As my project winds down, Old Board New Board is my final responsibility on board which conveniently lines up with the last week of senior projects. This mini event with only the outgoing and incoming boards and regional advisor took place on Sunday after the wrap up of the Seventh and Eighth Grade Social Action Weekend event.
Real talk, it was surreal. Writing this after it happened, I cannot believe I am completely done.
Anyhow, this is a senior project and it can do without the sentimentals.
Old Board New Board exists in all NFTY regions, and allows for a more personal bonding time between the two boards, especially between successor-predessecor pairings. Incoming board members have the time to talk to their predecessors one-on-one, and it is a valuable experience for all parties involved.
My predecessor asked me a series of questions he prepared, and then we talked about some of the special things about running events. I told him at your first event you will be malnourished, dehydrated, and you won't sleep, but it will be one hundred percent worth it. It definitely is not easy, but damn it is fulfilling.
I told him about all of the unique responsibilities of the Programming Vice President that I too was unaware of prior to being elected into this position. The Programming Vice President is responsible for creating the programming calendar for the year, which is where he gets to have the primary say to what the region focuses on over the incoming year.
I gave him some anecdotes about how mind-blowing it is to see all of the NFTY boards on the national level, and chided him about how his board has big shoes to fill after what our board accomplished on the national stage.
Lastly- and this is definitely the coolest thing- I showed him what I discussed here many weeks ago: the legislation I co-authored on the NFTY study theme for the coming year. I created that, and now it is being adopted on the national level, and now he is responsible for writing programs for it. He will have a leg up on all of the other eighteen programming vice presidents, because when it comes to the new study theme, he will have me as a resource if he has any questions.
I also told him that even though I'll be across the country in Boston, I will always be a text, phone call, or FaceTime away. You leave NFTY, but it never really leaves you.
Thanks for reading.
Ariel Tynan
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Monday, April 24, 2017
Week 11: Seventh and Eighth Grade Social Action Weekend
Staffing this event was one of the privileges I had as an outgoing regional board member that I chose to do specifically for my project. I helped plan and lead programs with my old board and the incoming regional board with a group of sixty middle schoolers from Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, and Utah!
Other than the normal responsibilities staff members take on at events, the outgoing regional board was tasked with showing their successors this ropes of running events. This served as a warm up, as it was practically stress free as the new board had no part in preparing for the event.
Through Friday and Saturday I spent time talking to many of the youth about NFTY, and promoting our region. When running a business it is essential to look towards the future and who future consumers might be. All NFTY regions run youth events for middle schoolers for the sake of advertisement so they can reach potential future NFTY-participants and keep the "customer base" alive and growing.
Our region has been doing an incredible job of this, as there has been a large push in the last few years to increase membership to match regions with significantly higher Jewish youth population densities.
With sixty participants, the event was a success. We were under the impression that everyone had a great time, which means we did our job and sold our "product". Product being the high school NFTY experience.
Other than the normal responsibilities staff members take on at events, the outgoing regional board was tasked with showing their successors this ropes of running events. This served as a warm up, as it was practically stress free as the new board had no part in preparing for the event.
Through Friday and Saturday I spent time talking to many of the youth about NFTY, and promoting our region. When running a business it is essential to look towards the future and who future consumers might be. All NFTY regions run youth events for middle schoolers for the sake of advertisement so they can reach potential future NFTY-participants and keep the "customer base" alive and growing.
Our region has been doing an incredible job of this, as there has been a large push in the last few years to increase membership to match regions with significantly higher Jewish youth population densities.
With sixty participants, the event was a success. We were under the impression that everyone had a great time, which means we did our job and sold our "product". Product being the high school NFTY experience.
Monday, April 17, 2017
Week 10: Real World Applications
Now that I am finished planning and carrying out NFTY events (for the most part) I can take a step back and reflect on the real world applications of everything I have been doing for this project, and this year thus far.
On an individual level, my plan for college is mapped similarly to what I have pursued in high school. I will be spending the next four or five years attending Northeastern University, majoring in Engineering and minoring in a business field, preferably Business Management if everything pans out. This will allow me to apply what I learned through my project and NFTY directly to my learning in Boston. One of my long term goals as an adult is to create something larger than myself, and in doing so I need to be able to effectively organize people to pursue a goal. I have successfully done that over the course of this year and I hope I can continue to learn how to do so in college and beyond.
On a broader scale, I hope my research, documentation, and analyzation of my experiences serves multiple purposes. I hope future NFTY leaders who want to gauge what it takes to be on regional board can read my experiences here and take away a little bit of what it is like and what is required. I want to look back on what I did here when I am applying for jobs, and hopefully hiring employees, and consider what it is essential for me to build an efficient, complementary team of creative minds. I want my success this year to lead to future success in business, and my experiences effectively selling the product of "NFTY-Southwest" to high-schoolers has certainly been both insightful and successful.
On an individual level, my plan for college is mapped similarly to what I have pursued in high school. I will be spending the next four or five years attending Northeastern University, majoring in Engineering and minoring in a business field, preferably Business Management if everything pans out. This will allow me to apply what I learned through my project and NFTY directly to my learning in Boston. One of my long term goals as an adult is to create something larger than myself, and in doing so I need to be able to effectively organize people to pursue a goal. I have successfully done that over the course of this year and I hope I can continue to learn how to do so in college and beyond.
On a broader scale, I hope my research, documentation, and analyzation of my experiences serves multiple purposes. I hope future NFTY leaders who want to gauge what it takes to be on regional board can read my experiences here and take away a little bit of what it is like and what is required. I want to look back on what I did here when I am applying for jobs, and hopefully hiring employees, and consider what it is essential for me to build an efficient, complementary team of creative minds. I want my success this year to lead to future success in business, and my experiences effectively selling the product of "NFTY-Southwest" to high-schoolers has certainly been both insightful and successful.
Friday, April 14, 2017
Week 9: Post-Spring Kallah
After the term is served, the newest set ex-regional board members have a few additional responsibilities. These responsibilities are similar to the responsibilities of anyone in administration who is either promoted or leaving their position. They have responsibility, to an extent, in training and teaching their successor, preparing them for their year on regional board.
This training occurs through a event called Old Board New Board, where the outgoing and incoming boards meet with the regional advisor, go over the year and talk about next year. This event takes place on April 23rd and ends April 25th and is coupled with a larger event: Seventh-Eighth Grade Social Action Weekend, an event for temple middle schoolers. We are all staffing this event.
When holding a leadership position it definitely helps taking notes, using past successes and failures to learn about how you can improve in the future. I am prepared to help my successor with my experiences learning about how to write programs, as well as showing them my past programs and going over what worked and what did not.
This training occurs through a event called Old Board New Board, where the outgoing and incoming boards meet with the regional advisor, go over the year and talk about next year. This event takes place on April 23rd and ends April 25th and is coupled with a larger event: Seventh-Eighth Grade Social Action Weekend, an event for temple middle schoolers. We are all staffing this event.
When holding a leadership position it definitely helps taking notes, using past successes and failures to learn about how you can improve in the future. I am prepared to help my successor with my experiences learning about how to write programs, as well as showing them my past programs and going over what worked and what did not.
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Week 9: Spring Kallah
It has certainly been a hectic week, no doubt about it. This last weekend was Spring Kallah, and for me it was a rush to get all of my stuff together especially after I had to throw out my initial big program for Saturday night. However, it is all in the past and everything went better than expected!
Both of my programs ran smoothly. Participants were engaged with the group leaders. I had to have adult advisors and regional board members lead groups in my program titled: "Seek Peace and Pursue It", due to the lack of preparation time and it would make the program run much smoother.
Elections proceeded on Friday afternoon without a hitch, I would like to congratulate my successor Max Palay. I am looking forward to working with him and then watching where he takes our region next year. Prior to elections, the NFTY-SW general board managed to pass an amendment during a mini-Asefah regarding instant run off voting. Needless to say, this weekend was incredibly productive and eventful.
In a business, generational leadership exists but over the span of decades. In NFTY it exists over four years, as high school teens are rapidly able to develop as leaders and individuals (relatively speaking).
Now that my tenure is up as the Programming Vice President of NFTY-Southwest, I am responsible for preparing my successor to the best of my ability. I will have multiple opportunities to do so, the primary one being at Old Board-New Board, an event with both board taking place in two weeks. During this time we will also be conducting another regional event, this time with younger participants who are the future of our region.
Finally, now that my programs have been carried out, I can post them here! The last few weeks leading up to, and through Spring Kallah have been exhausting, but it was fulfilling to see the fruits of my labor at my last event.
Both of my programs ran smoothly. Participants were engaged with the group leaders. I had to have adult advisors and regional board members lead groups in my program titled: "Seek Peace and Pursue It", due to the lack of preparation time and it would make the program run much smoother.
Elections proceeded on Friday afternoon without a hitch, I would like to congratulate my successor Max Palay. I am looking forward to working with him and then watching where he takes our region next year. Prior to elections, the NFTY-SW general board managed to pass an amendment during a mini-Asefah regarding instant run off voting. Needless to say, this weekend was incredibly productive and eventful.
In a business, generational leadership exists but over the span of decades. In NFTY it exists over four years, as high school teens are rapidly able to develop as leaders and individuals (relatively speaking).
Now that my tenure is up as the Programming Vice President of NFTY-Southwest, I am responsible for preparing my successor to the best of my ability. I will have multiple opportunities to do so, the primary one being at Old Board-New Board, an event with both board taking place in two weeks. During this time we will also be conducting another regional event, this time with younger participants who are the future of our region.
Finally, now that my programs have been carried out, I can post them here! The last few weeks leading up to, and through Spring Kallah have been exhausting, but it was fulfilling to see the fruits of my labor at my last event.
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Week 8: Stress in the Workplace
Needless to say, things do not always go as planned, and when that happens people show their true colors. Our team has been spoiled this year as we have tended to complete our designated tasks outlined last week fairly competently. However, tonight is the night before my last NFTY event and the last few days have been hectic with the last-minute change in schedule and the furious re-write ups of programs.
Thankfully, we all can depend on each other. Everything that needed to be completed was completed, and I am sure the weekend will be amazing. Also- stress builds character!
Valuable lessons are learned in these moments: it is okay when plans do not fall through or turn out as anticipated. It is important to accept circumstances that result from occurrences beyond our control, and focus on what we can control to make the best of a new situation.
That is a piece of advice to anyone reading this when it seems as though everything is falling apart.
Of course, there can be much more difficult circumstances. In my opinion those occur when people are unable to complete tasks assigned to them. In NFTY it is very difficult to remove someone from board, and that is a decision made by the regional advisor. We were fortunate to not be put in that situation this year, however this does make a key different between Business Management in NFTY versus the real world. If a board member does not fulfill their responsibilities, the region suffers for their year, however if someone fails to do their paying job, they will be fired and replaced with a more competent individual.
Thankfully, we all can depend on each other. Everything that needed to be completed was completed, and I am sure the weekend will be amazing. Also- stress builds character!
Valuable lessons are learned in these moments: it is okay when plans do not fall through or turn out as anticipated. It is important to accept circumstances that result from occurrences beyond our control, and focus on what we can control to make the best of a new situation.
That is a piece of advice to anyone reading this when it seems as though everything is falling apart.
Of course, there can be much more difficult circumstances. In my opinion those occur when people are unable to complete tasks assigned to them. In NFTY it is very difficult to remove someone from board, and that is a decision made by the regional advisor. We were fortunate to not be put in that situation this year, however this does make a key different between Business Management in NFTY versus the real world. If a board member does not fulfill their responsibilities, the region suffers for their year, however if someone fails to do their paying job, they will be fired and replaced with a more competent individual.
Monday, April 3, 2017
Week 8: More Difficulties
Hey everyone,
If you're a member of the BASIS Phoenix Class of 2017, it goes without saying that last week was particularly difficult for all of us.
Spring Kallah planning (April 7-9) has not been much easier, there have been many roadblocks. My mini program addressing anti-semitism is completed and we were able to procure a representative from the Anti-Defamation League, so that is pretty cool and I am looking forward to that.
My large program, a "Beit-Midrash"- a program with many different stations were participants are able to discuss different perspectives of a topic- had to be completely changed as it was found my program was significantly too politically charged, and many would argue one-sided as well. This was most certainly disappointing as I had spent a significant amount of time on it. Anyhow, with less than a week to spare I am hammering down a new theme and topics for the Beit Midrash.
With the impending event I have been also working on some smaller items, such as some Kahoot games for the social on Saturday night, a senior slideshow for the Class of 2017, and writing a couple speeches for when I install my predecessor after elections, and when I officially become de-stalled.
The last two weeks have certainly been busy and draining. Hoping all of the planning for Spring Kallah will pay off.
If you're a member of the BASIS Phoenix Class of 2017, it goes without saying that last week was particularly difficult for all of us.
Spring Kallah planning (April 7-9) has not been much easier, there have been many roadblocks. My mini program addressing anti-semitism is completed and we were able to procure a representative from the Anti-Defamation League, so that is pretty cool and I am looking forward to that.
My large program, a "Beit-Midrash"- a program with many different stations were participants are able to discuss different perspectives of a topic- had to be completely changed as it was found my program was significantly too politically charged, and many would argue one-sided as well. This was most certainly disappointing as I had spent a significant amount of time on it. Anyhow, with less than a week to spare I am hammering down a new theme and topics for the Beit Midrash.
With the impending event I have been also working on some smaller items, such as some Kahoot games for the social on Saturday night, a senior slideshow for the Class of 2017, and writing a couple speeches for when I install my predecessor after elections, and when I officially become de-stalled.
The last two weeks have certainly been busy and draining. Hoping all of the planning for Spring Kallah will pay off.
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