Club workshops exist to educate on fundamentals

Hello everyone!

I hope you are enjoying your week! With the completion of the Student Leadership Summit this past weekend, we are officially through with our wave of trainings for the fall. As clubs are in the process of being notified for any incomplete requirements and unexcused absences, I wanted to take some time to explain the importance of each of our requirements.

The financial workshop  provides officers with the core nuts and bolts of how to work with budgets, and how to interface with the Union financially. While we cannot cover every single detail in this workshop alone, we cover the basis for common tasks like making a purchase requisition and collecting funds via student charge sheets. As it may not seem intuitive, we feel this training is essential for the success of our club officers. 

Similar to the financial workshop, the travel workshop outlines specifics on what to consider when planning for a travel event and what to consider when you are actually traveling. There are a number of important considerations to make when planning these activities, such as transportation means and lodging.

With both of these workshops, we believe it is vital for club officers to develop a baseline understanding during these sessions. However, as mentioned in the workshops, always direct questions and uncertainties to your Student Activities Resource Person, E-Board representative, or other Union staff.

In recent years, we’ve seen the addition of two more training requirements for all club officers—a Title IX workshop and bystander intervention training. These workshops cover your roles as leaders in the event of incidents pertaining to alcohol and drug abuse or sexual misconduct. They cover the aspects of prevention and timely reporting, two very important items to consider as leaders of our student organizations.

With all of these requirements, the objective is to ensure our clubs are best equipped to succeed, and our officers are empowered in handling misconduct issues appropriately to support the safety of our students. I am thankful for the time and effort our club officers take in completing these trainings, along with all the effort by our staff to create these sessions!

If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at pu@rpi.edu!