Too much is never enough

If you had asked me at the beginning of the program year would I have now found myself in the position of actually trying to show some restraint on the growth in HOBY Maryland, I'm not sure what I would have told you.  Likely, that it would be an enviable position to be in, and I would probably love to have such problems.

What can I say except we may have become a victim of our own success?

As of today, Maryland has 207 students registered, six over our goal of 201.  There are actually a few more in the cue that I know about, all of whom could, and eventually likely will register.  I've had to even go as far as tell another site that we could not immediately accept their potential transfer.

The counter-balance to this wonderful news is that I also currently find my team literally running out of beds.  One of the consequences of getting upgraded dorms from the university was that there aren't quite as many spaces available to occupy.  Throw in the larger staff that is necessary for this increased number of participants, and the challenge becomes that much more daunting.

Our staffing is coming together, although I wish I could get some of our folks to turn in their applications faster.  For the first time, we're seeing a much larger group of junior facilitators.  I look at this with pride, knowing these are the larger groups of Team Alumni we used the last few years -- many of whom were TA when I was still Director of Operations -- that have risen through the ranks and stayed with HOBY.  In the future, they will replenish our facilitator ranks as well, even though I've already seen many of my original Team Alumni rise up to that position.

I've also seen my staff pushing to support more perhaps than ever before.  Finding us speakers, tying to raise a few dollars, calling in leads on volunteers and other assistance.  Having people who can contribute in those seemingly little ways makes all the difference.

Financially, dollars are coming in from our cooperating organizations, although, we could always do better there.  It's not that I right now am confident we would come in ahead or behind, rather, I know that every dollar we raise is a dollar that can go into making our program better.   It's hard to ever say you couldn't use another donation.

So, here we find ourselves running head first towards May.  Volunteers, program, facilities, and even donations are all coming together.  It is a whirlwind of activity and in less than 2 months, it will all be put to task.   I cannot wait.

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Working with the University: Opportunity Knocks

For about the last 8 years, HOBY Maryland has been having our annual seminar at Mount St. Mary's University.  As any large event would, we sign a contract that makes sure we agree to pay for services that in the broadest sense fall under either usage of facilities or reimbursement for meals.  It's a simple agreement and certainly, every year we've honored it and intend to continue to do so.

However, one of the things that has always struck me, clearly with my own bias towards what HOBY accomplishes, is how the university (and this isn't just necessarily MSM, but any host site) treats us as just another group.  From my perspective, we bring 200 outstanding high school sophomores to their campus from all over the state representing diverse interests and backgrounds.  It seems like a prime opportunity for any university to pitch themselves and recruit freshmen from essentially the cream of the crop.  They have a captive audience.  And yet, as already mentioned, the university has always been content to simply let us go about our business, run our event, and have very little interest in being involved.

Well, that's perhaps about to change.

During the 2010 Career Lunch, by pure chance, the president of the university, Dr. Powell happened to come by and see one part of our program.  All I can imagine is that he saw the enthusiastic young people who were there, the leaders of various industries introducing themselves and engaging these young people, and he realized the opportunity for MSM he had in front of him.  Our Director of Operations happened to be outside and was engaged in a brief conversation with Dr. Powell.  One thing led to another and we now after 8 years have been able to set up a meeting for the near future.  It speaks to the power of the university president versus just Conference and Events coordinator who is paid to help us work with University.  (And with full disclosure, the old C&E director just left for another opportunity, so MSM just got a new one for this year.)

My hope is that in meeting with Dr. Powell we'll be able to truly open his eyes to the phenomenal opportunity the HOBY community presents to his university.  At the same time, I'm hoping he can ensure that the university is helping us feel accommodated, using it's resources to work with us in the most productive ways possible, and I won't lie -- help us get a better deal financially.  HOBY and the university are two entities that truly have an amazing chance to work in mutually beneficial way.  We just need to make sure we are attempting to continually meet each other at least half way.

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