In order to increase the transparency of leadership on campus, Becca McAfee ’13 and Cole Yaverbaum ’14 are creating a leadership website for students on the Hill. McAfee and Yaverbaum want to make it easier for clubs and individuals to host events and to find funding. 

“Leadership at Colby should not be elusive. We want to give everyone a chance to understand how it works,” Yaverbaum said. The idea first came from the Leadership Committee, which is guided by Assistant Director of Campus Life Paul Spangle, and now McAfee and Yaverbaum are making it a reality. “The project has become our thing,” McAfee said. 

The website, designed by Jeff Carpenter ’12, will launch at the end of the school year. It will have different tabs at the top of the home page with links to information on all funding and grants on campus, a “Who’s Who” page, an “Alphabet Soup” page with the breakdown of the College’s acronyms and a “Secrets of Colby” page. 

For the “Secrets of Colby” page, McAfee and Yaverbaum have been interviewing leaders on campus to get their insight. They asked each person a set of six questions and end with an open-ended “pearls of wisdom” question. They have interviewed students including Richard Schwartz ’11, who has held multiple leadership positions including serving as Student Government Association (SGA) publicity chair and as an assistant director for the Colby Volunteer Center (CVC). They have also interviewed  SGA Treasurer Michael Dakers ’11 and SGA Vice President Athul Ravunniarath ’11. 

McAfee and Yaverbaum are working both with clubs and individuals to create and improve the website, and they want to ensure that all clubs at the College are included. “We don’t want to just include the obvious ones like SGA  and SPB [Student Programming Board], but also EnviroCo, Hillel and even Colby Dancers,” Yaverbaum said. 

“So many people have fantastic ideas and they don’t know where to start. That is why we are making this website,” McAfee said. Both students want to make the College a more open community and are working to do so by including a section for student input on the website. “We’re not all-knowing,” McAfee said. 

Both students agree that there are many opportunities to get involved and that leadership roles should be more readily accessible. 

“[In the beginning of the year], I just got involved in too many things and now I can choose what is most important and can focus my dedication,” Yaverbaum said. “I hope the website will also help students make the same decision.” 

The website will not be part of the College’s main web page, but  will have a separate address. Both Yaverbaum and McAfee believe that there can be barriers to entry for hosting events on campus and they hope their website will help facilitate and encourage new leaders on campus. “I just really want people to be able to take their ideas and know what to do with them,” Yaverbaum said. “[This website] should alleviate the frustration of figuring stuff out, like finding funding, and will...lead to the creation of more clubs and events.”