News & Notes Seeking Host School for 2014 PASC State Conference The process begins now to select the host for the fall conference in 2014. Student Council advisors and student leaders who are interested in bidding to host this conference should contact PASC Executive Director Jim Finnemeyer at PASCInfo@aol.com or call 215-280-9299 for a packet of materials that explain the bidding process to host the conference and a host school planning booklet. Schools interested in hosting the state conference in 2014 should notify PASC by December 2012. Official letters of invitation from advisors, student council president, principal, and superintendent of schools must be received by PASC no later than January 1, 2013. Schools who bid are invited to make presentations to the PASC Executive Board at a meeting on Saturday, January 12, 2013 at Altoona Area High School. The PASC Executive Board will make a decision that day.
Karin Knaus Named Acting Director for District 7 Tressa Heffron announced in November that she will be taking a leave of absence from her position as PASC District 7 Director. We wish Tressa well with her pregnancy and look forward to the arrival of baby girl Heffron in February. Karin Knaus, advisor at Cowanesque Valley High School and former District 7 Director, has volunteered to serve in the District Director position for the 2012–2013 school year. Karin will work closely with the District 7 officer schools in planning for the spring district conference and will represent the district at PASC Board meetings. Karin can be contacted at Karin.knaus@ntiogasd.org or at 814-367-2233.
National Council of Excellence Applications Due in February With less than one month remaining in 2012, it is time for your student council members to organize information on projects, minutes and agendas of meetings, and other information that can be used to support the council’s application to NASC as a National Council of Excellence for 2012. Many PASC member councils have done many outstanding things since January 1, 2012. PASC would like to encourage all councils to apply for this prestigious award. Details on the application process and the appropriate forms can be found at www.nasc.us. The application, based on the council’s accomplishments for calendar year 2012, is due to NASC on February 15, 2013. 2
PASC News • December 2012 • www.pasc.net
Advisors Offer Ideas from NCSA By Lynn Clark, Norwin HS and Jeff Kusniez, Boyertown HS Every year in early December, student council advisors gather from around the country at the National Conference on Student Activities sponsored by NAWD (National Association of Workshop Directors). It is an amazing conference held only for advisors and other adults involved with student activities. We were able to meet this year with other advisors, share ideas, attend various breakout sessions, and hear a set of amazing speakers including Steve Spangler, who regularly appears on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. From the pages and pages of notes we took, we picked four ideas we thought that you would find useful: n Remind101.com — Have you ever wanted an easy way to inform your students and parents of what is happening in your classroom, school, or student council? The program sends text messages, without giving out your phone number, to anyone signed up for the service. It takes about 10 minutes to set up an account and it gives you everything you need to get the information out. Sending messages is even easier than that. And the best part is that IT IS FREE! n Raccoon Circles —Raccoon Circles require a piece of tubular nylon webbing, which can be purchased at any outdoor store, and a little imagination. They can be used for icebreakers, teambuilding, closing activities, or just for fun. Google “racoon circle” and find one of the many handbooks about it on the Internet.
n Coloring Day — Students of all ages love to color and this day allows the inner artist in all of us to come out. All you need are copies of a coloring page, crayons, and some tape. Put the copies and the crayons out during lunch and when they are done hang them on the wall. Names are optional, prizes not necessary, just enjoy the creativity of your students and staff. n WUFOO — Wufoo is a web application that allows you to build online forms, surveys, and gather registration data. If you attended either of the last two state conferences you used Wufoo for registration. With a few simple clicks, you can generate a form and start gathering data and easily download the data as well. There is a small cost for the service, but it can be a valuable tool if you use it wisely. A simple form for a small number of participants could even be free to your organization. While we spent a lot of time gathering ideas, we had time to sit back, relax, and just catch up with each other and many other advisors. Pinehurst was an amazing and beautiful place and we want to thank PASC, and especially Jim Finnemeyer, for giving us the opportunity to attend the conference. For all interested advisors, next year’s conference is in Austin, TX from Dec. 6–8. We suggest you put the dates on your calendar NOW so you don’t miss out on “Leadership is WEIRD”. NOTE: PASC received a donation to pay for the registration of two PASC advisors to attend this conference in 2012. Lynn and Jeff completed the application found in PASC NEWS and were selected to attend.