Developing a Student Aid program in the Secondary School Setting

I’ve had several friends and colleagues, even coaches at my school, ask me how I find and keep so many good student aids.  We treat our student aid program just like we would if we worked at the college level or if these students were employed through us.  We have high expectations of our students and hold them to a high standard.

I think there are several things that contribute to developing and sustaining an effective student aid program.  These are things we do at the high school where I work; there definitely is not a right or best way to do it… but this has been working for us over the past 5 years, and interest in our student aid program continues to grow. 

I think the first step is evaluating the needs of your athletic programs to determine how large, or small, you would like your staff.  We start the year with around 20 student aids, and typically have an additional 3 or 4 students in class that do not have obligations after school.  Inevitably, you will have student aids quit.  They either don’t know what they are truly getting in to, decide they want to spend their time doing other things, or move; but for whatever reason you will lose at least one student aid every year.  The extra students who start the year with no obligations can serve to fill those spaces, in the eventuality you have a student aid leave your staff.

Next, we have an application that all students interested in the student aid program complete.  The application includes a summation of duties and expectations, a brief questionnaire, and a grade report to be completed by the student’s current teachers.  We evaluate each application before contacting students for an interview.

During the interview, we go into more detail about what will be expected and required of the student aids in our program.  We stress the amount of time that is required to become a student aid, and try to reiterate that point several times during the interview.  We get to know each student to determine if they would be a good fit with our current staff.  Then, we answer questions the student may have for us.

Upon completion of the interviews, we send a letter to each student informing them whether we are offering them a position on our student aid staff, desiring them to take our class with no extracurricular obligations, or (in rare cases) saying “Thank you for your interest, but….”  I believe by treating the process of selecting our student aids as a professional application, we emphasize the importance we place on our program and give students selected a sense of pride and accomplishment.

Before the school year begins, we hold an in-service with our newly selected student aids to teach them basic skills we want them to know early on (e.g. CPR and First Aid, basic taping techniques, etc.), and then another with our entire staff to go over rules and procedures, brush up on basic skills, and prepare the athletic training room for the coming season.  Throughout the year, we hold monthly meetings to inform student aids on upcoming events and to discuss any issues that may have occurred.

We also try to have fun with our students. We carve pumpkins together at Halloween, have a Christmas party, and several other things throughout the year to show our student aids that we appreciate their hard work and dedication.   I know our students look forward to having homemade lasagna and Secret Santa at the Christmas party every year.

While this has worked for my school, you have to find something that works for you and your situation.  However, I encourage you to expect more from your student aids; if you hold them to a higher standard, they will begin to do the same for themselves and may surprise you with what they are capable of.