We had an amazing group of volunteers…some of whom just came up and asked how they could help!

It wasn’t clear that we were responsible for running the refreshment room. I was okay with this, but simply wasn’t expecting to have this duty. The refreshments were dropped off and we were given minimal instruction. I would want next year’s volunteers to get clear instruction on the expectations. We mixed the punch, set out the cookies, filled ice water pitchers, cleaned up and dealt with the leftover ingredients. Perhaps the refreshment team could have helped with some of this. We put a punch bowl and cookies on each table, so there were six possibilities for people to go to…instead forcing two lines only as they moved down the tables. One thing that makes the refreshment room a problem is people get their cookies and punch, and then they stay in that room! They need to move to the room with the round tables or back into the display room…not sure what you could do to improve that though.

It was similar with the decoration clean up. They helped set up, but not with any cleanup. We were told to take everything down, fill boxes with anything salvageable and deliver it to the MPE Office. Stack all tables and vacuum the entire area.

Perhaps there needs to be at least one, maybe two junior parents assigned to the committees early on, so they could very specifically handle these issues. The junior parents and students could know they are going to run the show, and be responsible for clean up, while the senior families would provide the punch and goodies…order them, deliver them…and then be free to enjoy the evening. As it was, we all were kind of scrambling to figure things out, instead of there being someone already in place with a plan. I guess that was my job, but again I just didn’t understand that it was. Also with decorations: have a junior family or two assigned to monitor the clean up and be responsible to take the decorations back to MPE. I think this needs to be true for programs as well. We totally forgot about the programs, and never went back to the main entrance. I’m sure there were some programs left there…we were so busy with the clean up of the other areas, and then of packing all the decorations into our two vehicles, that we had no idea we were supposed to do anything about them. It needs to be spelled out that maybe a month or at least a couple of weeks before the ceremony the coordinators need to be assigning Jr. parents to those committees, with the specific intent of them knowing they will be in charge on that night. They might need to come to rehearsal, just so they can get their bearings and know where stuff will be. It may be also, that this was exacerbated by the fact that there were SO many people there! When I was looking at the full auditorium, I was thinking, “oh my goodness…the refreshment room is going to be a mad house!”
Again, we are totally fine and happy that we could help out with this great event. I acknowledge that we too could have misunderstood some of the instructions. I hope that these comments will be of help to those doing this job in the future.

One other thing: cleaning the auditorium took a lot longer than we thought. The facilities manager told Tim he wanted them to vacuum each row (not the aisles)…not just the spot vacuuming. They didn’t finish that until 10 min. before 9pm! I mean, he was there so they kind of had to do it the way he said!

As a final note, I kind of wish we had been able to meet most if not all of our volunteers before Friday night. I don’t know if we could have gotten people to just come for 20 min. to rehearsal, but it would have been helpful to recognize faces, have them with name tags already when the came on Friday night…that’s just in hindsight…something I wish I had thought of.

We used the website and email for signups and it went very well.
The Procession Coordinators and Diplomapeople went to the rehearsal. In retrospect, the Diploma people had nothing to do and didn’t receive any information that wasn’t already on the website, so I wouldn’t ask them to come. The Procession Coordinator lined the grads up and were a necessary part of rehearsal.
Decoration/Set Up had 15 volunteers and went quickly. 11:30 was a great start time.
Having Display Monitors for one hour increments from 2pm-8pm seemed to be good.
Ushers We had 15 people and that seemed good, but could get by with 12. We added to the instructions on the website. We arrived at 5:15 and 5:00 would have been better. There are 3 main entrances and all three need someone there to open doors and direct people to the sanctuary. 2 people on East entrance. 2 people on South circle drive entrance and 1 person on other South entrance. Someone needs to keep replenishing programs and the rest of the people can stand at various doors with programs to handout.
Receptions/Refreshments We had 14 helpers and that was good: 6 people at punch bowls, 2 punch makers, 2 cookie replenishers, 2 water replenishers and 2 roaming helpers
Cleanup We had 15-20 people. The trouble was locating everyone and assigning tasks. I had 2 people start vacuuming the sanctuary at 8:30pm. I could have used 2 more, but couldn’t locate them. Also, we were only to vacuum to rows, not the big aisles, but that wasn’t communicated until too late. Getting Seniors to leave at 9:30 was difficult. I was still asking people to get their stuff and take the party somewhere else at 9:50. If someone more forceful was asking, that would have helped! Helpers often didn’t know what to do and I didn’t know who was helping and who was just loitering. All the tables needed staples removed, table skirts folded and stored, and tables stacked. Then, vacuuming could begin. We left at 10:30 and would have been out much sooner, if we could have started on time instead of waiting for everyone to leave. In retrospect, I would have asked them to check in with me before the ceremony, so I could give name tags and identify my helpers. Then, I would assign tasks: sanctuary vacuumers, staple removers, table stackers, reception vacuumers. We left the decorations at the Church because that was the instruction I had from 2 years prior. It would have been more helpful, if someone had taken the decorations to the MPE Office. That would have been good to clarify before the event.

MPE Junior Class Coordinator

1.If possible, choose the junior class coordinator by December.
2.Put an announcement in the MPE newsletter each month beginning in January to recruit juniors.  Include the date of graduation and remind juniors and parents that their help will be needed.  (By the way, the MPE website does not say that volunteering at graduation is mandatory.  The wording specifically states that volunteering is “an act of charity” by members of the junior class.)
3.You’ll need to contact the coordinators of the following committees to see what specific volunteer needs they have:  Decorations, Reception, and Flowers.
4.The following is the list of volunteer needs from 2007:

Juniors’ Graduation Duties

1.    Couple to line up the graduates- two junior parents- will need to be there for rehearsal and at graduation.
2.       6 junior boys and 1 adult supervisor to set up tables on Thursday night
3.       4 students and 1 adult supervisor to blow up balloons and attach streamers on Friday afternoon ( better check with decoration committee on this one)
4.       2-4 junior students and 2 supervisors to separate and tie roses (check with committee for time of arrival of roses)
5.       4 doormen need to come on Thursday night for instruction and then be at the church by 5:30 on Friday
6.       8 ushers and 1 adult supervisor need to come on Thursday for instruction and then be at the church by 5:45 on Friday. This supervisor will be over the doormen also.
Doormen and ushers will be responsible for cleaning up sanctuary after the ceremony, pick up programs and trash left behind.
7.       1-3 adults to supervise the reception, make coffee, punch, arrange cookies, and give instruction to 4-5 students serving and keeping tables stocked.
8.        2 junior girls to monitor cleanliness of the reception and bathroom area to be supervised by the reception adults.
9.        2-4 juniors to serve seniors at their tables.
10.    2 junior students to be runners on Thursday night.  Report to Kathy and Sue in the sanctuary.
11.    2 adult supervisors and as many as possible students to clean up after all is over including taking down tables and decorations, restacking chairs, vacuuming all areas, returning the church to the order given by Dennis.
12.    Table watchers for Uphaus hall starting at 3:00 on Friday.  They need to set at the front door and monitor the senior tables during the time before and during the graduation.  I assigned 1 hour stations and a supervisor to make sure the change of shifts happened on time and also for a backup if the students had questions or needed assistance in handling anything
Be sure and check with the decoration committee on how much they have planned for the students to do.  They need to give you direction to pass on to the supervisors on how they want it done.  Last year we just assigned certain students to putting the table cloths on and then some blew up balloons.  Others started putting up the streamers and so on.
Timing is important, be sure and get our committee moms to let you know when they will have the tables, decorations, cookies, punch, and things for the volunteers to work with.  You don’t want people there without something to do.

THURSDAY (REHEARSAL DAY)
5:00 pm:
4 boys and 1 adult supervisor to set up tables  – 31 tables in Uphaus Hall
One responsible family or 4 careful juniors to staple skirts on tables
6:00 pm:
1 adult supervisor for the doormen & ushers
4 doormen* (to receive instructions for Friday)
8 ushers*  (to receive instructions for Friday)
*Doormen and ushers will also be responsible for cleaning up the sanctuary after the ceremony — picking up programs and trash left behind.
6:30 pm:
One couple (or two adults) to line up graduates at rehearsal and at graduation

FRIDAY  AFTERNOON (GRADUATION DAY)
1:00pm:
4 students (or a mix of students & adults) to assemble a balloon arch (Instruction will be provided.)
4 students to wrap lights and tulle around pillars and tape down extension cords
2 students to cover and decorate 15 round tables (One table will already be done so you can use it as a pattern.)
3:30 pm:
1 person (or more) to help the flower coordinator unpack flowers and place flowers in choir loft
3:00pm-6:30 pm:
1 adult supervisor and approximately 3 students to supervise Uphaus Hall once the seniors have set up their displays.  This can be done in one hour shifts or in larger blocks of time.  This job really only takes one person for each shift, but it might be more enjoyable to sign up together with a friend or parent.  (The room also needs to be supervised during the ceremony, but I have listed that shift below.)

Friday evening (Graduation)
1-2 people to supervise Uphaus Hall during the ceremony
1 doorman & usher supervisor – be at the church by 5:30pm
4 doormen – be at the church by 5:30pm
8 ushers – be at the church by 5:45pm
The two adults (from Thursday’s rehearsal) who will be lining up graduates and parents
Two students to sit at opposite sides of the platform during the ceremony and hand diplomas to the parents as they line up  (If these two students can also make the rehearsal, that would be good, but it’s not necessary as long as they understand their roles.)

Friday evening (Reception)
2-3 adults to supervise the reception (make punch, arrange cookies, and provide instruction for student servers)
6 students to serve punch (one at each punchbowl)
2-4 students to serve cookies
2-4 students to serve the seniors at their tables
2 students to monitor the cleanliness of the reception and bathroom area
2 adult supervisors and AS MANY JUNIORS AS POSSIBLE to clean up after the reception (take down tables and decorations, restack chairs, vacuum all areas – return church to its original order)

NOTES FROM 2007:
1.We only managed to have one announcement in the MPE newsletter prior to graduation week, which made it more difficult to recruit juniors.  Starting earlier in the year should help with this.  I e-mailed the list of juniors back to the ones who had contacted me so that they would tell their junior friends who were not on the list.  I also sent the junior list to the senior class and asked them to do the same with their junior friends.  We ended up with about 35 juniors on the list by the time graduation arrived.
2.Most of the junior parents I spoke with didn’t know the date of graduation.  Because The Class of 2007 graduated on Memorial Day weekend, this made it more difficult to recruit volunteers.  Many families had already made other plans for the weekend.  I would recommend letting the juniors and their families know the date of graduation well in advance.
3.In other years, we have needed more volunteers for flowers, but in 2007 the roses were already tied so it didn’t take much work.
4.I made nametags for the parents and juniors who volunteered both days.  It was a big help to me, and I think it was nice for them to get to know one another a little better too.  It also helped on graduation night because it allowed guests to identify ushers and other workers.  (We printed the name tags on mailing labels instead of printable name badges because it was WAY cheaper!  I didn’t turn in a receipt, but the labels only cost $4.)
5.The afternoon jobs on both Thursday and Friday were shared by many people – you could even recruit a general crew and assign jobs as needed.  It DID help to have some strong arms there for table set-up.
6.The usher/doorman instruction was provided by the usher supervisor from the previous year.  (For 2007 Graduation, Kevin Trembly gave the instructions.  Kevin Huther might be able to do this for the 2008 graduation.)  One thing I think we forgot to do was count the guests at graduation – I’m not sure how this was handled in previous years, but I think maybe the doormen & ushers count.   The ushers handed out the last of the 1000 programs just as graduation began.
7.We borrowed two folding chairs from a nearby classroom for the students who were handing out diplomas to the parents during the ceremony.
8.Clean-up went very well.  We had staple removers and were able to save the table skirts for use next year.  We began clean-up around 9:00-9:15pm and were finished with everything except vacuuming by 9:40pm.  One thing that would help us get out of the church more speedily would be to have some families bring vacuums from home.  We were out of the church a little after 10:00pm, but it was only because we had a large area and only four vacuums.
9.In hindsight, I realized that I should have probably made sure all the kids were out of the building before I left so Dennis wouldn’t have to ask them to leave – there was a small group of teens still visiting in the foyer, and I didn’t even think about it until later.