ESSO Clubs Thrive During Interest Night
On Friday night, Sept. 18, in the spirit of non sibi, students poured into Agora for the Exeter Social Service Organization (ESSO) Club Interest Night. An assembly earlier that day prompted excitement and interest in the event and attracted students, new and returning, from all grades.
This year, for the first time, students did not sign up for ESSO clubs at Interest Night. Rather, the event was intended for students to meet and speak with club heads and for club heads to gauge interest. After the event, students could sign up for their clubs of interest online through Exeter Connect.
There were several rationales behind the change in sign-up process. To begin with, the separation of Interest Night and sign-ups enabled students to explore all the different clubs before committing to a select few. “By making sign-ups online, students were free to explore every offering and go from one table to the next before deciding which ones to pursue,” senior and co-president of ESSO Raghav Bhat said.
“We continue to try new things because the PEA students change and so does the community in which we live.”
The switch removed the pressures of signing up on the spot in the presence of club heads, which was a major concern of previous years.
“[The new ESSO sign-up process] gives you a chance to think about all the clubs that you asked about and later sign up for those you are truly interested in. In the past, students have signed up for too many clubs and have not followed through,” community service coordinator Elizabeth Reyes said. “We wanted to give PEA students a chance to ask questions without the pressure of signing up.”
Co-president and senior David Shepley agreed with Reyes, adding that “there is no correlation between club success and how many signatures one can get at ESSO night.” By emphasizing quality over quantity, Shepley said the new process “weeds out unauthentic club interest.”
“Naturally, a student who is pressured to sign up for 10 clubs within the 30 second window he first learns about it will most likely not follow through. By adding the extra step, it is up to the student's initiative to actually register to the club,” Shepley said.
ESSO club heads noted the positivity in the change as well. Without the immediacy of sign-ups before them, many club heads felt they focused more on explaining their club this year than on convincing students to simply type their names into an Excel sheet.
“The new club night was nice because I got to focus more on simply talking to new kids about Active Minds, [an ESSO club] and what Active Minds does during the year,” senior Kyra Citron, co-head of Active Minds, said. Furthermore, in creating a single sign-up platform, ESSO could ensure all interested students were included. “In the past, club heads have neglected to include students that sign up through means other than Interest Night on their email list,” Bhat said. “By having everyone sign up one way, we can better ensure that every student who is interested in a club is being given the opportunity to participate in it.”
The online sign-ups also created greater flexibility for returning students who already knew which clubs they wanted to join and students, such as some day students, who were unable to attend. In this way, students could sign up on their own time and not fear becoming one of the “neglected” students Bhat mentioned.
Overall, the ESSO Board views the sign-up process change as a huge success. While some students were initially against the idea of separating Interest Night from sign-ups and creating an extra step, both attendance at the interest night itself and in sign-ups online were high as usual.
“ESSO Interest Night had a fabulous turnout, and there has been no negative impact from the new online sign-up process,” Reyes said. “Agora was full of students with a lot of energy.”
In fact, there were so many people at the event that one of the only complaints of the night was regarding its crowdedness. “I really enjoyed Interest Night. I only wished it was outside so we could have had more space,” lower Amanda Sherwood said.
Despite the space issue, the switch has succeeded in all other aspects including its original goal of focusing student sign-ups.
“This year, I signed up for the clubs I am truly passionate about. With the entire list of ESSO clubs and their respective meeting times together in one place, I was able to better pinpoint and organize which activities I wanted to participate in,” upper Caroline Davis said. “I think that’s great because when students have a more focused list of ESSO clubs, they can put more energy into the services they care about and in turn, make a bigger impact on our community.”
Bhat echoed Davis’ sentiments, adding that even if the quantity of sign-ups for each club decreased, the quality in those numbers has increased. “Though many club heads now have a smaller email-base to work from, they can be assured that a greater number than before of those on the email list are serious,” Bhat said.
The ESSO Board has many other changes and activities planned for this year as well. This year, the organization is redefining its mission. In doing so, one of the major focus shifts of this year, as already shown in the sign-up format switch, is from an emphasis on quantity to quality in Exonian service.
“ESSO is not expanding as we have consciously made a decision to try to have less clubs with more energy instead of having many clubs that divide resources. We want to focus on clubs working together instead of many mini clubs on campus,” Reyes said.
Instead of increasing the number of ESSO programs, ESSO is focusing on expanding its community outreach and impact. Last spring, the ESSO Board and staff engaged with community partners in a “Community Conversation” to discuss the area’s evolving needs and how ESSO could better meet those needs. Out of those conversations emerged an apparent need to reach out to lower income families in the area, most of whom, up to this point, still do not know of ESSO’s programs.
“We are targeting specific families by reaching out through the staff of local agencies. We want to make sure our on-campus programs are accessible to all,” Reyes said. “Many children that need help with tutoring and cannot afford to sign up for art classes or sports didn’t know our programs existed. We want them to know about ESSO, and we want to help them get involved.”
Wednesday evening, Sept. 23, ESSO began to close this gap by hosting its first ever ESSO Community Open House in Grainger. There, parents and children of the local Exeter community gathered to learn about the different ESSO programs and to meet the students who run them and would work with their children. Computers were provided at the event to ease the sign-up process for families who still do not have access to the Internet at home. Aside from improving the quality of Exonian services and outreach, ESSO still has many more improvements planned for the year, intending for its most impactful year yet.
“We continue to try new things because the PEA students change and so does the community in which we live. Community service must change based on needs, abilities and interests,” Reyes said.