ESSO’s 2015-2016 Board Announced

After a rigorous application process, the current Exeter Social Service Organization (ESSO) leaders announced the student members of the next ESSO Board, who will assume command at the end of the Winter term. Uppers David Shepley and Raghav Bhat will serve as ESSO’s new Co-Presidents, upper Mykel Miller and lower Connie Cai as Children’s Club Coordinators, uppers Ariel Kim and Holly MacAlpine as PR/Communications Coordinators, upper Melody Nguyen as the On Campus/Global Coordinator and upper Michaela Streep as the Off Campus Coordinator.

Although 32 Exonians applied for the ESSO Board, the candidate list was narrowed to 14 candidates before the turnover committee interviewed and reviewed each applicant. In addition to participating in a 10-minute interview, the candidates submitted faculty and student recommendations and answered questions about their experience in ESSO and visions for the future as part of the application process.

After much deliberation, faculty and students on the turnover committee then selected these eight students as members of the 2015-2016 ESSO Board. The committee searched for many qualities in the new ESSO Board, although passion and experience were consistently mentioned.

“We are looking for a sense of humor, leadership experience, responsibility, ability to follow-through, commitment to ESSO, ability to communicate effectively, [and a] passion for service,” ESSO Director Elizabeth Reyes said.

Reverend Robert Thompson, a member of the turnover committee, echoed Reyes’ thoughts. “We were looking for demonstrated leadership and enthusiasm. We were looking for people who had a passion for service in general, and for ESSO in particular,” he said.

Given that a single candidate could not possess all of the desired traits, the turnover committee members acknowledged that the new board would require complementary skills.

“We had to appoint a board that will work well together and bring out each other’s strengths. We need to make sure we have detail focused as well as big picture thinkers.”

“We had to appoint a board that will work well together and bring out each other’s strengths. We need to make sure we have detail focused as well as big picture thinkers,” Reyes said.

“Anyone who sits down to an interview looking to become co-president needs to know what traits their co-leader should have to balance them out best,” 2014-2015 ESSO Co-President Sabrina Movitz said. “Are you detail oriented? An introvert? Then you need a big-picture, extroverted co-president.”

Having spent weeks contemplating the most suitable board members, the committee was deeply satisfied with its final selection. “I believe that ESSO is very important to all of them,” faculty advisor of ESSO Margaret O’Day said.

Bhat and Shepley, this year’s ESSO Co-Presidents, met over dinner after hearing the announcement and addressed their hopes for the coming year. In his time at Exeter, Shepley founded his own ESSO Club, the Exeter Wildlife and Conservation Club, and has also travelled to Tanzania to teach local children. Shepley said that he hopes to increase interactions between coordinators and co-heads. He also suggested more informational meetings for ESSO club heads as well as for Exonians trying to create ESSO clubs.

As the co-head and three year member of Middle School Mentors, Bhat has also been active in the community interacting with local teachers and students. Bhat suggested the possibility of larger events between ESSO clubs. “We want to connect clubs to try and have more communication within ESSO,” he said. He also stressed the importance of building interest in ESSO. “We want to get as many people on campus as we can involved—[people] of different skills, of different interests.”

Shepley and Bhat both shared a vision for more personal interactions with ESSO club members and club heads. “Raghav and I talked about our mutual interest to help revive struggling or less popular clubs on campus,” Shepley said. “With all of their clubs to look over, coordinators already have a lot on their plates.”

The other board members also bring strong experience and similar goals to the group of eight.

Cai, one of this year’s Children’s Coordinators, began her ESSO experience in Exeter Youth Strings, teaching children to play violin. The experience inspired her to discuss a larger idea with fellow board members Bhat and Miller. “We were thinking about more combined ESSO events,” she said. “Say, all the music groups, combining them and holding an ESSO music concert.”

As Children’s Coordinators, Miller and Cai will also oversee a large number of co-heads and students. “There’s still a problem of students not showing up, and we could improve co-head accountability,” Cai said.

Streep, the On-Campus Coordinator, emphasized how being a day student could help her reach out to local organizations.

“I’ll be communicating back and forth with [local organizations] to plan dates and events and put them in contact with clubs they want to work with,” she said.

New to the ESSO Board this year are the two PR/Communications coordinators. Although the turnover committee originally planned to appoint only one PR/Communications director, they were thoroughly impressed by the candidates and chose two, MacAlpine and Kim. The two will be responsible for ESSO’s Newsletter, ESSO’s social media outlets and the promotion of events such as Relay for Life.

Like Streep, MacAlpine spoke about her plans to spread ESSO beyond PEA. “As PR coordinator, I want to get more people in the outside community involved,” she said. “ESSO is very much centered around campus and I want to work to get the surrounding towns more involved.”

Bhat also discussed the many potential benefits of the new PR position. “We want to try and gather as many people as we can. One thing the PR Directors might do is reach out to community partners, like schools and old-age homes,” he said.

The turnover committee, former ESSO Board and new ESSO Board are all hoping that more people, students and community members alike will become involved in ESSO. The new ESSO Board is looking forward to devoting their time towards the betterment of our community as a whole, and all of them share high expections for the new year.

“I hope they go directly to our community partners, to see what more can be done,” Thompson said. “I hope they ask the question, ‘How might we better serve you?’ And I hope they harness their collective creativity as they respond to the answers they receive.”