How Does EWB-OSU Function?

By: Nicole DiRando

Have you ever wondered how student organizations run? Or how they stay afloat while each member battles the inevitable challenge of managing part time jobs, full time schedules, and other school activities?

Although our organization offers many rewarding opportunities and new skill sets, it can be extremely time consuming. If we don’t submit completed documentation on time, real lives are affected and can stall the progress of our work. Whether you are just an active member or part of the executive board, each member’s role is crucial in constructing and implementing a successful project.

EWB-OSU follows the traditional hierarchical structure where the President and Vice President are in charge of setting overall club goals and expectations, committee executives are engaged in steering their committees and team members to attain the goals set by the President and Vice President, and the non-executive roles and general members carry out the essential tasks of keeping the organization running strong.

Each semester the Executive Board gets together for a Fall or Spring Advance. At this meeting each member discusses their committee’s current status and goals. During the Fall Advance the group completes a SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats) Analysis in order to review how the organization is functioning and what we can do better. During the Spring Advance the group discusses remaining action items from the previous semester and new goals.

Having transitioned through the Executive Board in various roles (Professional Liaison, International Projects Lead, Vice President, and President), I have gained many different skills sets that have influenced my decision making and goal setting. Using various resources, I wanted to make sure my goals were something that would encourage other executive board members to reach their own goals. During my time as President my goals where: Accountability, Communication, and Execution. It’s one thing to “talk the talk” but as an organization we also need to “walk the walk.”

Using the Student Organization Success Framework Self-Assessment to guide our goals, our executives are working diligently in providing the best opportunities and experiences for our general members and our family in Njau. Each executive role, big or small, is helping our chapter lean away from just “talking the talk” to a more successful ideology of “walking the walk.”

For more information regarding our Executive Board Structure refer to the diagram below, and for more information regarding our chapter’s initiatives to “walk the walk” please see our results of the Self-Assessment.