San Diego Math Circle

Volunteering

Parent volunteerism is critical to the function of SDMC. 

Imagine a school with eager students (your children), but with no faculty, no administration, no support staff, no books or materials and no budget.  What to do? 

This is just the beginning of an analogy between SDMC and the old-fashioned one-room school of American tradition.  In those days, when a community decided it needed a school, the parents built the school, made the desks and chairs, pooled money to hire a teacher, bought the books, supplied the firewood, etc.

SDMC is a very modern one-room (ok, three room) school house.  We have virtually no tangible resources, staff, or financial support beyond that which is provided by the SDMC community consisting almost exclusively of families of SDMC students.  Just as that school house of old depended directly upon its immediate community for virtually every aspect of its support, so does SDMC.

Part of that support is financial and we entreat you to give generously (See "Donate to SDMC"), but we also need parents to support SDMC functions with their service.  Here we describe some of the ways parent volunteers can help:

Room Parents.  Every time SDMC has an activity, we need adult supervision in proportion to the size of the class and the needs of the instructor.  The role of the room parent is to assist the instructor as needed and to assure order and safety both in and outside the classroom.  No special abilities are required beyond those you have already acquired as a parent.  There will usually be one parent present in the role of Coordinator who will be experienced in this parent role and help assure that we have an adequate parent presence in each class.  If contacted by one of our Coordinators, please help any way you can.

Parent Coordnators (Fermat, Euler, Gauss).  We need one parent to serve as Parent Coordinator for each ability group.  In addition to being a Room Parent, the Parent Coordinator communicates with other parents as needed to assure there is adequate supervision in each class.  The Parent Coordinator assists the Instructor during the class and tends to mnior functions such as managing class materials and taking attendance, and importantly, supervises the policing of the classroom after class to assure that it is left in a clean and orderly condition.

ARML Coordator.  One parent is needed to take primary responsability for organizing support for the ARML team in cooperation with the ARML Coaches and Director.  This involves some forward planning, but is focussed on the spring quarter of the year and consists primarily of meeting the needs of ARML practice sessions and especially the logistical aspects of the trip to the competition at UNLV.

Webmaster.  The Webmaster is the single person with ultimate control over the SDMC website.  Present website planning segregates the management of website functionality from the maintenance of website content, which limits Webmaster responsabilities.

Wish List - the following volunteer portfolios are new this year: 

Web Content Managers.  The SDMC website is managed by parent volunteers.  The site has been redesigned to permit website management to be shared between the Webmaster and a few Content Managers with limited editing privileges.  The goal is for the Webmaster to be responsable solely for the functionality of the site, and for Content Managers to keep the site up to date.  This division helps us focus IT expertise where it is most needed while also reducing the expertise needed for basic upkeep.

 Administrative Assistant.  SDMC is very electronic, yet there are a few paper-based functions that need old-fashioned attention.  These are primarily

• managing the UCSD Liability Waivers; receiving and retaining them, and following up on improperly-completed or missing forms.
• handling parent donations; receiving and recording them, and conveying them to the AoPS Foundation for deposit f.b.o. SDMC.
• Occasional correspondence.

Competition Coordinator.  SDMC sponsors a number of competitions each year.  These are primarily the SDML/SDMO series and the AMC series.  Staging involves registering participants, arranging appropriate parent support, handling duplication, some computer-based tracking, etc.  We expect these tasks to be facilitated this year by improved website functionality.

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