Since TNKR began activities in March 2013, we have had more than 1,050 volunteer tutors, coaches and mentors. Additionally, we have had volunteers help with non-tutoring, such as with graphic design, fundraising, marketing, editing.
Janice Kim has a special place in TNKR history.
She started with TNKR in July 2017, as a tutor, at Matching session number 60 (a special session for a number of reasons). She had answered my latest ringing of the alarm for an "Emergency Orientation." She has answered more than our alarm for more tutors.
There she is, in the back row, off to the side, at her first Matching session.
Some volunteers stay with us long term, some stay with for a while, some are gone after a short time. We can never be sure which new applicants will make an impact on TNKR.
Janice has had a tremendous impact on TNKR.
Even at that first orientation in 2017, I sensed there was something different. She noticed that some of the applicants were newcomers to teaching, so she offered to talk about teaching materials with others. There are others who talk about helping, some talk at orientation as if they will personally save TNKR. But unlike many of the talkers, Janice followed up, again and again.
Then as tutors began studying with refugees, she was being helpful, recommending things, being both a team player and mentor for tutors. I asked her if she could become TNKR's Academic Advisor. Three previous volunteers had served in that role, being a bridge to volunteers and helping with some administrative work.
Janice continued being helpful, eagerly taking on more work with TNKR.
It was clear that we could not lose her. I was overburdened, managing Track 1, Track 2, grassroots fundraising, writing, editing, public speaking, trying to develop a coherent and original organization and structure based on feedback from refugees.
Janice had answered our emergency call for tutors, but was also helping with the organization build up. She then became TNKR's Track 1 Manager. We talked about it, she suggested she would prefer to be Academic Coordinator.
A few months after she first started with TNKR, she began managing TNKR's Track 1 application process. She was doing so well, I asked her to help with TNKR's Track 2 application process. I made it clear that she didn't need to do anything else with Track 2, just manage the application process.
It was tempting to keep asking her to do more, but I had to protect her (from us asking for her to do too much). Volunteering is great, but not when it starts to interfere with someone's job or social life. People will quit paid jobs when things get intolerable or they want something different or better. With volunteers, that fuse is much shorter, some suddenly quit in a huff at the slightest inconvenience. We had to make sure she never felt overburdened.
It takes patience checking resumes of applicants who don't read the fine print. When organizations ask for resumes, it is usually to keep a file or to find problems as part of the sorting process. TNKR needs resumes tailor-made for refugees to review to find tutors most suitable for them. After dealing with many volunteers who wouldn't bother with reviewing our process, I had long lost patience. Janice would patiently tell people to check our application process, check every detail in their resumes, and handle it all with a smile.
At first, she was still feeling her way around. I sensed that she was still looking to me too much for guidance. So I announced that I wouldn't be available at one of the orientation sessions, she would have to run it on her own. I think I stayed home that day playing video games.
There's an old saying: "The threat of execution sharpens the mind." I could see Janice started to take more ownership of TNKR's Track 1 after that sink-or-swim moment. I try to avoid the founder's dilemma of not wanting to yield power, but it also takes reliable and competent people to make it easier for a founder/leader of an organization to step aside for others to exercise authority.
Sometimes she would ask for advice, I would shrug my shoulders, say she was the Academic Coordinator, so I would be curious to see how she worked it out.
It was necessary. An organization can't grow if only one or two people are doing everything. Eunkoo and I were handling every task initially, which was fine when we didn't have anyone else and when TNKR was an association or a fledgling organization.
To develop our infrastructure, we needed more people involved. I am still looking forward to the day that we have so many people leading up different projects at TNKR that instead of people asking, "Why is Casey involved in everything," they will be asking, "What does Casey do for TNKR? It seems the rest of us are the ones doing all of the work."
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It has been great, we have known that we could rely on Janice. I was able to start turning my attention to fundraising and building up TNKR's internal capacity. Without Janice emerging as a leader in TNKR, we would be a poorer organization. If the virus of 2020 had hit in 2017 shortly after we became an official organization, TNKR would have been destroyed. Eunkoo and I had just quit our jobs, unsure that TNKR would be able to survive to 2018. The organization could have easily died during that time with a disruption.
I was able to visit the USA for a few weeks last year to start the processing of making TNKR an official organization in the USA. Before, with the daily pressure of handling so many aspects of TNKR, I could not have gotten away. I could leave Track 1's management to Janice at that point.
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TNKR requires that staff members be deeply engaged in day-to-day management.
One, TNKR is learner-centered. That means TNKR is not for you if your style is to set rules and procedures in place, stick to them regardless of what is going on. There need to be rules, but the rules need to make sense and reflect the current reality. We are constantly updating, based on what we hear and observe from participants. That means our team members must constantly monitor what is going on and that the Academic Coordinator in particular must be focused.
Two, we have adult tutors and refugee students usually meeting 1:1 away from our office. We are constantly at risk of a scandal or other problems with people who are not responsible and mature. If tutors and students don't feel connected to us, it is more likely they will start personal relationships or that refugees could end up victimized in some other way.
That means an Academic Coordinator must be deeply involved, checking with volunteers, keeping track of what's going on, being alert to clues that some tutors may leave about bigger problems they aren't being transparent about, being ready to answer numerous requests and complaints. And doing all of that as a volunteer!!!!
It requires patience and diligence to be TNKR's Academic Coordinator. Most volunteers are delightful, but of course there is the handful who want to challenge the process, grumble about things, some who even pick at grammar or pronunciation, and then the occasional nutcase we have to ban if we haven't detected their lunacy during the application process.
Janice helped handle all of that and more for more since late 2017. Recently, she has been overburdened with work and school demands. I sensed that it was getting to her, we tried to make some internal changes to accommodate her increasingly challenging schedule. Finally it was becoming clear that she needed to step away. We talked, and she said yes, it was time for her to take a break.
Many people volunteer sporadically, inefficiently. For more than 2 years, Janice was the third person that TNKR needed to make our Track 1 program operate more efficiently. I am not exactly Mr. Agreeable, yet she worked together closely with me for more than two years without any fights. We were always focused on how we can make TNKR a more effective educational experience for North Korean refugees while keeping it rewarding for volunteers.
We met with Janice on Saturday to thank her for her incredible volunteering for almost three years as a tutor then Academic Coordinator. Since she joined in 2017, our Academic Team has grown. Dan Cashmar is now our Volunteer Coordinator, India Meyers is the Assistant Academic Coordinator, and we have others who aren't part of the main academic team who also provide support.
If not for the virus we could have held a larger meeting to say goodbye (at least for now) to her.
We have had more than 1,050 language helpers in TNKR plus many others who provide support as non-tutors. Sometimes goodbye or partings are sad, but this was a time to reflect on her contributions in helping TNKR develop into a stronger organization.
Janice Kim has a special place in TNKR's history.
