It’s now easier than ever to be a club leader at F&M!
The Office of Student Engagement rolled out a new and improved format for its Student Organization Training last week. Instead of having one session on a weekend morning, where over 100 groggy club leaders gathered together for three hours, OSE provided students with 30 options for smaller training sessions. These sessions were offered over the course of two weeks, spanning from Tuesday 9/16 to Friday 9/26. With so many options available at different times during various days of the week, it is much easier for student leaders to work the required training around their individual schedules.
I chose to attend the training session on Friday morning. Along with having the option to work the training around my schedule instead of working an entire weekend around a Saturday or Sunday morning training, I found this new format to have even more benefits. First, it makes it much easier to stay engaged and actually focus on the material at hand. When looking around the room during previous training sessions, it was clear that people weren’t happy to be there. Computer screens around the room were open, but only for the purposes of playing games, doing homework, or pretty much anything but following along with the training. I’ll admit that I too fell victim to this trap of boredom, playing through the daily New York Times games and even watching an Eagles game once. With more options available, no one is forced to attend at a time against their will, and with an hour-long session instead of an all-morning affair, it is much easier to stay focused.. The only distraction I faced this time was a spider. It seemed that little creature really wanted to become a club executive himself, and we joked that he could really help us out with web design.
Another huge benefit of this new format is the smaller size, which offers a more personalized experience. With over 100 people, it is difficult to ask questions specific to your individual organization. My training session only contained three students, and all of us were able to have our voices heard. We even got to look over each of our clubs’ Ampersand pages on the big screen, with OSE director Nick Yando walking us through the website features and letting us know if anything needed to be changed. Attending training with a smaller group made the process much less overwhelming, providing me with space to ask more personalized questions and getting specific answers on how to improve my club.
If you are interested in becoming a club leader but are worried about the time commitment, I would highly recommend taking that next step in an organization you are passionate about. OSE’s new Student Organization Training sessions are quick and easy, making it easy to get all the information you need for running a club in just an hour or less!
Senior Carrie Teti is the Arts and Leisure Editor for the College Reporter. Her email is cteti@fandm.edu.