Opinion    


Student volunteers need support from their peers

By Jen Wiebe
Garden Valley Collegiate
Winkler, Manitoba


Just think of it. You spent fourteen hours this week planning, organizing and running student activities and all you have for your effort is the complaint that it's just not good enough.

While many of your classmates are paid for the frustrations they cope with at their part-time jobs, you are not.

You volunteered to serve as a Student Council convenor. About 29 people are involved in 16 different committee's and positions on Garden Valley Collegiate's student council. Hours of time and ideas are put into improving our school to the best of their ability.

We give very little recognition to all the students behind the scenes. Without our friends and classmates running around and staying up late to organize events, nothing here would be done or run very smoothly.

Kelly Boyes, one of GVC's active sports conveners, finds her job very rewarding in the sense of accomplishment.

"This is an opportunity to be involved in an area I love. The gym is like my second home," says Boyes.

Boyes spends on average one to two hours per day planning, organizing and running the various sports events. This is up to fourteen hours a week The job requires working at tournaments, games, making posters, thinking of contests and much more. It is extremely demanding and "takes a lot of time and energy and creativity to come up with sporting ideas," says Boyes.

These faithful council members do their work without visible benefit. Our sports conveners, as well as the rest of student council, still have to participate in all the fundraisers, receive no school credit for their work, and do not receive any tangible rewards.

Boyes adds that "many people have seen how much work this job is, and will not want it next year, unless they have incentive." The same goes for many of the other student council positions.

How much support do the volunteers get from their classmates? In my opinion, not nearly
enough.

"When you have to take over the jobs just because no one else will do them, that sucks... I don't think it's 100% fair that I have to be stuck with the jobs... I have a life too," says Boyes.

The best way for us to show our appreciation is to help out. Talk to the volunteers involved and find out how you can assist one of the committees.

"If you want better programs," Boyes says, "you have to be willing to help us out."



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