Greetings. My name is Terry Zhang. Over the past year, I
have gained valuable experience through volunteering at Chess in the Library
branches. I possess several distinguishing traits and skills which make me a
prime candidate for the Volunteer Coordinator position at Chess in the Library.
The duties of the Volunteer Coordinator chiefly involve the
actions of recruiting, training, and manage Chess in the Library Volunteers. I
am a part of a large network of students across Canada and have several
contacts in each of Canada's major cities, thus allowing for smooth and
efficient communication between the executive team and regional directors. In
addition, I will add more contacts over the summer through ShadValley and be
able to elect a new regional director for the program in London, Ontario. My
ability to quickly contact others would prove to be vital and efficient in the
process of recruiting new volunteers and expanding to new cities.
Beyond recruiting, I am also very experienced in instructing
and training people. Outside of chess, I am a certified snowboard instructor;
my experience in teaching others how to perform certain actions can easily be
applied to training volunteers on how to act professionally as well as teaching
the game of chess to new players. This year, I volunteered at three branches
(Malvern, Brookbanks, and Leaside) and spent the majority of my time teaching
the basic mechanics of chess to younger kids. If elected, I would make sure
that all Chess in the Library volunteers act in a proficient, efficient, and
professional manner.
The toughest job of the Volunteer Coordinator is that of
managing volunteer hours. From my experience of volunteering at three branches,
I noticed that the method of book
keeping at each branch was not completely reliable. To improve the efficiency
and reliability of the volunteer hours book-keeping, I plan on making the head
volunteer at each Chess in the Library Branch e-mail me the names and hours of
every volunteer who showed up on a weekly basis. This action does not require a
lot of effort, yet it goes a long way in keeping Chess in the Library's book of
volunteer hours up to date and accurate.
With these skills and ideas, I believe that I am a prime
candidate for the position of Volunteer Coordinator. Vote for Terry Zhang for
Volunteer Coordinator of Chess in the Library 2013-2014.
