(Possibly) Big news, everyone!

So, this could be good news or this could be bad news, you decide haha. What's happening is Ark School finally has its big boy pants on; around 6 churches from all around LA and the OC are interested in hosting Ark School at their churches as well! What this means:

1. Ark School may have graduated from the name "Ark School." Once Ark School rolls out to become a bigger non-profit organization separate from Gracious Ark Church, we will be renaming the program to be more neutral, so to speak.

2. Volunteer interviews and trainings may be rescheduled to later dates to better accommodate all volunteers (we'll keep you guys posted, keep checking up on the blog every week!).

3. Volunteers may be given a choice of site. Simply put, if we have multiple locations running Ark School, you get to choose which one you want to volunteer at.

Once again, we are not yet sure how many of the interested churches will be participating, but this is just a heads up for things that might be happening! As stated under #2, keep checking the blog and we'll keep you guys updated!

Weekly update!

1. For those of you who have already filled out your applications: don't worry, we haven't forgotten about you! We just need to figure out when interviewers' schedules match up to designate time slots! Sorry for the wait, we'll announce it and contact you guys soon.

2. As for anyone interested in volunteering at Ark School this year who hasn't done so already, please fill out your applications ASAP so we can get a general idea of what special activities we'll be able to do. Also, it would help us greatly if you told your friends about volunteering at Ark School!

3. The senior pastor is back from Korea so we're grinding up our gears to finish up planning for Ark School 2013. It will most likely take just a few weeks to get everything finalized, but it may take longer, depending schedules and workloads, so just sit tight!

Weekly update.

I actually don't have much to say to you guys this week. As you all know, The senior pastor's been in Korea so we haven't been holding any meetings or talking about Ark School in any definitive way. I hope you guys are sharing about Ark School with a lot of people!

Oh, and I get the feeling a lot of you are going to be turning in your applications in the last minute, so a word of advice: don't. Haha simple right? It's a really short application, so get to it asap! Who knows if I'm going to have to pull the application deadline up short?

Anyways, I hope you guys are all doing well physically, emotionally, mentally, etc. and are as pumped for Ark School as I am!

So far...

We have had 5 applications submitted. Not tremendous progress, but still excited to see things coming along! If you have already turned in your application, we'll begin contacting you guys around the week of 4/21. Also, we are thinking of putting together an early-bird incentive for submitting applications. If we do go through with it, those who have already turned in their applications will be included.

On a separate note, the senior pastor who is basically the decision making head, is now in Korea, and will be back in about 10 days. Until then, preparations for the actual program are on hold. Please keep him in your prayers (considering how close it is for South Korea to get bombed haha....?) That doesn't change really anything for you volunteers, though! Keep an eye out on the blog for weekly updates!

God bless!

P.S. If there is any specific topic you would like for us to tackle during the volunteer training, let me know!

Applications are up!

I have three major updates for you guys today:

1. Click here to go to your application! If you have any trouble with the application, feel free to Facebook message me or email me at arkschoolgac@gmail.com!

2. I've also updated the Dates, Links, and Volunteer Checklist(<---- you should probably look at this post lol) pages! The dates are not quite set in stone yet, but the estimates are closer than they were before, so you can use them as a slightly more reliable reference. Update posts will come every Thursday evening, so keep an eye out every Thursday!

3. It looks like we will be starting Ark School on 6/20 this year, give or take a day or two, depending on quite a few things actually. We're almost there... Let's do this!

Remember to tell your friends about Ark School 2013. We'll definitely be needing a lot of volunteers this year. You can give the the link to this blog (arkschoolgac.blogspot.com) or send them this link: 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1cdNCZYmE8phyKO1ZOijyH6k2yt6t0QAKRE44go0kNY4/viewform

Once they fill out the application, they're going to have to keep up with the blog anyway, so why not link them to both? Hehe.. Thanks guys!

Application postponed

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the application will be made available late next week. Sorry for those of you guys who're waiting for this haha. On the bright side, it's looking like there will be no application fee for volunteers! Give and take? I'll keep you all updated as things start to take a more definitive form.

A quick update!

Hope everyone is doing awesome and enjoying your breaks! Here is a quick update for errbahdy so take a minute and read through. Have a good rest of the break guys!

1. I was supposed to have the application ready by late last week, but I'm getting rid of the paper applications and trying out "Google Forms." It'll be ready and the link will be posted by the end of this week :)!

2. As of now, there are still only 7 people on my list haha ;A;... but I suppose that won't matter too much, since the application will be out this week.

3. I already included this on the application, but expect to see this at least a few more times: interviews will be by APPOINTMENT ONLY!! We will be contacting you all to schedule your interview once we receive your completed applications on a first come first serve basis, so make sure to get that filled out ASAP!

4. Here's a tentative breakdown to the schedule of our going-ons over the next few weeks.

OUTDATED3/29~4/17 - Receive applications. 

OUTDATED4/1~4/20 - Interviews dates. 

OUTDATED4/21~5/8 - 2x mandatory volunteer training sessions 

*Once again, these dates are tentative, only to be used as a general idea of how things will be rolling out*

5. All of the pages on the top navigation bar will be updated by Monday (4/1)


Check the Dates page for updated dates! That's a lot of dates in one sentence...

Wow, already failed haha.

So sorry guys. Already went against my word to post at least once a week. Anyway, I have another__________ vague update for you guys. I'll number these out for you so it's easy to follow:

1. We will have the new application form for Ark School 2013 ready for you guys by March 15th. We will NOT accept any of the old versions of the application!

2. We will begin interviewing beginning the 2nd or 3rd week of April. We will give you the option of interviewing in person or via Google's Hangouts service (video chatting). More details coming soon.

3. Volunteer training(s) will be held AFTER we have considered all applications and interviews. There will not be any overlap with interviews. (Last year, interviews and the training happened on the same day)

4. There may or may not (UPDATE: probably not this year) be a registration fee (probably between $25~$50 IF it happens) for volunteers. This is in order to weed out people who are looking to make "easy volunteer hours" by coming and not doing what they're supposed to be doing. We need commitment. That was mentioned last year as well, but we did not see a lot of it. We figured that if you're willing to spend money to volunteer, you're serious about it. Another reason is to ease the financial load of running a $30,000~$40,000 program. Volunteers thus far have participated (as far as spending resources go) in all activities the students have for free. It would be something like paying a (very *cough cough*) small portion of the accommodations provided for you throughout the program :P. There will also possibly be a waiver for said fee IF we do charge a fee.

5. Only one person so far has contacted me with interest to volunteer this year. You guys need to start contacting me now! E-mail me at arkschoolgac@gmail.com or text/facebook message me saying you want to volunteer and I'll add you to my list! I need to get a rough idea of who's coming :).

With that said, I hope you guys had a fantastic February and have an amazing March!

Hey guys!

We are currently revising the volunteer application and reevaluating our interview/training process to better fit our needs.

One thing that's for sure is we'll have more interview dates available for you guys, so those who couldn't volunteer last year because you couldn't make it to an interview, rest easy, we'll have a date available for you.

Another issue with the volunteer program these past few years has been our lack of professionalism. We believe that our volunteers' level of presentation and execution should grow and improve to keep in step as Ark School's reach grows. We haven't completely decided how we'll go about helping you guys with that, but it's something that we're definitely working out. We'll try to make it as easy on your part as possible ;).

If you are interested in volunteering or know anyone who may be interested, please contact me ASAP, so I can start compiling a list of names at the very least! You can reach me at arkschoolgac@gmail.com! Thanks guys!

Hello everyone!

It's 2013! Wow, time just flies... I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year's Day! Now that it's approaching time to prepare for this year's upcoming Ark School, I just wanted to give you guys a heads up. Last year, everything was too smashed together right before the start of the actual program, and there was no time legitimate training or thorough evaluation. This year, we will be getting applications out and interviews done MUCH earlier than last year, so we can put in a few training sessions that serve as more than just guidelines on how to behave as a volunteer. I will begin posting at least once a week starting February, so stay tuned. Ark School 2013 is on its way!

P.S. Start telling your friends who may be interested in volunteering about this blog and our facebook group!