ESSO Night and Leadership Training

By  LILY RAMPE, SERENA YUE, and FORREST ZENG

This past week, Exeter Social Service Organization (ESSO) kicked off the 2024-2025 school year with an open club night and leadership training for new co-heads and students.

Following an ESSO-themed assembly on Sept. 10, on the afternoon of Sept. 15, students had the opportunity to meet the ESSO club leaders and sign up for ESSO clubs in the McConnell Quad in what has become a yearly tradition for the organization. On Sept. 18, ESSO co-heads and board members also attended leadership training in the EPAC forum.

“The start of the year is going well,” ESSO On-Campus Coordinator and senior Harry Clark said. “Members of the PEA community have demonstrated a lot of interest.”

Despite a slight hiccup about the date, ESSO club night saw great student participation. Upper and Co-Communications Director Shawna Jiang described, “We messed up the date for ESSO night on our Instagram, so we were kind of scared that nobody would show up. Surprisingly, a lot of people came!”

“Attendance was excellent from beginning to end,” senior and ESSO Co-President Caspar Bailey. “It was great to see Principal Rawson and Dean Taylor there as well.”

Upper and ESSO Club co-head Lorax Reed noted how straightforward the planning was. “Planning wasn’t that intense. We had already scheduled our meetings beforehand, made some posters, and then arranged our supplies ahead of time.”

Jiang noted, “Since interest night is such a repeated event, we had all the logistics down. The co-heads of each club made their posters beforehand. So we just transported the posters and set up tables.”

For a night dedicated entirely to creating interest in ESSO clubs, the ice cream stand was very popular.  “People loved the ice cream,” said Bailey.

Jiang agreed, “I was in charge of the ice cream and pretty much all of it was gone after the hour.”

Indeed, the McConnell Quad was swarmed with students looking to explore Exeter’s many volunteer clubs during ESSO club night. Jordan Rubio, a prep new to the ESSO community, explained her motivation for attending, “I decided to get involved with ESSO because Exeter gives students the chance to volunteer throughout the community.”

Prep Daniel Kim agreed, saying, “Back in California we had a mentorship group where younger people could learn from older students and as someone who was part of such programs I know it’s a lot easier to connect with other students who are passionate about their own fields.”

Many students eager to join ESSO expressed gratitude for the club night, crediting the event with sparking their interest in volunteering and motivating them to get involved in more campus organizations. “If I hadn’t known about these clubs beforehand, I never would have joined,” said Rubio.

Another prep, Vivien Shang, reflected on her experience there, “My favorite part of the club fair was just having so many diverse options to choose from. I ended up joining ESSO Chinese, which I didn’t know was a thing before the club fair.” She added, “I think ESSO Night definitely helped me a lot and I wouldn’t have joined ESSO if I hadn’t gone. A lot of people tried to convince me to join different clubs and I loved the non sibi spirit.”

In preparation for this upcoming school year, the ESSO board, with help from their faculty advisors, planned a training session for all club leaders. Bailey said, “The goal of the leadership training was to prepare our club heads for the upcoming term. We covered everything from using our Microsoft Teams interface to attendance requirements.”

Clark praised how efficiently the meeting went. “It went very smoothly,” he said. “We just covered attendance and showed the new co-heads the ropes on how to lead their clubs effectively.”

Jiang agreed. “I think it went pretty well. It was not that long but we introduced ourselves and Ms. Reyes and Ms. Gerard gave them a rundown of the expectations.”

Most leaders found this training helpful and a good way to make them feel prepared to run their clubs. Upper Akshara Sandilya, co head of ESSO Mailroom said, “It was actually pretty helpful. Basically we’re with the transitioning of interfaces and everything, they were explaining how to access all the club lists and members. Then they went over some protocol, especially for children’s clubs. That didn’t apply too much to me because my club doesn’t work with children, but it was definitely helpful.”

“It was pretty relaxed,” upper Zoe Miller said. “It was a fun environment and we had a chat about how the term was going to go.”

ESSO board members are looking forward to the upcoming year. Despite the numerous club meetings and events, there are also some bigger ESSO events that students love to attend and help out with. Bailey commented, “I especially enjoy the Special Olympics in the Spring, but I’m really looking forward to everything. It’s going to be a great year!”

“I think, honestly, I am most looking forward to just continuing the legacy of the previous board,” Clark added. “I think they did an excellent job of ensuring that the Exeter community, and broader, was very happy and satisfied with the clubs.”

Jiang agreed, “ I’m looking forward to doing more fun events. There is a field day coming up that I’m super excited about. It is a good way to meet new people as well. I think it’s going to be really fun.”

Club leaders are also looking forward to the start of the new year. Reed said, “I’m looking forward to meeting new people, and finding people who are interested in biking and interested in the sport in general. That’s kind of my favorite part. And not only that, but introducing people to the sport and maintenance that goes into it.”

Mari Chaparro / The Exonian

Sandilya added, “I’m looking forward to making the club more well known around campus. I think that a lot of people see students working behind the desk and they don’t really know what is going on. But I think if we spread the word a bit more, people will understand that it’s feasible for them to do it too and realize that it is a really fun way to volunteer. It’s also pretty simple and you can meet a lot of new people. But I’m excited for when we do mailroom cleanouts the most because we get a lot of people there.”

“I’m excited to see the kids again, because I’ve been doing this for two years now,” Miller said. “All the kids know me, and it’s such a cute little community.”

New students are also excited for being a part of ESSO during the upcoming year. Rubio said, “I’m really looking forward to the opportunities it will provide me and helping out the community.”

Kim also added, “I’m looking forward to meeting and teaching young kids about my passions.”

Clark concluded, “Join us! It’s the perfect opportunity to combine your passion, whether it is playing a sport, arts and crafts, chess, or a hobby, with public service. If you like teaching children, there are lots of ESSO clubs that involve that. There are also other ESSO clubs that involve going into the town of Exeter and supporting that in multiple dimensions. There are ESSO clubs that expand beyond the school community and actually help and support programs and communities around the world. It is actually very, very wide-reaching and everyone should join!”