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NJASC Advisors Update - January 10, 2009

Here is the latest news about what is going on in your state Student Council association, and what you need to know for our upcoming events...

Winter Convention 2009 - A great day at TCNJ!

We would like to thank the nearly 1400 students and 200 advisors that joined us for the 83rd annual NJASC Winter Convention on Thursday January 8 at The College of New Jersey.

The day started with campaigning on the first floor of the Brower Student Center, as the candidates for 2009 State Office worked hard to meet their fellow student leaders and seek their votes. As always, this was an exciting experience - both for the candidates themselves and the other student leaders in attendance.

At the General Session keynote speaker Josh Sundquist entertained, educated, and inspired everyone with his message that "life is tough, but life is beautiful". He shared his own life experiences - including that of being a member of the 2006 United States Paralympic Ski Team in Torino, Italy - and in doing so reinforced the idea that if anyone else accomplishes something, then so can you. More likely than not, by the time you read this update at least one student (or advisor) has already used the line "We should hang out sometime..." to meet someone new.

Also at the General Session awards were given for Honor Schools, Top Ten Projects, and the High School and Middle Level Student Leaders of the Year. We would like to congratulate all the award winning schools and students. For a complete listing of award winners and several photographs, please visit the following pages on the NJASC website:

At the Breakout Sessions that followed, each candidate for State Office gave their campaign speech to the Student Council Presidents who then cast their votes for the 2009 State Officers. Meanwhile, students from over 20 schools conducted workshops to share the great ideas and programs going on in their schools with their fellow leaders from throughout the state. We would like to thank all of the schools, advisors, and students that conducted workshops for their contribution to this important component of our Convention.

At the Advisors Luncheon, retired advisors Christine and Ray Arszulowicz gave a presentation about RSVP - "Raising Student Voice and Participation". New Jersey entered this program sponsored by the National Association of Student Councils (NASC) and Learn & Serve America last year, conducting a training session at Cherokee High School last Spring. Watch for more information about another training session in the near future, as we seek to expand the RSVP program in the coming year.

The 2009 NJASC Advisory Board was also elected at the Advisors' Luncheon, the members of which are at left:

Barbara Meyrick
(Buena Regional HS)

Alison Franz
(Brooklawn MS)

Kitty Reinhard
(Parsippany Hills HS)

Barbara will serve a two-year term represeting High School advisors from the South, and Alison will serve a one-year term representing Middle Level advisors. Kitty was elected last year and is now entering the second year of her term representing High School advisors from the North. We look forward to working with Barbara, Alison, and Kitty in the coming year as we seek advice from them with regard to matters relating to advisors.

Finally, in the closing session the 2008 State Officers were thanked for their hard work in the past year - as they announced their successors...

Congratulations to the 2009 State Officers!

The following student leaders from the Northern section of our state were elected to the 2009 NJASC Executive Board, and are pictured below:

  • President - Alex Gallego, Parsippany Hills HS
  • Vice President - Deanna Cafone, Nutley HS
  • Secretary - Madison Waterfield, Somerville HS
  • Treasurer - Christian Truglio, West Morris Central HS
  • Executive Member (Charity) - Chris Salemme, Westfield HS
  • Executive Member (Projects) - Samantha Berk, South Brunswick HS
  • Executive Member (Review) - Kayeleigh Mallon, High Point Regional HS
  • State BOE Representative - Devon McRimmon, John P. Stevens HS
  • Middle Level Representative - Madison Brown, Stewartsville MS

We look forward to working with these student leaders over the next twelve months. They will meet with the outgoing 2008 State Officers at Allentown High School on Friday February 6 for the annual changeover meeting. At that meeting, they will decide on the state theme for 2009 and begin their work as your State Officers for the coming year.

We would like to commend all the candidates that ran for 2009 State Office. Student leaders in the southern section of our state (Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Mercer, Monmouth, Ocean, Salem) should start thinking about a run for 2010 State Office - a good first step is to attend LTC or LTC 2 (see below)...

Get your student leaders energized at LTC 2009!

The 54th annual NJASC Leadership Training Conference (LTC) will be at The College of New Jersey - Session 1 from (Wed-Sat.) July 15-18 and Session 2 from (Sun-Wed.) July 19-22. In four days and three nights, your student leaders will discover, develop, and demonstrate their leadership potential and have a great time doing it. The lessons last a lifetime, and your students will come back energized to positively impact your student council and school.

The registration cost for LTC 2009 is only $350.00 per delegate which includes lodging, meals, and all course materials. Deposit and reservation forms for LTC 2009 are now available on the Forms Page of the NJASC Website. Be sure to reserve places for your school as soon as possible, so your student leaders don't miss out on this one-of-a-kind experience!

You can CLICK HERE to view testimonials from student leaders that attended LTC 2008 last summer. For more information, be sure to visit the LTC Section of the NJASC Website.

But wait...there's more!
"LTC 2" Announced to Member Schools!

At the Winter Convention, we announced the new "LTC 2" program inviting student leaders that have already attended LTC to return for more! A focus group was conducted during the workshop sessions to get feedback and ideas from former (and potential future) delegates as we prepare to implement this pilot program in 2009...

"LTC 2" will be a conference within a conference. Participants will experience the same high-quality social program that excites and motivates delegates year after year, an outcome of the focus group mentioned above. Meanwhile, the instructional component will feature advanced versions of some existing leadership training sessions, entirely new leadership training experiences, and the chance to work with and assist delegates in the standard LTC program. The LTC Education Committee, under the direction of Pam Freund and including several veteran and new senior staff members, will be working hard to develop the new curriculum for "LTC 2".

We look forward to implementing the "LTC 2" pilot program during Session 2 of LTC 2009, which will be Sun-Wed. July 19-22. There will be a limited number of places available for this program, so if your students are interested it is important to notify us as soon as possible. The cost for "LTC 2" will be $350.00 per delegate, the same as for LTC. Deposit and reservation forms for "LTC 2" are now available on the Forms Page of the NJASC Website.

Thank you for your cooperation!

We would like to thank all of you that attended the Winter Convention for your cooperation with regard to our decision to postpone it one day due to winter weather in the northern part of the state. We tried to make this decision as early as possible to get the word out through the advisors' e-mail distribution list and give you time to adjust transportation arrangements and substitute coverage back at your schools. As soon as we made the decision, we also posted a special announcement on the home page of the NJASC website.

We realize that there were a few schools that did not get our message about the postponement. We sincerely apologize to those schools that traveled to TCNJ on Wednesday January 7, only to find out there that the Convention had been postponed. In the future, if weather is a possible concern please check your e-mail regularly AND also periodically check the NJASC Website. We will use both to communicate any changes to you.

If any of you are having trouble getting e-mail from us, please contact Lou at lmiller@njasc.org and he will look into it. In some cases you may have to configure your e-mail server or client to accept mail from the njasc.org domain. Alternately, you may want to give us a different e-mail address to enter into our distribution list if the one we currently have is not accepting mail from us.

For those of you that prepaid and were unable to attend the Winter Convention due to the date change, we will either be returning the uncashed check to you or crediting it toward your registration for the Spring Awards Program at Six Flags on Thursday May 7. If you have a preference with regard to this, please contact Wendy at wbsitzler@njasc.org.

As always we would like to thank you for your support of the NJASC and student leaders throughout New Jersey. Happy New Year, and we look forward to a great 2009!