Coordinator Workshops: What is the Purpose?

At the beginning of each school year, Ms. Volz invites coordinators from all community service groups and clubs to the Ersha campus for a coordinator workshop. The purpose of hosting these workshops is to allow new and existing coordinators “to get to know one another, to learn about the nuts and bolts or running a meeting, and to plan and map out their activities for the year,” says Ms. Volz. She also explains that “[the coordinators] have time to plan an outline of activities they hope to accomplish throughout the year.” She also provides the coordinators with time to plan ideas for the After School Activities Fair (ASA Recruitment Fair), which takes place shortly after coordinator workshops each year.

However, ever year, student coordinators complain about the uselessness of the coordinator workshops, and how time-consuming it is. As most student coordinators are upperclassmen and are IBDP (International Baccalaureate Diploma) students, some of them would rather spend their weekends studying or doing school work.

Junior Chhavi K. states that the workshop was beneficial for student coordinators to “[plan] out the first few meetings,” and it was time for student coordinators to “get things straightened out to [allow] a smooth transition into the first meeting of the community service clubs.” However, many coordinators felt like the workshop was too long despite having time to gather up and prepare themselves for a new year. “The workshop lasted as long as a regular school day,” and many people did not need that much time for preparations, mentions Chhavi K.

Creating agendas and formulating possible events for the future is an important task to be completed by community service coordinators; nevertheless, these tasks do not require 9 hours to complete. Students would rather spend their day at home, either finishing up their Extended Essays or adding CAS reflections to ManageBac. Many have also expressed that it is ironic how in the “workshops,” students are not taught to how to be leaders, and are not guided by anyone on how to become coordinators.

Senior Rachel M. comments that the workshop was actually meaningless and unnecessary, as she did not have anything to do. While there are coordinators like Chhavi K. who prepare themselves for future meetings, there are also students like Rachel M. who have planned and made agendas over the summer, prior to the workshop. Therefore, she states that the workshops should rather be optional for those in need.

What are your thoughts on coordinator workshops? Should they be optional, or should there not be workshops at all?