Hello everyone,
I hope you’re having a great start to the school year. If your school is like Richland HS, you’re right in the middle of the Fall Frenzy (Homecoming, Spirit Days, new officers, new goals for the year, dances, services projects,… And that’s just the first page!) Thanks for all that you do for the climate of your school, and for the leadership that makes Washington State so great.
Speaking of Washington State leadership, the AWSL conference is just around the corner, October 14-16 at Mark Morris HS in Longview. I hope that your school has some students presenting sessions. The excitement and the energy make it such a great conference. The WACA Board is presenting two advisors sessions (one on Adviser Certification and one on Leadership Lessons). It should be a lot of fun. Hope to see you there!
Speaking of great conferences, next year’s WACA Conference will be held in Vancouver, WA. You’ll leave a sign on your office door that says “GONE FISHIN’ FOR GREAT IDEAS” (the conference theme!), and head to the Vancouver Hilton, from March 15-17. There are a number of things about the conference that I’d like to pass on to you. There are quite a few, so I’m bold-facing the main idea for each bullet. Here goes:
Okay, that’s a lot of bullets! That’s enough for now. Let me know if you have questions, concerns, ideas,… And if you are receiving this email in error, just let me know and I’ll update my contact list. If you’re not the right person but you know who is, please pass along their contact info, and again, I’ll update my list. Thanks!
Enjoy the rest of your week, and have a great weekend, everyone!
jb
John M. Bittinger
Richland High School
WACA Area #8 Representative
I hope you’re having a great start to the school year. If your school is like Richland HS, you’re right in the middle of the Fall Frenzy (Homecoming, Spirit Days, new officers, new goals for the year, dances, services projects,… And that’s just the first page!) Thanks for all that you do for the climate of your school, and for the leadership that makes Washington State so great.
Speaking of Washington State leadership, the AWSL conference is just around the corner, October 14-16 at Mark Morris HS in Longview. I hope that your school has some students presenting sessions. The excitement and the energy make it such a great conference. The WACA Board is presenting two advisors sessions (one on Adviser Certification and one on Leadership Lessons). It should be a lot of fun. Hope to see you there!
Speaking of great conferences, next year’s WACA Conference will be held in Vancouver, WA. You’ll leave a sign on your office door that says “GONE FISHIN’ FOR GREAT IDEAS” (the conference theme!), and head to the Vancouver Hilton, from March 15-17. There are a number of things about the conference that I’d like to pass on to you. There are quite a few, so I’m bold-facing the main idea for each bullet. Here goes:
- The WACA Board met in mid-September to start conference planning. This first thing we did is to look at last year’s conferenceevaluations. We had a really good reply (lots of respondents), and we use that info to improve the next conference. So thanks for your input!
- As always, details for the conference can be viewed at wacaonline.org.
- Online registration opened up on October 3rd. The site is ready to process POs and credit cards, and is also ready to accept pre-conference course offerings. (See wacaonline.org)
- There pre-conference offerings are only $45. That gets you clock hours, lunch, and a wonderful speaker. (What a catch!)
- There are four options for the pre-con offerings:
- SESSION 1: ASB Finance "Up Close," Presented by Marty Fortin, AWSP - Marty Fortin is considered one of the foremost experts on ASB law at best practices for schools in the State of Washington. He will bring his extensive knowledge and experience to this pre-conference offering. Click on the link on the WACA website for a brief synopsis of the topics to be covered.
- SESSION 2: Leadership Class Lessons & Resources, Presented by Susan Fortin, AWSP & Joe Fenbert, AWSP Participate in hands-on activities and lessons that focus on leadership skills for life. Add these lessons to your leadership toolkit to use in class, retreats, after-school programs, advisory programs and more.
- SESSION 3: Character Strong, Presented By John Norlin - Director of Student Leadership and Community Involvement K-12 Sumner School District - This session will take you through an example year-long plan to intentionally build character and a positive climate throughout your student body, staff, and community! Learn about instructional content, resources, activities, and strategies to make this happen. Bring your calendars, computers, and ideas of what you are doing at your school! (Note: We’re starting this program at Richland HS this year, and I am see really positive movement in our culture already.)
- SESSION 4: ENGAGE: Creating Culture that Works, Presented by Scott Backovich - What if I told you that school spirit doesn’t have to be loud or crazy? What if the purpose of dances, rallies, and assemblies wasn’t to gain massive attendance, but to establish something even greater? Most importantly, what if I told you that the entire process of building a positive and inclusive community in your school could be boiled down to ONE system? Get in fast! In this session, we will cover student engagement as a hands-on model, backed by data and proven in schools all across the country. Want to know how the best schools in America are formed? Come in and learn the model for yourself!
- NOTE: The pre-conference offerings are becoming very popular! So much so, that we have to be thoughtful about which rooms we reserve for them. So PLEASE know that you may not change your session when you arrive. Treasurer Norm Sanford will send out an email verification prior to the conference; you’ll need to respond with corrections/changes within a five day period. After that, the rooms are set, and changes cannot be considered. Thanks for helping out with this.
- When you register for the conference, you may make some limited dietary requests. Again, we’re going to ask that you don’t make switches at the conference. (Last year, a number of people switched their preferences, and others who had reserved special menus were left without a meal.)
- The WACA Hall of Fame and Advisors of the Year are presented each year at the conference. Nomination forms are available at… you guessed it! … wacaonline.org. Deadline for nominations is December 1, 2016.
- Please consider presenting a session at the WACA Conference! A number of you gave great ideas for session topics at last year’s area meetings. Now let’s get Area #8 involved in those sessions. Remember that you can present a full 50-minute session, or a quick 10-minute Meet the Pros session. As you know, applications are available at wacaonline.org.
- If you have a favorite vendor and think that they might like to participate in the conference, please forward their contact info to Partner Coordinator Jen Durham (pull down the “Contact Us” icon on the website).
- This year, the Board is managing a Washington Student Leader Adviser’s Certification, led by our own Tim Turner, Certification Coordinator. The certificates will be presented at the conference. The application is online (pull down the Adviser Certification icon on the website), and it is very straight-forward. It is very similar to the online teacher certification renewal. Deadline is February 1, 2017. Check it out! (And note that there will be an advisers session at the AWSL conference on the certification process. We’ll walk you through it, step by step.)
- Please invite your administrator(s) to attend the conference, so that they can see first-hand the kind of work that you do, and how it can positively impact their evaluations.
Okay, that’s a lot of bullets! That’s enough for now. Let me know if you have questions, concerns, ideas,… And if you are receiving this email in error, just let me know and I’ll update my contact list. If you’re not the right person but you know who is, please pass along their contact info, and again, I’ll update my list. Thanks!
Enjoy the rest of your week, and have a great weekend, everyone!
jb
John M. Bittinger
Richland High School
WACA Area #8 Representative