Light in a Cave

by: Katie Cano
Encyclopedia Britannica refers to social change as, “the alteration in the social order of a society. Social change may include changes in nature, social institutions, social behaviors, or social relations.” Social change means different things to every person, despite the definition from Encyclopedia Britannica.

For me, social change doesn’t necessarily have to be so broad. I think that for there to be a large social change throughout society there needs a number of people actively trying to create such change.

One person though has the ability to make a change in at least one other person. Like a chain effect this will spread until it eventually can become a larger social change.

I used to use a metaphor frequently when I was younger about a light in a cave. In a completely dark cave, it only takes one person to light a candle for there to be light everywhere. Then that light will spread until eventually everyone has a light of their own. That light is like social change.

The staff of Susquehanna Hall is once again embarking on a journey into social change. We are developing a project together– the community director, the resident assistants, the desk manager, and the desk staffers–to create a social change throughout the UMBC campus, the Baltimore community, and Susquehanna hall.

We have collectively decided to create a project about equal opportunity in education where we will educate ourselves and Susquehanna residents. Then we will go out into the community and try to educate children within Baltimore about how they can have the opportunity to experience higher education.

Each week, from now until the end of the semester, one of the blogs that I post will be about Susquehanna’s social change project. We’re all very excited for the final project!