By Kristie Kawakami Wong P’30 ’31, PFA Nominating Chair
In January, the PFA Today will announce that “Nominations for the 2024 – 2025 Board and other elected positions will be open.” You may have read these opening words in the PFA Today of years past, summarily decided that this surely did not pertain to you, and then scrolled right by. I must admit I am guilty of doing the same. However, rest assured, this message does apply to you!
While it is true that there are “seasoned” PFA volunteers, even the most seasoned of us had to start somewhere and were once “new” to the realm of an elected PFA volunteer position. My journey as a PFA volunteer started as a room parent, and I was happily content to stay in that position for my future volunteer endeavors. However, since then, my PFA volunteer journey has included positions such as Second Grade Representative (grade reps help coordinate all the room parents in his/her respective grade), K – 5 Admissions Committee (supporting the Admissions faculty with the new admissions events held throughout the year), Administrative VP (responsible for coordinating PFA documentation, such as the bylaws, policies and procedures), and currently, Nominating Chair (responsible for implementing the process to establish the following year’s slate of PFA officers and elected positions).
Did you have a positive experience meeting other new families at a New Families event when your child was first accepted to Punahou? The New Families/Admissions VP helps coordinate that event! Did you ever wonder how in the world PFA is able to coordinate the hundreds of volunteers needed to carry out all the various events throughout the year, such as games and cookie decorating at Flaming P? The Volunteer/Membership VP assists with that! Or maybe, you have a background in accounting or social media/communications. Treasurer or Communications VP may be the fit for you! Or maybe you are content like I was being a room parent but are curious about expanding your volunteer opportunities – a grade rep position is just for you! These are just a few of the many varied elected volunteer opportunities waiting for nominations.
For those of you who have held an elected position in the past but never thought of yourself as that person who would try (gasp) a Board position, I too have had those reservations. Regardless of the level of your volunteer position, I have come to realize that it boils down to this:We are all in this together, sharing a common interest in seeing our children/students thrive in what seems like such a big Punahou community. Volunteers are crucial to Punahou’s continued growth and enriching experiences. I found that the more you get involved and just put yourself out there, what once seemed like a large, daunting Punahou community, slowly evolved into feeling more like your Punahou family.
So, please, when you see that nominations are open in January, don’t scroll by! Put your (and/or a friend’s) name in the hat and consider joining the PFA leadership team!
Please visit this link for a more detailed explanation of the available positions.
