Alma Mater And Emails.

Certain things get me upset, especially when it comes to communication. A while back, I signed up to become part of the Presentation College Old Boys Association - an alumni association, I suppose - and off and on, I've met with people to discuss potential things that could benefit Presentation College. I haven't made it to any meetings, mainly because nobody bothers to remind me of meetings, and I haven't been able to communicate effectively with anyone dealing with anyone related to the Presentation College Past Students Association.

Now - they have started sending emails. They have been pestering myself (and others) about chairs which the school needs - which is fair enough. But as of today, I have 9 emails about chairs since January 31st - which by itself isn't bad. I appreciate that the school needs chairs.

During this same period, the new Executive was voted in - a message on Feb 23rd, 2006 mentions that... but there were no emails announcing that there would be elections. Therefore, they sealed the vote. They basically announced who would be on the Executive after they decided who would do what on the Executive. Fair enough, if I didn't vote for them (and I didn't vote for any of them) because I wasn't given the opportunity - I do not recognize their authority. When I emailed the 'Public Relations Officer' that I didn't vote for, I got blown off.

OK, fine. Blow this off.

This same authority which they claim and which I do not recognize (because I was not informed of the vote) had a Career Guidance Day which... again, was not announced via email and was only announced afterward.

Clearly, all these people want from us are chairs and money. They obviously don't want input from the people who they are panhandling from. But I didn't vote for them. I didn't even have the opportunity to vote for them or against them. In talking with other past students, they weren't even aware that a new executive had been appointed.

Ahem.

Therefore, they should NOT be bothering me about chairs because I cannot recognize an Executive which I did not even have a chance to participate in voting for.

So what we really have here are a group of people doing whatever they want and pestering me by email about chairs. The average person probably just deletes the emails. The last broadcast email from this email source says that out of 1,000 past students, only 103 people have responded.

Duh. You're not telling us anything; you're basically panhandling with an email address that isn't even signed completely.

The Constructive Side

Now, here's the thing. I helped collect money when I was a student for a swimming pool that I wouldn't want to swim in - my father and I looked at the pumps and plumbing on that thing after it was installed (and we voiced our complaints, though nobody was really interested). We saw some serious health hazards, but we got blown off. Still, I have to pay to use that pool now - if I were to choose to use it.

Every time you turn around, the Past Students Association isn't asking for involvement. They don't seem to want our involvement. They just seem to want to pester us about money and chairs. And that gets emails automatically deleted by just about anyone. Why?

Because if you want people to volunteer anything, you have to involve them. You're not supposed to leave them out in the cold. I heard from another past student in a chance meeting that there was an 'Old Boys Football match' - but, once again, that wasn't on the emails that pester us. Nothing that is actually fun is being put out by the Past Students Association.

If the Past Students Association really wants involvement - something I would do as time would permit - it would actually inform people before things happen such that they could be involved; they would have a choice. Not giving us a choice is a sign of disregard - of disrespect - in essence, we are only life support systems for chairs and money.

That is my advice. Of course, since I didn't even have the opportunity to vote for the Executive, they do not represent me - and as such, they have no rights as far as I am concerned. Would I have voted? Maybe. Is it about the vote?

No, it's about Principle.

And if my alma mater can't take principle seriously, they should stop sending me emails. I see beggars every day here in Trinidad and Tobago; I do not need them in my email. Now, if you want people involved: Inform people and quit screwing around.