Committee Head Tactical Application

Being a Welcome Week Committee Head requires independent and interdependent thinking. At times, you must proceed with little direction and make tough decisions on your own. Other times, you must work with several different people to make decisions both large and small. This requires a delicate balance of seeking your own answers and knowing when to ask for more information or help.

Below you will see a list of “challenges” that we would like you to complete as part of your application process. You must complete as many of these as possible before your individual interview. Like Welcome Week, there never seems to be enough time to accomplish everything you need to get done. It is up to you to decide which items are the most important to complete, and to the degree of “excellence” you complete them.

These should be completed and emailed to welcome-week@bethel.edu by the end of the day on Wednesday, December 1.

You must complete at least one (1) of the following from EACH category (Relational, Logistical, Theoretical) and come prepared to discuss it at your interview.  Note the committee names next to each and choose your tasks based on the committee(s) you are applying for.

Relational

Find at least one of these individuals and schedule meetings (15-20 minutes) with these individuals (they know they may be hearing from you).

  • Avis Soderstrom (Marketing and Communication)

    • What is your role with Welcome Week?

    • Why is the work of the WW Communications and Marketing team so vital to the WW experience for new students and families?

    • How can the WW Communications and Marketing team enhance the campus experience better next year?

  • Zach Hill (Service)

    • What is the role of Security versus the role of the Service Committee for move-in?

    • What are unique challenges the Service Committee should be prepared for on move-in days?

    • What recommendations do you have for improving Welcome Week move-in?

  • Dale Durie (Spiritual) 

    • How can Welcome Week and Christian Formation and Church Relations be better partners in the WW process?

    • What ideas for improvement do you have for Welcome Week activities that CFCR partners with?

    • Ask, “If I were to be hired for this position, what do you recommend my first steps be to establish a good connection with the CFCR team?”

  • Kathryn Mincks (Transitions)  

    • What is your role working with commuter and transfer students?

    • What unique things should the WW Transitions committee be aware of when preparing to welcome commuter and transfer students into Bethel?

    • What recommendations do you have to improve the transfer and commuter experience during Welcome Week?

  • Kerri Baker (Community Development)

    • What is your role at Bethel and what is your role in Welcome Week?

    • In preparing for Show practice and dress rehearsals, what is important to keep in mind to have a good relationship with you and your staff?

    • What ideas for improvement do you have to make The Show go as smoothly as possible?

  • Michele Hamersma (Team Development)

    • What is your role at Bethel and in what ways do you typically work with the Welcome Week staff?

    • Ask: “Typically the Team Development Committee plans 1-2 events that involve ordering and serving food. How do we go about ordering food and how do we determine how much food we need?”

    • What is the best way for Welcome Week staff to interact with the Sodexo team about Welcome Week needs? Is there one person we should talk to? What information is helpful for a WWer to know to be prepared for a successful meeting?

    • What ideas do you have to improve the Welcome Week experience?  

  • Tim Hammer (Visual Impact)

    • What is your role at Bethel and what is your role in Welcome Week?

    • What legalities or special considerations should the Visual Impact Committee be aware of in preparing and shooting videos?  

    • When preparing videos that will be put on the BU website to reach new students, what elements are important to consider?  

    • What ideas do you have to improve the scope of how the Visual Impact Committee can serve incoming students and their families?  

Logistical  (Write a proposal for at least one of the options below.)

To make a copy of the proposal form that you can edit, go to File -> Make a Copy and save it in your Drive.

  • Communication and Marketing

    • Create a proposal for a coordinated social media campaign. What things do students need to know coming in? How can we work with Admissions?

    • Create a proposal for new WW staff recruitment.  Ask one of this year’s Coordinators what the timeline is for this year and base recruitment plan around those dates.

  • Service

    • Look at last year’s schedule for Wednesday and Thursday move-in. What changes would you make? How would you assign staff to cover all the housing areas for transfer move-in? OR

    • Plan a service opportunity for the Welcome Week staff that would serve to bond the staff in the spring and be a new experience for most Bethel students.  

  • Spiritual

    • Plan a new spiritual development opportunity for the WW staff during spring semester. OR

    • Develop a plan to involve more departments and students in the Prayer Walk during Welcome Week. Who would your committee target? What would their involvement look like?

  • Transitions (no proposal needed)

    • Interview a transfer, commuter, and PSEO student (ideally at least 1 of each that is new at Bethel this year). What was their Welcome Week experience like? What ideas for improving the experience do they have? What ideas from them would you want to implement if you were to be the Transitions Committee Head?

  • Community Development

    • Write up your plan/script for how you will “sell” your committee and the staff on the real purpose behind The Show.  How will you ensure that you keep your committee on point to that purpose when writing The Show and the actors when executing it? (Proposal form not needed), OR

    • What are ideas you have for a new opening number for The Show? The Glow Dance has been done the past couple years. Is it time to change things up? What else could be effective that the staff can effectively learn and execute in two hours of prep time or less? (Additional time by your committee to plan ahead of time not counted in those two hours)

  • Team Development (Proposal form not needed for these)

    • Develop a list of 8 locations in close proximity to Bethel that would benefit from being able to advertise their business to Bethel students.  How would you go about approaching them to secure donations for prizes for the Team Development events during WW?  What specifically would you be looking to get from them?  (Do not reference any materials or individuals from Team from last year for this information, there is not a “right” answer, we are just looking to hear your ideas), OR

    • Interview 2-4 students (ideally try to include one transfer for their perspective) that were new this fall to ask what their experience was like at the Wednesday Night Early Arrival event and Saturday game.  Based on their observations what suggestions would you make to your committee to make these events even better next year?  What were the elements that new students really appreciated?  What elements were frustrating or felt like “forced fun” to the new students?

  • Visual Impact
    • Write a proposal (including a timeline) for how you would provide training to your committee on the essential elements of video creation.  What elements would you cover first?  What elements are important for everyone to know/be comfortable with and which are only needed for specific individuals? Assume all essential training needs to be done in the first month after they’ve been hired and remaining training will have to happen simultaneously with filming the rest of spring semester.

Theoretical

(Written proposal not required, you will just explain your plan to the Coordinators as part of your interview)

  • What would be your plan for building and developing community within the committee you lead?  Create a timeline for what this would look like from the time they are hired through the week of Welcome Week.

  • What would your committee meetings and committee assignments look like?  How would you divide up the work and how would you hold your committee members responsible for completing their tasks?  

  • How would you create buy-in for your leadership among peers? What things do you think are important characteristics to inspire followership?