool through calendar planning, budgeting, meeting discussions, the decision making of EC and PC, and accountability of members who have negative attitudes or behaviors that counteract The Creed.
DO OUR VALUES MATCH OUR ACTIONS ACTIVITY (5 minutes) As we reviewed, Zeta Tau Alpha is a values-based organization; it was founded upon five core values which are revealed in our Ritual (state them if all members present have been initiated; if not use the values taught in the new member program). Our new member program, Post-Initiate Education, Links program, The Creed and Ritual teach and reinforce these values. ZTA leaders who walk their talk and do what they say they will do will have credibility and integrity among their chapter, fraternity/sorority community, college or university, parents, and alumnae. To build this credibility and integrity, it means living our values day in and day out. Let s reflect on our actions and how we use our time during a given week. Please distribute copies of the Week in Review Worksheet. Think about how you spend your time in an average week. Let s use the Week in Review worksheet to chart what you did each day last week write down what you did each day and how much time you spent on each activity. Think of everything from the time you woke up to when you went to bed. This can include classes, work, ZTA activities, other organizations events and meetings, volunteering, family time, free time, socializing, etc. Go back to The Creed handout that you marked up a few minutes ago. How do the activities you mapped out relate to the ZTA values that you said really spoke to you, that were important to you to live out? These are the words you CIRCLED. DO OUR VALUES MATCH OUR ACTIONS DISCUSSION (15 minutes) Pose these questions one by one to the group and ask participants to share answers. Think about how much time you are spending on things that you value personally and that exemplify of our Creed. Are you truly living your values? Are you spending time on what you value? Are you walking your talk in terms of the ZTA sister The Creed calls for? We all know that things like cleaning or homework may seem hard to fit into values-based categories, but the real testament this activity seeks to make is: are you spending time, energy, resources and more on the things that YOU value, on the things that ZTA has taught you to value? CONCLUSION (5 minutes) Conclude with everyone saying The Creed together. Can we all make a commitment to living The Creed more fully through our everyday actions?
The Creed of Zeta Tau Alpha To realize that within our grasp, in Zeta Tau Alpha, lies the opportunity to learn those things which will ever enrich and ennoble our lives; to be true to ourselves, to those within and without our circle; to think in terms of all mankind and our service in the world; to be steadfast, strong, and clean of heart and mind, remembering that since the thought is father to the deed, only that which we would have manifested in our experience should be entertained in thought; to find satisfaction in being, rather than seeming, thus strengthening in us the higher qualities of the spirit; to prepare for service and learn the nobility of serving, thereby earning the right to be served; to seek understanding that we might gain true wisdom; to look for the good in everyone; to see beauty, with its enriching influence; to be humble in success, and without bitterness in defeat; to have the welfare and harmony of the Fraternity at heart, striving ever to make our lives a symphony of high ideals, devotion to the Right, the Good, and the True, without a discordant note; remembering always that the foundation precept of Zeta Tau Alpha was Love, the greatest of all things. Shirley Kreasan Strout
Week in Review Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday