Isabel Deslauriers, Manager of Let’s Talk Science Outreach, was kind enough to share some of their practices in working with their clubs across Canada.
Let’s Talk Science Outreach sites can be found at over 40 university and colleges across Canada. Available free of charge, more than 3,500 post-secondary student volunteers and a growing number of industry partners engage youth in hands-on/minds-on STEM learning experiences in both school and community settings. Q: Is your programming consistent across your clubs, or do they have considerable autonomy in deciding what to do? If the latter, how do you balance this with the need to uphold organizational standards? A: We provide two big guidelines for the program: it’s volunteer-driven, and it emphasizes hands-on experiences. Within that, the volunteers and local coordinators have tremendous leeway to create their own initiatives that fit in well within their community. For example, volunteers have developed workshops related to their own interests and in response to local teacher requests - everything from a DNA whodunit workshop to rocket launching and robotics. Volunteers have also created a series of on-campus symposia based on the research specialties of their university: StemCellTalks started at the University of Toronto, and Let’s Talk Nanotechnology at the University of Alberta. Our philosophy is to support our volunteers’ passions. Q: What, if any, strategies do you use to integrate club members into the operations and decision-making of your broader organization? A: For a volunteer-driven program in particular, it’s important for the participants to shape the program around their passions and their needs, so we put a high priority providing a voice to our members. As an example, every year local coordinators have the opportunity to participate in a regional and a national conference, which are two of the key events where coordinators have a voice in shaping the national program. Sessions where we raise current issues and problem-solve them together feed directly into national planning and resource allocation. Another big part of the conference is about meeting representatives from other locations to discuss challenges and share ideas. This is how many of the key initiatives on the national level started to spread. For example, the Let’s Talk Science Challenge was originally presented by McMaster University at the national conference, where three other universities adopted the idea. As the event continued to spread, the national office put more financial and logistical support behind it, and helped it grow to 24 locations. Q: What are some of the frustrations of coordinating campus clubs? What practices have you used to overcome these? A: The most difficult aspect is the fact that as students, coordinators and volunteers are only around for a few years. This can make it challenging for a local program to maintain continuity, but being a part of a national organization can help overcome this. Our regional coordinators (who are staff members) have a huge role in helping with continuity. We make sure that the program keeps going after even after a key coordinator finishes their term – preserving and building on their legacy. Once the graduating coordinator has left, the regional coordinator acts as a mentor to the new coordinator, and they help transfer local relationships and understand long term projects and challenges. The first few universities that joined the program have now had groups operating for more than 25 years!
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