Improving Our Improvement

ESSO, the campus-wide community service clubs program, is a great, low-pressure way to help the community. A large variety of activities are offered, ranging from art classes with kids, one-on-one tutoring and even some sports-related activities.ESSO’s low-stress environment, however, has led to some accountability and commitment is- sues. To put a stop to this, ESSO has decided to distribute “demerits” to non-committing members and co-heads.People tend to flake when it comes to ESSO; with a busy schedules of homework and strictly required engagements, sometimes students must shave off some of their activities. Still, demerits will create organization and boost reliability and trust.According to some ESSO heads, the usual case is that a group of people sign u for off-campus trips, but only half will end up showing up. Though an ESSO club is not a class or a sport, by signing up, one is willingly taking the responsibility to show up and help; not doing so usually results in chaos and stress for the co-heads and the volunteers who do show up; an action like this should not go un- punished.The plan for the entire system is that the clubs will be rated based on commitment, so that those who do not want to go through the stress of re- ceiving a demerit can pick organizations with low commitment ratings.

With clubs like Tutoring for Children, a one- on-one appointment, one should be advised to think about his or her schedule and figure out if one has the time to be at every meeting.

This way, students will know what they would be getting into before signing up; and once again, the point of the demerit system is not to trick stu- dents, but to make sure they are reliable and avid participants within the community.The distributions of demerits are up to indi- vidual co-heads. Because all heads are students, they are also very familiar with busy schedules and stress, and because this is a new rule, it is most likely that they will give everybody a transition period to get used to the new system.Right now, according to the ESSO board, there is no definite meaning for what a demerit will be, and for right now, that is a good idea. ESSO has just had its turnover for club heads, so everything is a bit chaotic at the moment. Right now, the board is trying to figure out a way to define a demerit, but the effect and meaning should be decided once club meetings have once again been stabilized.This is the first time this regulation has been implemented, and we’ll see how things turn out as the term goes on. One thing is for sure though, ESSO will not significantly change: every club meeting will be stress-free and fun and will be something to look forward to after a long, busy week. Relationships and friendships will be made and continue to be made.The only difference now, hopefully, is that people will recognize that ESSO is a significant part of the campus, and should be taken seriously. If students on campus realize this, our community will flourish even more than it does now.