Marlborough is creating an assembly task force in order to increase Marlborough student involvement in the selection process for speakers at all school assemblies.
The committee, spearheaded by the Dean of Student Life Brett Quimby and the All-School Assembly Coordinator Micah ’21, allows students from all grade levels to voice their opinions regarding guest speakers for the year. While Quimby does not envision having the committee members be responsible for negotiating or budgeting, he does hope that the creation of the committee will give students a platform to learn beneficial outreach skills while also playing a valuable role in shaping future all-school assemblies.
“The overall goal of this committee is to increase student participation, transparency and ownership of the ASM scheduling process,” Quimby said.
Although the specifics are still in discussion, committee members will most likely be determined through a non-arduous google form application. Questions will pertain to why the student thinks they would be a good member of the committee, and what all school assemblies they liked in the past. Meetings will be held once a month, with occasional open meetings for anyone in the Marlborough community to attend.
In the past, a portion of all-school assemblies, including a recent one featuring Dolores Huerta, was coordinated by individual and group student efforts to bring in guest speakers. Quimby and Micah hope that these initiatives will continue to happen and that this new committee will help encourage others to participate in the speaker selection process as well.
“When we have a couple of slots a year to fill with some really fantastic speakers, this is an exciting opportunity for students to be a part of the process,” Quimby said.
Micah believes the creation of the committee will make ASMs more inclusive and will help establish a greater sense of community.
“I think this committee is going to be really helpful in making sure the Marlborough community learns about a diverse array of experiences and stories, ” Micah said.
Micah also added that the assembly coordinator is the only member of all school council that does not have its own individual council. She hopes that the creation of the committee will help connect the position to a greater community, and will provide the person holding the position with an additional role on council.
Currently, the logistics are still being discussed, but Quimby and Micah hope to start recruitment in the next few weeks and begin meeting directly after spring break.
