As a youth pastor, I try to be involved in some way in a local high school. I decided to volunteer as a tutor in a local high school's AVID program since I had done so at the local high school near my last church. I contacted the teacher in charge of AVID, and thought I was on my way. I knew I would have to complete a few tasks before I could be eligible to volunteer, such as going in for fingerprinting. However, I had a very difficult experience getting everything done. Here's a summary of what happened:
- After talking with the teacher, I went in for a required interview with the AVID coordinator at the local college (because the local college in part sponsors the program at the high school through a federal grant) to take care of some logistics. It went quickly, and the coordinator told me someone from the school would be in touch with me shortly to discuss the schedule.
- In the mean time, the teacher told me that I could get my background check at the school district's main office. I went in one day when I had some time. Here's what happened during that visit: 1) I filled out a piece of paper; 2) paid $15 to the district (for the background check); was told that I needed to take that piece of paper back to the college to be fingerprinted on a Tuesday between 2pm and 4pm or a Wednesday between 3pm and 5pm (which would cost an additional $10 there). Note that I did not actually get anything processed at that time, besides my $15 payment. I thought this was curious, but was encouraged that I would be done after one more stop, especially since it happened to be Tuesday that day.
- I went to the college that day at 2:30pm. I could not find a place to park because seemingly all the lots within 1/4 mile of the building required a permit. Thankfully, I was able to find an information booth, who gave me a temporary parking pass near the building I needed to visit. The employee at the school district office had told me how to get to the building, but not how to park.
- Unfortunately, the wait when I finally arrived at the fingerprinting office at the college, the wait was over an hour, and I needed to get back to the church before then. I called the school district to inquire if perhaps there were other ways to be fingerprinted (such as at a local police station, which is permitted in Colorado). The only way to be fingerprinted was at the college during the two scheduled times, Tuesday between 2pm and 4pm or Wednesday between 3pm and 5pm.
- Since it's December, the fingerprinting office would be closed during Christmas break. So, the next day, Wednesday, was my last chance to be fingerprinted before I was to start volunteering in January. I took a book and arrived 45 minutes early. After waiting a few minutes, the gal who was preparing the fingerprinting made sure I had all my paperwork. I had prepared to pay the $10 with a debit card, following the recommendation of the school district office. Thankfully, the gal at the fingerprinting office let me know that if I was using a debit or credit card, I would need to pay across campus in the cashier's office first, then come and get in line. Since I was early, it was not an issue and I went to the office to take care of the payment. When they opened the office, I was first in line, was fingerprinted, and went on my merry way.
Now, each person that I worked with along the way was nice and as helpful as they knew how to be. However, my total experience--from the time that I contacted the school to inquire how to volunteer to finally getting my fingerprinting done--didn't make me feel like anyone really cared whether I volunteered at the school or not. The reason I've gone through the trouble to list the details of my experience is this: it caused me, for the first time, to wonder about the experience of those who volunteer in our high school ministry. Do they feel valued as volunteers, from the first time they ask about how to get involved or the first time I contact them to recruit them? Sure, the process makes sense to me, but how do they feel about the packet of information we have them fill out? Do they feel supported? Do they feel like the trainings we provide are a good use of their time? When I give them a book as a gift, do they see it as an additional obligation instead?
One of the biggest things I needed to learn when I was a young 23-year-old youth minister with minimal youth ministry experience and no formal training in my first position running a ministry was how to build a great team of volunteers. When I first began in youth ministry, I saw volunteers only as people who helped me do ministry. Yes, I valued them in a way, but I wanted volunteers who were already great at doing ministry, and I did not see myself as someone who was supposed to help develop leaders. Thankfully, the two youth ministers I volunteered under while I was in college invested a lot in me, so I had some idea how to do the same. However, I've come to realize that a large part of my job is getting people on board who love Jesus, love teenagers, and are excited about the mission and vision of our church and youth ministry, and helping them to become great volunteers. Without a great team of volunteers, our ministry does not do what it does. Period.
I'm excited about tutoring in our local high school. From what I know about the school, not a lot of people volunteer there. I don't know a whole lot about education, but I do know that schools that tend to do a great job educating kids have a lot of volunteers investing their time, whether those people are parents, volunteer coaches, or retirees who just want to spend their time helping kids do well in school. I wonder how the school would change if the administration put a greater emphasis on recruiting people to volunteer and making it easy to do. I wonder how our high school ministry would change if I did a better job doing the same. In my ministry plan for 2010, I placed it as a high priority. I suppose it's time to put my money where my mouth is.
As I continue to work through these issues, here are some links that might be of interest:
Cadre Ministries - a great website for volunteer training resources that are really practical.
Why Volunteers Won't Show Up For Your Training, a post on Life In Student Ministry by Bill Allison from Cadre Ministries
"YS One Day" - a one-day youth ministry training that's probably coming to a city near you. I'm not sure about the form it will take given Youth Specialties' recent sale to YouthWorks!, but it's always been a great experience for my volunteers in the past.
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