Reflection as a Director

I was given the opportunity to be a director of a council of 12 fabulous people over the Involvement program, and it was amazing.

For some background, the Involvement program is a branch of the Student Support program on campus. Student Support is in charge of several different events on campus, the biggest one being BYU-Idaho’s student orientation. I started out as a volunteer with student orientation before being invited to participate on a council. Two semester after that, the position of director was extended to me. As a director, I would be volunteering for 3 hours every weekday from 2 to 5, and I thought using these hours for a practicum would be a fabulous idea.

In the beginning, I was very hesitant and nervous. I wanted to make my council proud, and I wanted to do the program justice.  Thankfully, I was able to hand pick all of my council members. They were my first favorite part of this practicum.

Each of these people in yellow had a great strength to bring to the table. As their director, I was able to watch them grow, and I was given the chance to show them how amazing they were. There were times when I had to correct my council for not doing what they were supposed to do, but I tried to do it with love and with the knowledge that we can get better.

My council weren’t the only people that I had to work with. All this semester, I interacted with hundreds of people within Student Support. As an introvert, this wore me out, but I actually enjoyed it at the same time. Imagine the best people you’ve ever met, now picture an entire room of them, and now imagine you get to interact with them every day.

Involvement council’s job was to find volunteers for the multiple positions Student Support had available. This required a lot of advertising, door knocking, and inverterview holding. Every Wednesday night we held interviews called Involvement Night. Anyone and everyone was able to come and interview for different positions within Student Support. At the beginning of the evening, there would be a brief introduction of what the night would consist of. After that, everyone would be dismissed to interviews. After interviews, we would have a small snack (oreos, hot chocolate, burritos, etc.) and then my council and our volunteers would clean up.

I learned how to work with people and that sometimes your gut instincts are your best option.  I practiced the basic principles of public relations with booths, service projects, and even blitzing. I saw first hand what worked with advertising and what didn’t. This was honestly some of the best public relations experiences I’ve received so far.

 

As I struggled in the beginning, I grew stronger with my knowledge of the programs and with my experience within the field. As hard as this semester was, it was also very rewarding. I’m so grateful that I had the chance to be in this position and learn so many incredible lessons.

Hours served: 210+