High School Volunteers
2013 File Downloads
JO Volunteer Letter 2013 JO Volunteer Letter 2013
Job Description
2013 CHAIR: Leslie Bosset / slbosset@pacbell.net / 650-868-9849
I pretty much followed exactly what Loyola did last year with a few exceptions. I did not email the previous years sign ups because I do not know how to use mail merge. Word did not spread as well as I thought it would through the clubs, track teams and facebook. I would consider going back to emailing previous workers to let them know when sign ups are live.
I had a large number of no shows this year. I’m not really sure how to combat that. Supposedly, this did not happen the year before. Sign up genius sends out a reminder the Wednesday before the event. I think it might be wise to send one out two Fridays before asking students to double check their schedules to make sure they can still work and if not, to please delete their names. This can easily be done from sign up genius. Also EMPHASIZE the need to check in FIRST to the High School Check-In Tent. Let them know we have no way of knowing if they just show up to their events. They will not get credit for their hours worked.
If you want to use Sign Up Genius again, you can use my 2013 form (that I got from Loyola’s 2012 form). It will save you tons of time. Contact me and I will send you a copy of the forms.
Hint: For floaters – it works well to fill them into the empty slots from your JO Volunteers by shift list which you generate directly from sign up genius. Then you have a record of when and where they worked. Just make sure you get their email addresses too.
High School/Junior High Volunteer Coordination 2012
2012 Chair: Maribeth Coyne / Mb.coyne@comcast.net / 650-492-0043 / 650-960-8292
Responsibilities :
- Create online signup form
- Recruit students for approx 400 volunteer hours
- Confirm student volunteers before event
- Create a volunteer check-in system for day of event
- Monitor the check-in area through the day
- Send electronic thank you to student volunteers with confirmation of their volunteer hours
1. Create Sign Up form
I used SignUp Genius and began marketing signups 1 month in advance.
SignUp Genius worked great. I used three forms, so a single form wouldn’t become too long, but was able to link between the 3 very easily. Being able to download data from the form into a spreadsheet was very useful.
IF YOU WANT TO USE SignUp Genius AGAIN, YOU CAN USE MY 2012 FORM. It will save you much time not having to create a form/system from scratch. Contact me and I’ll send you a copy of the forms. ( I have to do it within SignUp Genius to a specific email address.) If you use the same form, be sure to add a “General Cleanup” afternoon shift to the operations form. I inadvertently left this off of the SignUp Genius volunteer form in 2012. (10 Volunteers 3:30 to 5).
2. Recruit student volunteers
The popularity of the Junior Olympic event makes most people very happy to help get the word out to our local teens.
In 2012, I communicated our volunteer needs through:
- 2011 volunteers who had not graduated. The 2012 spreadsheet includes the year in school from most volunteers, and their email addresses.
- The Los Altos NHS President. A LOT of NHS members volunteers at JO. Check w/LAHS to see who the NHS President is and send and email with sign up info to them.
- Christensen, Vickie [Vickie.Christensen@mvla.net] – Health teacher at LAHS…volunteer hrs required for her class. Big supporter of JO.
- Pam Harris - 'pamharris54@gmail.com' – Track Coach and former LASD PE teacher. She was very helpful in letting track team know about JO.
- 'Dawson, Cristy' - Cristy.Dawson@mvla.net – Not exactly sure what her role is at LAHS. Oversees all student activity groups? Anyway, she seems to know how to get volunteer requests to the right people and was a big help.
- MVHS Track team e-list. Had a track team member post it.
- Facebook – Had multiple high school students post link to sign up sheets on their wall.
- In previous years, many non-electronic forms of advertising were used as well – for example, school newspaper blurb at LAHS, flyers and posters at the high schools. I did not do this due to time constraints. We filled every volunteer shift without non-electronic marketing. Whether you feel this type of marketing is needed is up to you. Was it risky to assume the email/Facebook push would be enough? Perhaps.
3. Confirm Registered Volunteers Before The Event
SignUp Genius sent a reminder the Wednesday before and then I sent a note directly to everyone volunteering on Thursday evening using their email addresses that I had downloaded to a spreadsheet. Info included:
- To arrive 10 minutes before this first shift
- To check-in at the High School Volunteer Tent when they arrive
- To PLEASE let me know if their plans had changed and they would not show.
I did not take cell phone numbers or require a confirmation from them – we had 3 or 4 no-shows which is typical. Out of 80+, very good!
4. Create A Volunteer Check-in System For Use at JO
I created name tags using data from SignUp Genius and was able to include each shift the volunteer was working under their name. They liked this! And it was very easily done by downloading data from SignUp Genius to Excel and then using word’s mail merge.
I also made a sheet for Walk Up Volunteers. Make sure to capture their hours worked and email address.
Other items to have at check-in:
Sharpies, blank name tags, a couple master schedules (spread sheets), 1 large map and masking tape.
5. Monitor the Check-in area through the day
High school volunteers manning the “Student Volunteer Check-in” position can keep things mostly going once you show them the “Check in” system. I gave them my cell phone # so I could come and go and get to my child’s events. You will need to manage requests for floaters and handle “in the moment” situations. You will get requests for floaters from other committee members. I also sent floaters “on rounds”, telling them, for example, “Go ask at Jump Rope if they need additional volunteers.”
6. Send electronic letter confirming their hours
Following the event, I went through and ‘manually’ calculated everyone’s hours and added a column to the spreadsheet. Then I was able to easily create and mail the confirmation letters using the spreadsheet, Word and mail merge.