This semester, I had the opportunity to lead the Devotional Volunteer Program as the Ticket Office Student Lead. As the Student Lead, I analyzed ways that I could make improvements on the incredible program that was already in place. This included recruiting new volunteers, creating recruiting advertisements, mentoring employee ushers, and training volunteers.
One of the largest challenges that this program faces is that each semester we lose volunteers for a number of reasons. As the Student Lead, I had the opportunity to lead a committee of 4 employee ushers in recruiting efforts. This included creating social media posts, recruiting at involvement fairs, emailing professors to promote our program in classes, and recruiting across campus. These activities were done throughout the semester.
Another important aspect of my position has been the training of volunteers and employee ushers. At the beginning of the semester, I was able to adjust the training from previous semesters to be more clear, and concise. Each week at devotional, I was able to reference the training to help volunteers to feel confident in the tasks that were at hand. Each week, I was able to meet with different groups to help mentor and encourage volunteers. I was also able to spend meaningful time with my mentor, learning ways that I could improve in my position and brainstorming ways that we could improve the program now and in the future.
Throughout the semester, I was able to plan and create agendas for our monthly devotional employee usher meetings. These meetings were valuable in coming up with ideas within several committees for activities throughout the semester. I learned that within a volunteer program, forging deep, impactful relationships with the people involved is essential to the success of the program. I was able to use the communication skills that I have learned in several of my classes to help me in creating a positive experience for employees and volunteers alike.
As the semester came to an end, I was able to create a survey for the employee ushers so that I could learn more ways that I could improve this program in the coming semesters. As a leader, the impact of the work done is not always seen so by hearing from the employee ushers, I was able to gain insights into more specific impacts that this program has had on volunteers and employees. Overall, this project was meaningful to me because I know the impact that it has on the members of our campus community. Devotional is an important event that helps students and faculty to feel the Spirit. This program helps to make that possible.