Our student organizations and continuing initiatives are collectively known as the Service Cluster, and each member organization of the cluster is supported by the Service Cluster Board, a peer-advised council. The SCB functions as a support platform that provides training, oversight, and funding.
Each year, SCB hosts a retreat for student organization leaders as well as monthly workshops for program development. Topics include budget planning, leadership transitions, and member recruitment. SCB also administers the Flex Fund, which grants funding to student-designed community service projects.
Budgets and ledgers and emails, oh my! A week in the Community Engagement Office as a co-coordinator of the Service Cluster Board (SCB) is focused on making sure student service organizations on campus have the resources they need to do quality community service. Together my co-coordinator, Huy Nguyen, and I peer-advise the 17 student service orgs on campus and help troubleshoot problems ranging from budget snafoos to annual leadership transitions. An average day in SCB revolves around communicating with student leaders, auditing org budgets, and planning regular leadership meetings for org leaders to develop their skills ambassadors for service on campus – there’s never a dull moment! I love working with SCB, because it allows me to collaborate with a variety of student service leaders. Like a spark plug that never tires, every student org leader I interact with is thinking of new and creative programming for their organization that goes beyond the confines of previous events. This energy motivates me to ensure that any student interested in service on campus is able to get involved and continue to foster the strong partnerships with communities in Middlebury, in Addison County, and further afield.
-Maeve Moynihan ’17