By Dhanu Thiyagarajan, FY18 Region E Collegiate Senator
Background:
With the passing of the motion to dissolve regions, a lot of concern arose about support for collegiate sections. Collegiate sections range from being heavily involved with societal activities to not knowing that SWE as a society exists. There are a multitude of reasons for this big variation in collegiate section participation, but previously, one consistent factor existed to try and bridge this gap: the region collegiate team (RCT). With the RCT dissolution starting July 2018, a lot of thought and discussion is happening to determine a variety of ways to keep collegiate sections engaged. One of the methods is to further utilize and engage counselors.
Again, there are a wide variety of section and counselor relationships. The most common ways that sections utilize counselors are as a connection between collegiate and professional SWE sections; a network between their collegiate section and the Society; and, a mentor to guide their section. The way each section utilizes their counselor is determined by the section’s leadership and their needs for the fiscal year. Some sections are well established and don’t need guidance on how to run a section or gather information about societal SWE, so these sections are looking for someone who can be a bridge to a professional SWE section. Other sections are new or re-emerging and need guidance on how to run a SWE collegiate section and learn about what resources are available to them from SWE at the society level. Therefore, the responsibility of what a collegiate section hopes to utilize their counselor for is placed on the section’s leadership.
The proposed motion:
The goal of Senate motion S-1809 is to provide sections with a bigger pool of possible counselors, so that each section can find a counselor that best fits their needs and goals for the fiscal year. Graduate students are able to provide a wide array of unique experiences that may be beneficial to certain collegiate sections for them to prosper. By providing an increased number of counselor candidates, the intent of this motion is to help ensure that every collegiate section has an active counselor. It is critical to the mission of the society to ensure that collegiates stay engaged even without the RCT looking forward. Senate motion S-1809 would be one step forward in the right direction, because collegiate sections would have increased opportunities to elect a counselor that best fits their goals allowing them to develop into stronger sections.
Note from the motion makers:
Each of us supports this motion, because we have been in situations where we would have benefited from this change. Some of us have been involved with collegiate sections that did not have a counselor presence. We had a difficult journey to lead our sections without guidance and learn that societal SWE exists; nonetheless get involved at the society level. Some of us are graduate students who help other collegiate sections, unofficially in a graduate advisor/counselor role. We understand the importance of a strong mentor for each collegiate section and understanding societal SWE; by supporting this motion, we hope that more collegiate members will understand their pathway forward within SWE like we did.
Background:
With the passing of the motion to dissolve regions, a lot of concern arose about support for collegiate sections. Collegiate sections range from being heavily involved with societal activities to not knowing that SWE as a society exists. There are a multitude of reasons for this big variation in collegiate section participation, but previously, one consistent factor existed to try and bridge this gap: the region collegiate team (RCT). With the RCT dissolution starting July 2018, a lot of thought and discussion is happening to determine a variety of ways to keep collegiate sections engaged. One of the methods is to further utilize and engage counselors.
Again, there are a wide variety of section and counselor relationships. The most common ways that sections utilize counselors are as a connection between collegiate and professional SWE sections; a network between their collegiate section and the Society; and, a mentor to guide their section. The way each section utilizes their counselor is determined by the section’s leadership and their needs for the fiscal year. Some sections are well established and don’t need guidance on how to run a section or gather information about societal SWE, so these sections are looking for someone who can be a bridge to a professional SWE section. Other sections are new or re-emerging and need guidance on how to run a SWE collegiate section and learn about what resources are available to them from SWE at the society level. Therefore, the responsibility of what a collegiate section hopes to utilize their counselor for is placed on the section’s leadership.
The proposed motion:
The goal of Senate motion S-1809 is to provide sections with a bigger pool of possible counselors, so that each section can find a counselor that best fits their needs and goals for the fiscal year. Graduate students are able to provide a wide array of unique experiences that may be beneficial to certain collegiate sections for them to prosper. By providing an increased number of counselor candidates, the intent of this motion is to help ensure that every collegiate section has an active counselor. It is critical to the mission of the society to ensure that collegiates stay engaged even without the RCT looking forward. Senate motion S-1809 would be one step forward in the right direction, because collegiate sections would have increased opportunities to elect a counselor that best fits their goals allowing them to develop into stronger sections.
Note from the motion makers:
Each of us supports this motion, because we have been in situations where we would have benefited from this change. Some of us have been involved with collegiate sections that did not have a counselor presence. We had a difficult journey to lead our sections without guidance and learn that societal SWE exists; nonetheless get involved at the society level. Some of us are graduate students who help other collegiate sections, unofficially in a graduate advisor/counselor role. We understand the importance of a strong mentor for each collegiate section and understanding societal SWE; by supporting this motion, we hope that more collegiate members will understand their pathway forward within SWE like we did.
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