I've had some opportunities to be a 'good' alumna and yesterday gave me another one with again a few fine lessons.
One of my basic education schools is Vasudevi (Regina Mundi). It was established by the Ursuline nuns with 4 schools at present (Vasudevi, Mater Dei-- also one of my Alma Mater, Regina Coeli in Chiang Mai, and Piyamat in Payao). The school group has initiated a project for each school to invite awardees to share their thoughts and experiences, using Serviam (I will serve!) in their lives.
My friends and I agreed that it could be regarded something quite distant from younger kids so we decided to talk a bit more about our careers and how we saw this philosophy in ourselves, work, and life.
As one of the volunteers, I offered my ideas how the talk could be set up to attract kids' attention. I myself served also as a moderator and urged that a student join me too...otherwise there would have been three old ladies talking lae ka!
Lessons learned from this activity are:
1. Go along with the group-- be diverse, 'as you like it!'
Three speakers had three preferred styles of talking, one wanted to talk alone for 15 minutes, the second one would answer following her own questions set, and the third one--me, would love to go something lighter like chatting with friends.
After talking with the coordinator and the other two speakers, I told her to go in the diverse styles so the other two would feel easier!
2. Leave the timetable tight only on paper!
Since all the organizers/speakers are retirees with lots of work experiences, several are still used to drawing a very systematic timetable like 5 minutes for the opening, 15 minutes for one speaker and 5 minutes for Q&A, etc. I didn't really request any change when asked, though! Being with kids needs to be in a more relaxing environment but the experienced do have their points. I tend to 'play it by ear' again!
3. Help without asking!
When asked about the stage setup, I advised for some changes and right away, no questions were raised, except some apologetic remarks of troubling those involved. Immediately, everyone started replacing the big armchairs with smaller ones. Not even one complaint or annoyance was heard/seen!
4. Have Trust!
The coordinator was a bit anxious as she didn't hear from me well before the program started. She also said she forgot to ask me about the stage setup. However, she said she had 'trust' that I'd do what I promised, like calling speakers and our young moderator so all knew what to expect. I think it's a big word and it was great to keep her sane despite her very real self of being systematic and efficient.
I got some nice thoughts about alumni activities. In our traditional hierachical culture, it isn't easy to manage when considering some factors especially seniority. For volunteer work, no one could be boss and it will work well when everyone tries to accommodate the requests/needs as far as possible to reach one same goal....success of the activity as planned with favorable results!
We all were happy being volunteers yesterday!
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