Event: Stream Team Refresher Training
ALLARMies: Julie Vastine, Suzanne Hartley, Hayat Rasul, Hiba Aoid, Isabel Ruff
On July 15, 2020, ALLARM hosted a virtual refresher meeting for Stream Team volunteers. After suspending volunteer monitoring for four months due to the pandemic, this meeting was an opportunity to review techniques and introduce new safety protocols in preparation for resuming monitoring later in the month.
Meeting attendees introducing ourselves!
The highlight of the evening was a fun review game in the format of Jeopardy. Featuring questions from a variety of categories including general monitoring, pH, Nitrate-Nitrogen, Conductivity/Temperature, and COVID, this game was an interactive way for volunteers to test their knowledge and become more comfortable with the new COVID safety protocols. Although I created the questions and hosted the Jeopardy game, it was a team effort and could not have been done without Hayat Rasul, who found the template, Suzanne Hartley, who staffed the board and elaborated on answers, Hiba Aoid, who called on volunteers to answer, and Julie Vastine, who provided additional comments. The game was a success and I enjoyed seeing that volunteers were engaged and eager to answer the questions, and they were ready to move forward with monitoring.
This meeting was exciting for me because although I have been attending various virtual meetings throughout the summer, this was my first time taking a more active role, and it was wonderful interacting with volunteers. I also am optimistic because creating more interactive and engaging meetings is the next step in mitigating zoom fatigue and creating a more enjoyable experience for both presenters and participants, and I am looking forward to finding ways to integrate this into future meetings. Additionally, the introduction of the new COVID safety guidelines has made me hopeful that safe, in-person monitoring will be a possibility and the ALLARM team’s flexibility and ability to adapt during this time has made me feel confident that we can move forward. I feel grateful to be a part of this family.