ESSO Hosts Think Tank, Inspires Community Action

The ESSO board hosted a lecture from World Changer’s Think Tank (WCTT) in the forum of the Academy Center last Wednesday. WCTT taught the Social Service club heads tactics to increase the sustainability and effectivity of ESSO clubs on campus. Although some believed that this event was not specifically tailored to the needs of ESSO clubs, the presentation overall, opened the eyes of many students to the opportunities and possibilities of community service.In 2009, WCTT was founded by Yoo Eun Kim with a vision of teaching middle and high school students the steps to create an efficient and productive community service project. Kim realized that “it wasn't hard to get involved, but it was difficult to make the project results maximizing and productive.” Kim founded WCTT in order to address this problem, giving students the “tools and the framework to make successful community service projects.”

“WCTT teaches you how to look beyond the superficial problems and really analyze the core issues to find the most beneficial, efficient approaches.”

 The organization started out rather small, focusing its efforts on teaching groups in Kim’s local area. However, since then, WCTT has grown immensely. During the seven years of its existence, it has lead multiple school lectures at MIT, Smith College, Stanford University, Yale University, Deerfield Academy and Hopkins School as well as hosted many leadership conferences across the US and Canada, engaging over 2500 students in total.Participants of these lectures and conferences have acclaimed the organization’s instruction. Each presentation is focused on providing students with the most crucial processes in founding a successful service organization, including the creation of a mission statement, the organization of advertisements and the acquisition of capital through fundraising. Kim hopes these skills will allow students to successfully “target the pressing issues of today's world.”Today, WCTT hosts both a diverse and experienced community of individuals. Among this group is Emily Pond, a senior at Smith College who is majoring in economics. To her, WCTT is an organization that, instead of mindlessly lecturing, engages students in maximizing the results of their service efforts.“We were essentially taught that any service is good service,” Pond said. “WCTT teaches you how to look beyond the superficial problems and really analyze the core issues to find the most beneficial, efficient approaches.”During the Exeter workshop, Kim and Pond spoke about three crucial steps in creating an efficient and sustainable organization. These steps included securing financial stability through fundraising and granting applications, constructing a sturdy organizational infrastructure with strong leadership and increasing overall impact through project effectivity. To further their claims, Kim and Pond discussed specific case studies, examining the difference between effective and ineffective social service and stressing the importance of molding a service project to fit the demographics of the region.Although some students thought that certain parts of the lecture were not pertinent to the development of ESSO clubs on campus, overall, students and the ESSO board were very pleased with the presentation as a whole.“I think that the workshop, by and large, was well put together,” ESSO co-president and senior Raghav Bhat said. “But it was not necessarily very appropriate for community service at Exeter since ESSO does not participate in fundraising.”Nonetheless, to many, the lecture was eye opening. According to upper Liam Oakley, because Exeter is a community that emphasizes the importance of communal and global service, it was important to recognize the issues surrounding the creation and coordination of service events and projects. The Exeter community must “know if their service [efforts] are truly worthwhile,” he said.Through this presentation, WCTT also introduced students to their grant program, which recognizes and provides generous funds to top service organizations led by middle and high school students. PEA students who attended the presentation were given the criteria for the grant and instructed on how to apply.Overall, WCTT hopes that students have learned how to “think critically about community service projects and their implications,” Pond said. She added that students must recognize that it is only through strong planning and thought that any organization can inspire real change.The ESSO board believes that this event is only the first step in a new approach to community service. “This was a great example of how to take what we do in ESSO and bring it up to a whole new level,” Reyes said. “Educating others about service and how to make it more sustainable can only make [us] stronger.”In the future, ESSO hopes to not only give students opportunities to participate in community service, but also the tools to make their contributions impactful.“How can we ESSOnians ensure that the time we dedicate to community service is truly impactful and beneficial?” ESSO board member and upper Connie Cai said.“Community service should not be done to make you feel good, but to truly address a need from the community around you,” she concluded.