Seaside School

By: Calum Buchanan (reservedturtle Resident)
Type: Official business - School

BACKGROUND: How Calum fits in: Calum has been employed as a teacher at Seaside since he came to town in the middle of last semester. Since the return from winter break, he has been teaching English, French and Music to the students of Seaside regularly. After the incident at the school dance, Calum has been trying to continue his classes as usual and feels that losing the school principal at this time may have a negative impact on the children. As such, he's doing the next best thing - applying for the position himself. He hopes it will give the children some sense of consistency if someone they know becomes their principal instead of having to get used to an unknown external candidate who may not have the children's best interests at heart. Events: Classes are, of course, a huge part of getting roleplay at Seaside active. I will be continuing with the classes I've already set up, which is three classes each week for the students to attend. This amount of events wouldn't be mandatory for other staff members but i would like to get them to do a few classes each month. I would also come up with an NPC class schedule so that kids can rp at the school without an adult there if they like, or so that they can, at least, be able to discuss school with each other (gossip about their teachers, complain about workload or how unfair one of the staff members is, etc.) more easily. For the parents, I would like to set up a monthly PTA meeting so that they can get involved in their children's school, find out what is going on and put forth their suggestions. Students who attend class will also receive report cards, which they can share with parents (or not!) I would also like to set up some group counseling sessions for the children, especially those in foster care or recently adopted. When classes are settled and we have a larger group of youths participating in the scheduled activities, I would also like to introduce school clubs and teams, like a band, a football team and a cheer-leading squad. Due to a lack of funding at the school, we would need to raise funds to get instruments and sports kits/equipment, and we would have to convince CU to share some facilities with us. Other event/general rp ideas include, but are not limited to: breakfast club; careers guidance (helping to write resumes and find part-time jobs for teens by talking to local business owners); school plays (if we can team up with the theater); field trips to CU, especially for students preparing for college, and other businesses, like the CS office to teach students about local government and politics; linking with other businesses for contests (an employee from Comiquities and I have already discussed a possible drawing competition for the children); first aid sessions with a trained EMT (some children and an EMT have already expressed interest in this). Including new employees: I would like to meet with all new employees to conduct interviews, get to know them and help them settle in. I would also be available during their scheduled classes wherever possible. I would encourage new employees to schedule one or two classes a month and, if they wanted to sit in on a class, either OOCly or ICly, before starting (I know I wanted to but never got the chance as there were no classes), I would be happy to sort that out with them.

UNIQUE: Seaside already stands out well from the others in that it's geared towards children but I want to make it more than just a building that new kids pass through on their way into Hathian. I will take time to set up rp OOCly in order to establish more varied situations for the children to take part in. For example, if I am contacted about someone needing foster placements, I will strive to put them in touch with a social worker and, likewise, if a social worker comes to me to see about finding a case to work on, I will try to find a willing student to rp with them. The regular events will, hopefully, help to make Seaside the place to be for kids so that they no longer have to NPC what would, at that age, comprise the majority of their everyday lives. The involvement of parents and social workers should open up avenues for family, CS and even police RP that might, otherwise, seem out of reach.

EXPERIENCE: I was part of a small team of IC lead staff responsible for the day to day running of a prison sim, and I was the liaison for that sim and SLBI, so I was tasked with helping people to set up rp. I also introduced a few things to the sim both OOCly and ICly to help make rp easier and more enjoyable. I have previously run clubs in SL successfully, first as a manager, then as a co-owner when the original owner left, so I have experience working with teams of people, both large and small. Upon seeing an opportunity to improve something, I will usually try to take that opportunity in some way, whether it be directly or by discussing it with someone else who can help; I created Calum a short while after noticing that there was very little to no rp coming out of Seaside and I wanted to change that so that other people who play youths in Hathian could have some regular roleplay to engage in. Outside of SL, I was a mentor for younger students at college and have led small musical groups.

IDEAS: As mentioned above, I will be meeting with all new staff members to help them get settled into the rp at Seaside. By increasing Seaside's visibility within Hathian, through regular events and cooperating with other businesses, we may be able to get new players interested in rping with Seaside in some way (whether as teachers, counselors, volunteers for certain events or any other way they can think of). For new youth characters, if I see them on the street, I will either engage them in a scene or, at least, contact them OOCly to welcome them, let them know about Seaside and what it has to offer, discuss their character and see if they need any help with setting up something to get their roleplay off to a good start. I have played child characters in CD (and still do) so I know how difficult it can be for new youth characters in Hathian to get hold of the people they need in order to come up with the stories they need and, in the end, a lot seem to end up NPCing most of the things that could be played out if someone helped them to set it up.

OTHER: I would like to organise an 'open day' where the public, particularly prospective students and their families, can come and meet with current students and staff and see the school. Prospective staff members could also get a good look around the school, get an idea of what life as a Seaside teacher is like, and find out how to apply. The day would be rounded off with an afternoon BBQ, some music and games, like egg-and-spoon races using the space in front of the school. Donations would also be accepted at this event so it would double as a fundraiser.