#4. SOAR

During my junior year of high school, I founded a group with several of my classmates. The superintendent had approached a teacher with the idea of forming a group of students that would have the primary purpose of providing educational opportunities to members and the general student body, such as attending symphonies, musicals, senate debates, and math competitions. Some of my friends and I were selected for this group, called Student Organization of Academic Relations (SOAR), but in the beginning, we felt like a group just thrown together, not really knowing what we were going to do.

Formation

The advisor of the newly formed group did an excellent job of making people feel included and suggesting that we should also reach out to non-members for events and general meetings. Students initially selected to form the group were chosen based on a cumulative GPA and class rank, so we all kinda had the same goals going into the group. We were nerds; attending academic events excited us. However, our advisor continuously told us that we could do whatever we wanted and the group could follow our own academic interests. The school board was willing to give us money for the endeavors which we chose, but I remember it took us several meetings in the beginning to come to a consensus about how we were going to pursue and choose the events that SOAR sponsored.

Storming

During the first year of the organization, all of the new members were pretty motivated. I mean, what student wouldn’t want to be approached by the superintendent and told they can use the school’s money to pursue our own “academic” interests? (I use that term loosely because as the group began to normalize, we stretched the definition of what was considered “academic.”) The group formed with very a straight-laced and serious approach to the events attended. Overall, we were very focused, so listening to each other’s ideas did not pose much of an issue. We created a blog and online forum for students to participate in, and I think this really helped with the issue of inclusion. Our advisor was a very peaceful mathematician, so he was also always present to resolve issues and use his analytical personality to keep the students focused.

Norming

Over time, certain practices became normal for us. By my senior year, we knew that the president would always be late, so we could therefore begin rolling in 5-10 tardy as well. Occasionally, we also realized we could convince our advisor to fix us pancakes, fruit, and bacon. We also knew what our individual accepted roles were, whether they had a specific title or not. Some students were just along for the ride, while others were deeply involved in planning the dates of events, purchasing tickets, and publicizing our events. We knew what to expect out of meetings and other students, and this did not change often.

Performing

Since I was a part of the founders, my class of members grew very close to the advisor. After graduation, he had a cookout at his house for us to celebrate the time that we all spent together during high school (aww right?). We grew to be close friends and easily felt comfortable talking to our advisor about personal battles, so it was sad for us to leave. The class below mine does not have the same relationships built, so that was something we also discussed in our final meeting about building involvement with the younger students. We brainstormed ideas about how they can increase participation and build closer relationships with the advisor, each other, and the general student body through academic relations. Involvement was the biggest issue and conflict that we had as a group. The seniors to seemed to be the only ones participating, so by the end of our final year, we began to freak out about the direction of the group after graduation. Our advisor also saw this as a very pertinent problem, so we to find a resolution. Empowerment was our main goal, because we found out during our two years as members that if students felt like what they said and did mattered, then they were more likely to be more passionate about pursuing their interests and getting involved.

Adjourning

Tuckman and Jensen amended their original model to include this final stage, but my SOAR group has not yet reached it. My graduating class had our own type of adjournment, but that was not the end for the entire organization.

I still get Facebook notifications about events that SOAR is attending, so I’m assuming that they’re still in existence and that the issue of involvement has not caused them to end. However, sometimes groups do need to dissolve. I think this may be the case when the group is no longer able to ever reach a consensus, identify a common purpose, or just feels that it is more dysfunctional than constructive. One of the groups that immediately come to mind is my high school’s student council. Unfortunately, an imbalance of power arose a few years ago in which the two advisors now running the entire council. As president last year, I tried to create more relaxed conditions, but it is difficult to reckon with two individuals of power that refuse to listen to those below them. Council members seem to always leave meetings unhappy and very little gets accomplished in meetings. The two advisors and the president end up doing almost all of the work for the entire year. That is very dysfunctional leadership to me. Students see that and don’t want to get involved – we had to nearly beg students to run for office after I graduated. In that situation, serious reforms need to be made. If those reformations do not work, the council should vote to dissolve itself – for everyone’s sanity.