Senior Leadership Positions

I know this doesn’t really relate to the incoming class at this point, but I’d rather talk about it now before I forget!

Sometime in February we (juniors) received an email about Senior Leadership positions. These are positions that seniors hold all year and they count as work service. As you know, work service is 3 hours a week, but these seniors tend to put in more than that (especially RLAs).

The positions are: SPL, RLA, Attache, Student Ambassador, MPC, PCC, Smart Bar, and Library Liaison. As you can see, many of these positions use TLAs (three letter acronyms) because it becomes tedious to use the full title. Here is an explanation of every position:

SPL: Sustainability Project Leaders work with Dr. Warshaw. They promote sustainability around campus and host a variety of activities throughout the year. There are usually 4 of them.
RLA: Residential Life Assistants are like RAs in college. There are around 2-4 of them per hall. They plan hall activities, check housekeeping, and take check. This is one of the most competitive positions.
Attache: Attaches work in the Institutional Advancement department. They can deal with anything from fundraising (the Annual Fund), alumni, and legislature. The biggest event that they host is the Fund Run which is a competition among halls that culminates in the eating of a Vermonster. This is another competitive leadership position. There are usually around 20 of them. This upcoming year (2015-2016) there are only around 15. Ms. Carr and Ms. Shephard are the adults in charge of this.
Student Ambassador: Student Ambassadors work with incoming students. They are best known for giving tours of campus. In addition to this, they also work in the Admissions department. Their biggest events are open houses and Discovery Days. Rob Andrews and Mattie Gaddy are in charge of this position. This is another competitive position that holds about 20 students a year.
MPC: Multicultural Peer Counselors break the “Smath Bubble”. When students are on campus they are pretty sheltered from what goes on around the world. MPCs write the “Toilet Paper” that hangs in stalls and keeps students updated with news. They also hold monthly Tea Topics for discussion.
PCC: Peer College Counselors help students with college, scholarships and summer research opportunities. They work with the counseling department to send out newsletters.
Smart Bar: This is an area in the library that deals with tech issues. You can take your computer to the students who work there and they can usually help you out. This is also a junior work service position.
Library Liaison: Library Liaisons work in the library. They shelve books, clean up, and host activities. The librarians include Anthony Myles, and Robin Boltz. There is not a large number of liaisons.

Out of all the positions, RLA is the most coveted. However, each position is important to the function of the school. I do hold a leadership position and the application process was quite stressful. The process included interviews and a common application. I did not get the position that I wanted most. At the time, I was devastated, but now I am really happy with my position (I’m also and alternate for my #1 position). If you don’t get a leadership position, it is not the end of the world. Many teachers take TAs and there are other work service opportunities around campus. Leadership students do get to move in early as well as get the opportunity to be in the drawing for Junior Marshal (Random drawing among leadership students after the leadership results are released. It’s unfair, I know. It has nothing to do with being at the top of your class like it does at traditional high schools).

Everyone has their own opinions when it comes to each position and who should be selected for them. I know of students wanting to move halls for the sole reason that they don’t agree with the choice of RLAs. I know kids who were alternates and ended up getting the position. I know kids who got RLA on a different hall and took it because of the prestige in the position. But, I also know kids who gave up RLA on a different hall because they were too committed to their own hall. I know kids who gave up RLA because their roommate got it (RLAs can’t be roommates). I know of RLAs that worked well together. But, I also know of RLAs who were quarrelsome. I know of student ambassadors who hated waking up to go to open houses. I know of people who took PCC instead of attache. I know of people who were offered every position. I also know many people who weren’t offered any position. The leadership process isn’t considered fair. It’s said that if you’re a softball player or in NIA you get ambassador because Rob coaches and Mattie Gaddy is in charge of NIA. It’s said that if you are in DECA you get attache because Anna is the sponsor. Of course, there are many speculations, but in the end it comes down to the kind of student that you portray yourself to be. Interviews are important, but so are daily interactions with adults on campus. Take time to meet Anna Shephard, Lauren Carr, Rob Andrews, Dr. Warshaw, etc. Even if you aren’t applying for a position it is interesting getting to know the adults that work on campus (many of them attended smath!).

So that was long and rambly. As you can see, I’m a terrible writer and I got off track a lot (explains my AmStud grade).Hopefully, I explained positions pretty well.