PASC_News_Oct09

PASC NewsVolume 34

Issue 2October 2009

InsIde ThIs Issue

NASC Student Liaison to be Named ..................................2

Magical Middle School

Ideas .......................................2

Celebrity Councils Celebrate

2009 State Conference .....3

Act Now on Scholarship Opportunities ......................4

Keep It—The Campaign for Ivory Park Starts Now ......5

NASC Conference Pre-trip Plans for 2010......................5

Sample Town Meeting Action Plans .......................................6

Council to Council Idea Exchange ...............................7

Board of Education Student Rep Reports.........................8

PASC Hosts Student Town Meeting on Civics FirstWhat can high school

students do in their school districts to further civics educa-tion, civics engagement, and service learning?

After Monday night, Septem-ber 21st, the question should be what can’t they do, since more than 150 students from across central and eastern Pennsyl-vania spent the night sharing ideas with the First Lady of Pennsylvania, Judge Marjorie O. Rendell, on civics education and how to get more engaged.

“There are 70.2 million Americans under the age of 18. Think of what we could do if those 70.2 million were engaged and participating in their own communities,” said Rendell.

Her question and answer ses-sion with high school students from districts across Pennsyl-vania headlined an afternoon those students spent at North Penn HS discussing civics and engagement. Participating students were mixed up with those from different schools to discuss three topics:

• Civics curriculum in schools,

• Civics engagement in schools

and communities

• Citizenship development through service learning.

“Not only do we have to teach the traditional three Rs in the classroom, I think it should be five Rs, including our civic rights and civic responsibilities,” Rendell said.

One student said his group didn’t remember learning much, if anything, about civics as a youngster. Rendell agreed that it is important to make early efforts to educate children about their government, how it works, and how to make a difference. “If we do that at an early age, we won’t need to be convincing them to vote later,” she said.

Pennridge HS delegates took this advice and are developing a plan for AP Government students to teach lessons on local government to elementary students in mid-May after the high school students complete their AP exams.

During the 75-minute question and answer session, First Lady Rendell shared her

insight on ways students can take action this year within their schools and communi-ties. Funding for senior service projects was a concern. Judge Rendell suggested that a senior project itself could be the creation of an organized fund-raising drive that would help fund future senior projects in a school. She also urged the students to contact college students who have already been through the senior project experience, or adults willing to share their time and expertise on a subject.

“Think outside these four walls, go out there and start something. Visit city hall or your local government. Reach out to the adults in your com-munity. You can be the ones that bridge that divide between the school and the commu-nity outside these walls,” said Rendell.

To students in search of a ser-vice project, Rendell suggested reaching out to college students and adults in their area for advice. Don’t just start a food

First Lady Marjorie Rendell engaged more than 150 students in a Student Town Meeting on civic engagement last month.

continued on page 6

PASC News • October 2009 • www.pasc.net2

News & NotesNASC Student Liaison to Be NamedThe State Student Council organizations of the Middle

Atlantic States have created a new student position called the NASC Region 2 Student Liaison. In the past, NASC has had one student representative from each of its eight regions in the country. In a cost-saving effort, NASC begins in 2010 to nar-row its NASC Advisory Council membership to four students and four advisors down from a total of 16.

The state organizations of Region 2 (Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania) feel that when the representative term of Stephen DeSalvo of New York comes to an end in June 2010, that one student should still serve the region. This student will:

u Serve from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2012.

v Foster communication between the state presidents and Executive Directors of the Middle Atlantic states.

w Communicate student ideas and concerns from the states of Region 2 to the student representatives serving on the NASC Advisory Committee.

x Assist with the planning of the annual spring meeting of NASC Region 2 state officers and Executive Directors.

y Foster the sharing of ideas and projects among the state organizations of Region 2.

PASC now seeks to begin the process of naming a Penn-sylvania nominee for this position. Current freshman and sophomores may apply. The following is the PASC application process:

u An application can be obtained from PASC at [email protected] or by downloading information at www.pasc.net.

v The application is due to the PASC Office by the post-mark deadline of October 15, 2009.

w The PASC Committee on NASC Relations will review student applications and select three finalists. Students will be notified by November 18, 2009.

x The three finalists will be interviewed by the NASC Re-lations Committee on Friday, January 15, 2010, in Altoona, PA.

y The PASC nominee will be interviewed at the NASC Region 2 State Officers meeting in New Jersey on Saturday, April 24, 2010, along with other nominees from NASC Region 2 states.

Concord MS from North Carolina shared the following great ideas during a Roundtable presentation at the June 2009 NASC Conference. For more details contact advisor Angie Currin at [email protected]

“The Teacher Who” SurveyThis is an activity that is free and fun for the entire staff and

student body. Distribute survey sheets in homeroom and collect them the next morning. Students fill in a teacher’s name for the categories as follows:• has cleanest desk• most likely to give homework on Fridays• has best bulletin boards• is most organized• has best handwriting• gives most creative assignments• gives hardest tests• is the best story teller• has nicest car• is most enthusiastic• friendliest• most humorous• most inspiring• shows best films• conducts best discussions

Student council tallies the surveys and makes a great bulletin board out of it, by taking pictures of each staff member and put-ting them around the categories that got them the most votes. This display is sure to stop students and staff in their tracks.

Link to LiteracyOur school works with a program in our county called “Books

for Babes,” which collects new children’s books and donates these books to each new child born at our local hospital. This program helps children develop a love for reading by giving them a head start. We collect books at PTO meetings in colorfully made baskets. Each council member was also challenged to bring in one or more books to share. This was a huge success. We collected so many books that we began combining the books with another service project. Our council visited a local Build-A-Bear Workshop where students donated their own money to purchase and make bears to donate to a local hospital. We placed our collected books inside the boxes before delivery to the pediatric patients.

Elementary Reading BuddiesAfter hearing about the number of at-risk students in our

elementary school, we found out that the numbers were based on reading levels. Our students asked our reading coordinator if they could help. Student Council members divided themselves into three groups and created an after-school program. Those students coming on Wednesdays would work with kindergarteners to help them learn to read. Council members coming on Tuesday and

Magical Middle School Ideas

continued on page 3

PASC News • October 2009 • www.pasc.net 3

Final plans are made and early bird registrations came in during the past four weeks, but there is still time before October 22nd to register three students and advisor(s) for the state conference. Check out the following conference infor-mation and reminders.

Program Overview

Celebrity Councils: Celebrate! will allow every delegate to feel like a celebrity. Keynote speakers Josh Sundquist and Scott Greenberg will emphasize the celebration.

Josh shares stories about losing his leg to cancer, ski racing in the Paralympics, and playing jokes with his artificial leg to give mo-tivation for overcoming adversity and goal setting. With a background in both stand-up comedy and crutch acrobatics, Josh’s perfor-mances are a one-of-a-kind combination of spectacular entertainment and practical inspiration.

Scott is an expert on resil-ience, leadership, and peak performance. Hundreds of thousands of people have been inspired by his motivational keynotes, seminars, and school assemblies. By combining humor, stories, and interaction with rich content and chal-lenging questions, Scott sets an upbeat tone while providing delegates with innovative ideas and critical tools for success.

Four Diamonds State Service Project

Pennridge is also very excited to give schools a chance to celebrate their success in fund-raising for the Four Diamonds Fund by participating in a Mini-Thon. Delegates will meet new friends, experience team-building, and of course learn a line dance inspired by the annual line dance done at Penn State’s THON. Middle school students will have a similar program at Pennridge North MS directly across the parking lot from the High School. It will be a night of fun and appreciation for all.

Student-Led Workshops

The workshops selected by Pennridge’s Workshop Evalu-ation Team are top-notch and Pennridge is very proud to have them at the conference. Delegates will participate in three workshop rotations to learn as much as possible from their peers.

Meet PASC Alumni

On Saturday, the conference will give delegates a new experi-ence: a PASC Alumni Partners program. Students in their cau-cuses will interact with PASC alumni from their region and talk about the importance of PASC beyond high school, and the alumni will also share the importance of networking and how to network effectively. Alumni advisors are strongly encouraged to participate in this program! For more information about participa-tion, alumni should visit www.celebrate2009.org/alumni.

Advisor University

Idea sharing during the advi-sor roundtables will provide

tons of new ideas to new and veteran advisors. A series of workshops is also a focal point of this year’s expand advisor program. Advisors are reminded to visit www.cel-ebrate2009.org and review the menu of hotels located at the Quakertown exit of the Penn-sylvania turnpike (I-476). All advisors should plan to attend an advisor dinner and program on Thursday night. Breakfast for advisors on Friday morning will be a continental breakfast at the advisor hotels.

If you’ve not already regis-tered, please do so as soon as possible! Pennridge cannot wait to share the Celebration with the rest of the state!

For registration instructions, visit www.celebrate2009.org-a.googlepages.com/registration-info.

Celebrity Councils Celebrate 2009 State Conference at Pennridge HS

Thursday afternoons would read to second graders, getting them prepared to take standardized tests for their grade level. Work included reading aloud, learning context clues, and discovering simple word attack skills.

We obtained resources from the supply of supplemental materi-als at the middle school and from cooperating teachers at the el-ementary school. As students progressed, some younger children would bring books from home to show off their improved reading skills to their reading buddies. Their scores on tests consistently improved and our middle schoolers were proud of their “teaching” and of their new elementary friends.

Middle School Ideas (continued from page 2)

Share Your Successful Ideas

with PASC!Does your council have a project or activity

that is particularly successful? Write up a short description and send it

with photos to [email protected] and you could find yourself featured in an upcoming issue of PASC News!

PASC News • October 2009 • www.pasc.net4

PASC NEWS is published monthly during

the school year. To submit

announcements, articles, or corrections for newsletters, please email the Executive Director or Assistant Ex-ecutive Director. Articles or information from PASC NEWS may be reproduced for use, with appropriate credit.

Executive DirectorJim FinnemeyerNorth Penn HS1340 Valley Forge RoadLansdale, PA 19446215-368-6196215-855-0632 (Fax)[email protected]@aol.com

Assistant Executive DirectorKathy Ann Coll174 Link AvenuePittsburgh, PA [email protected]

PASC PresidentAbby CasePennridge HS1400 N. Fifth StreetPerkasie, PA 18944

PASC President-ElectCheyenne SantorielloMountain View HSRR 1, Box 339Kingsley, PA 18826

PASC News EditorLyn FiscusLeadership Logistics

PASC Email:[email protected]

PASC Website:www.pasc.net

United States Senate Youth Scholarship Program

Two student delegates from each state will be chosen to receive $5,000 college scholar-ships and the opportunity to spend a week in Washington, D.C. (all expenses paid) with delegates from across the na-tion.

Every Pennsylvania high school principal received the Senate Youth nomination packet in late August. Applica-tions are also available on the Pennsylvania Department of Education website. Each school may nominate one outstanding student leader to be considered for the scholarship. Please encourage your high school principal to help honor your own top student leader by par-ticipating in the Senate Youth Scholarship program.

To be eligible for the Senate Youth scholarship, a student must be a high school junior or senior and must hold an elected position in student council, class government, or regional or state officer posi-tion in a statewide organiza-tion. After being nominated by the building principal, the student must complete an ap-plication packet and submit it by October 9, 2009 (post-mark).

Horatio Alger Scholarships

The Horatio Alger Associa-tion is accepting applications for the Class of 2010 due no later than October 30, 2009. Please share the following in-formation with your Guidance Department and with students that you know who fit the fol-

Act Now on Scholarship Opportunitieslowing criteria:

The Horatio Alger Associa-tion seeks to assist students who have demonstrated integrity, perseverance in overcoming adversity, strength of character, financial need (under $50,000 adjusted gross family income), a good academic record, commitment to pursue a college education, and a desire to contribute to society.

Within the Horatio Alger Scholarships there are four special programs of interest to PASC members:

n National Scholars Pro-gram: Three Pennsylvania students will be selected to each receive a $20,000 scholar-ship and will be invited to the National Awards program in Washington, D.C., with 105 other students and the Associa-tion’s ten 2010 Distinguished American Award Winners in April 2010.

n Pennsylvania Scholars Program: Funded through the generosity of Joseph and Jea-nette Neubauer, the Pennsylva-nia Scholarship Program annu-ally awards $2,500 scholarships to 50 deserving students from Pennsylvania

n Franklin Scholarship Pro-gram (only for Pennsylvania seniors): Funded through a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Franklin Scholars Program annually awards $10,000 to 25 students in the state of Pennsylvania. In April these 25 scholars will gather in Valley Forge for a special pro-gram. The program is designed to increase student understand-ing and appreciation of the

contributions of Ben Franklin and Horatio Alger, Jr. Scholar-ship criteria are the same for other Horatio Alger Scholar-ships. An additional essay on Ben Franklin is required. For an application and detailed information on this new schol-arship contact horatioalger.com/scholarships/programs_franklin.cfm. The online deadline is October 30.

n New NASC Scholarship: A Horatio Alger Scholarship for a student council member in an NASC member school. Go to www.nasc.us for details.

These scholarships can only be applied for online: www.horatioalger.com/scholarships/index.cfm

Prudential Spirit of Community Awards

The Prudential Spirit of Com-munity Awards program will award scholarships to students recognized for their dedication and selfless commitment to volunteerism. Eligible students must currently be in grades 5–12 and must be engaged in an act of volunteerism that has occurred, at least in part, during the 12 months prior to the application date. Programs could be done in or out of school. All middle level and high school throughout Penn-sylvania will receive program information and applications in early September. Applications and information are also avail-able at www.prudential.com/community/spirit. Please do not miss this opportu-nity to give outstanding young volunteers the recognition they so richly deserve. Deadline is October 30, 2009.

PASC News • October 2009 • www.pasc.net 5

On a rainy Saturday morn-ing, during the busiest part of the fall, a dedicated dozen of PASC’s Advanced Gold delegates arrived at North Allegheny Intermediate HS determined to keep a commit-ment. In the eight weeks that have passed since they left Pitt Johnstown, the Advanced Gold team members have clarified their priorities, organized a board of directors, launched a website, (http://www.keep-itcampaign.com) and honed and refined their skills as social entrepreneurs. The result? They are now ready to teach student leaders throughout Pennsylvania how to use online fundraising tools “to act locally and reach globally” by helping to build a community of hope in one of the poorest townships in South Africa.

As they met at North Al-legheny Intermediate HS, the primary question was, “Where should we begin?”

According to “Keep It!” founder Bob Tryanski, “It was truly inspiring to watch the light bulbs go off in peoples’ minds as we shared some of the critical needs and real opportunities that exist in our sister city of Ivory Park. The

Advanced Gold delegates have firmly embraced the idea that they can make a difference on a large scale and build something that will affect people’s lives in a positive and sustainable way. I know they are going to make this happen. I hope PASC member schools will share their enthusiasm and commitment and climb on board.”

The group learned of the challenges facing the people of Ivory Park as they reviewed photos, videos, and stories gathered by Bob and PASC Assistant Executive Director Kathy Coll on a trip to South Africa in August. Kathy provided the students with concrete examples of how small contributions can have a huge impact. “It only takes $375 to feed 120 orphaned children for a whole month. Or, how about this figure—$6,000 will build a complete state of the art kitchen that will feed 120 pre-school children every day, 60 senior citizens twice a week, and another 160 school-age children every day after school,“ she said.

Join the EffortSo how can you get involved?

It’s easy. Become a part of the

A dedicated dozen of PASC’s Advanced Gold delegates (below) gathered at North Al-legheny Intermediate HS to participate in the Keep It Campaign Bootcamp. The focus was on acting locally to reach globally by helping build a community of hope in Ivory Park, South Africa (above).

“Keep It!”—The Campaign for Ivory Park Starts Now!

Ivory Park Community by visiting us online. Meet your South African neighbors, read their stories, hear their voices, and share their hope. You can become directly involved by joining our volunteer team or by making a small donation on the website. For updates,

become a fan of the “Keep It!” Campaign on Facebook, or subscribe to our blog.

Exciting things are happening and there will be a wide variety of ways to participate. Be sure to look for this dynamic dozen at the PASC State Conference at Pennridge HS in November.

The 2010 NASC Conference will be held at Cedar Grove HS in suburban Indianapolis, Indiana. PASC has made tentative plans for a delegation from Pennsylvania to go on a pre-conference trip.

Tuesday, June 22–Friday, June 25: Plans for two coaches meet-ing in West Virginia and some white water rafting adventures. Then on to Kentucky for a visit to World Heritage Site of Mam-moth Cave for an experience like no other. We will then head over to Land Between the Lakes for some team-building activities like canoeing, swimming, night hiking, and campfire time.

Tentative Plans for Pre-Trip to NASC Conference 2010Saturday, June 26–Tuesday, June 29: NASC Conference in

Cedar Grove, Indiana.

Tuesday, June 29: Head home to Pittsburgh with eastern bus staying overnight and heading home on Wednesday, June 30.

The cost will be $1,200, which includes all hotel stays for pre-trip and conference, transportation costs, all meals except lunches, con-ference registration, all entry fees for activities, conference T-shirts, and buttons. For more information, please e-mail PASC Trip coordinator, Kathy Coll at [email protected].

PASC News • October 2009 • www.pasc.net6

a food drive, she said; get 10 other schools involved, give it a name, and convince someone at the local radio station to mention it on the air.

Each group of students was given a packet of information on re-sources, both through the First Lady’s office and through separate agencies like PennCORD, the Pennsylvania Coalition for Repre-sentative Democracy.

They’ll want to put those contacts to good use, since the First Lady’s office has asked each participating school to share their ac-tion plan and project timeline with the First Lady by November 1.

“PASC will be checking in with those schools in November to see how those projects are moving forward,” said Abby Case, PASC president and a senior at Pennridge HS. PASC will share the results in future issues of PASC NEWS and at www.pasc.net.

A video clip of the Town Meeting can be found at http://www.thereporteronline.com/articles/2009/09/22/news/doc4ab82e-ba04af8292921009.txt

See article above for additional Action Plan ideas from the Stu-dent Town Meeting.

Civics First Town Hall Meeting (continued from page 1)

First Lady Marjorie Rendell urged leaders at the Student Town Meeting on September 21st to “think outside the four walls of their schools” in devel-oping new civic initiatives and service projects. The following are a sampling of Action Plans begun that night. Your school leaders might be stimulated by these ideas to adopt one and modify it to fit your school and community or to branch out and create your own civic initiative.

n Central Bucks South HS student council group planned to focus on promoting student engagement by creating incen-tives, developing promotional materials, and making sure school clubs had a presence at the homecoming kick-off Tent Event.

n Interboro HS students have already figured out their action plan. “It’s a need that our district actually has had for a while but haven’t been able to address. The juice bottles in our cafeteria and vending machines, most of the students drink every day, and they can be recycled but our recycling company doesn’t take them

A Sample of Town Meeting Action Plans Your School Could Also Adopt

from the school, just from resi-dences,” said Student Activities Director Andy Costanzo.

To solve that problem, the students planned that their classmates in wood shop could build four recycling boxes, one for each grade in their school, and Inter-boro High’s student council lead-ers could use those boxes to collect those juice bottles, putting the boxes in a prominent place in their school so every student can see how many are collected.

“We hope to put together some sort of a competition, so that each class wants to col-lect as many as they can, and then we hope to have faculty members volunteer to take all of those bags and bags of bottles to the private recycling plant,” said Interboro senior Jesse Brown. “The kids want us to get a day off from school for the grade that collects the most, but we’ll see if the administra-

tion goes for that,” Costanzo said.

n Philadelphia’s Overbrook HS students’ goal is to improve school spirit and to highlight student leadership in the school community inside and

outside of the building’s walls. There are several as-pects to their initiative: 1. To involve students from every Academy in the school in

creating a student-led new teacher mentoring program

2. To implement civics educa-tion in the academic rep-ertoire of every graduating student

3. To create drives and mara-thons by service clubs for recycling and collection of dry goods

4. To raise school spirit through “Academy Battles” fo-cusing on academics, cultural programs, musical activities, and athletics.

Unity groups within the student body became a major

goal of several schools as they made plans to create InterClub Councils of various types:

n Boyertown HS plans for a council that will focus on a major service project.

n Downingtown East HS will create a new group integrat-ing the three main groups at their school—NHS, student council, and class council—to form DEUNITY which would have a meeting once a month mandatory for officers of each group but open to all students to unite groups in the school and create a forum for issues to be brought to administrators.

n Carlisle High School’s ICC will be created to lend con-tinuity, communication, and co-ordination among the various school clubs.

n Central Dauphin HS plans to expand the “Reading Buddy” program to involve more elementary children and more clubs within the high school.

n Dallas High School’s goal is to create an area-wide public ceremony for Veteran’s Day.

Watch for more civic engage-ment and service ideas in November PASC NEWS.

Student Town Meeting attendees developed Action Plans for new civic initiatives.

PASC News • October 2009 • www.pasc.net 7

Council to Council Idea ExchangeUnique October Fundraisers Tioga County schools have come up with some

unique fundraisers that are tied to Halloween.

Halloween Raffle Basket. Student Council students each bring in two Halloween items and we place them in a basket to raffle during lunches. The cost is 25 cents per chance and the winners

are announced at the Halloween assembly.

BOO-tiful Bouquet Sale. Get old dried up flowers from flower-beds and wrap them in nice tissue paper and sell with a message!

For details contact Elkland HS advisor, Amy Millard at [email protected] or CowanesqueValley HS advisor, Jaime Jo Sicker at jamie jo [email protected]

Every Student Is a Star Laurel Valley Middle/High School con-

ducts a variety of recognition activities

Academic Recognition

Rewards: Key chains, lanyards, bracelets, T-shirts, etc. Check with community busi-nesses/organizations for donations to help defray costs of these and others rewards below.

Food Rewards: Ice cream social, breakfast, pizza party

Special assemblies: Hypnotist, magic show, pantomime, movie

Special Prizes: Movie theater tickets, gift certificates, school clothing, tickets to school activities or sports events

Straight A Club: Students who have earned “A” for each grading period and have an “A” going into the final are exempt from the final exam.

King/Queen for a Day: Students who have made high honor roll or distinguished honor roll the first three quarters of the year are treated to a limousine ride to Pizza Hut during the fourth quarter. (Administrators are generally receptive to chaperoning this event.)

Every Student Is Important

Use holidays to recognize all students and staff in school. At Thanksgiving, have talented art students draw a huge turkey for the main lobby. Hand out paper “feathers” in homerooms for students to put their names on and decorate. Decorate the turkey with feathers. For Christmas, make everyone a decoration for the holiday tree that they can put their name on and decorate. In the winter, put names on snowflakes; for the spring use tulips or something similar. The possibilities are endless—just use your imagination.

Senior Wall

Select a high-traffic area of your school. At the beginning of the year, have seniors cover one of their hands with paint and put their

handprint on the wall. (Be sure to arrange for clean-up of hands as well as the area!) After handprints have dried, ask seniors to write their names below their handprints. At the end of the school year, ask the maintenance department to repaint the area so that it’s ready to go for the next senior class.

For details contact Romayne Schwartzel, advisor Laurel Valley Middle/High School [email protected].

Tom Montler Tag Day for the Humane SocietyThis project is named for a Student

Council president from the mid-1970s who was killed by a drunk driver. The Altoona Area HS Student Council brings two puppies and two kittens to school for a full day to raise money for the local Humane Society. In addition to raising money, the animals that visit the school are typically adopted the day after the event. Most noticeably, the “residents” of the high school are hap-pier more than any other day of the year. Students and staff mem-bers stop and smile and want to stay and play with the visitors.

A few details of the project include:• Contact your local humane society and ask them if they are

willing to allow kittens and puppies to be brought to school for a whole day with the understanding that you will be taking dona-tions all day to give to the society.

• You will need student volunteers to pick up the animals after school the day before the event and keep them at their homes overnight. The volunteers then bring them to school the next day and return them after school.

• Obviously, your administration must approve the event. It can cause some disruptions because of the happy nature of the day.

• We contact teachers ahead of time and since many teachers are animal lovers, they want the animals to make a visit to their classroom. We acknowledge that with the understanding that a donation canister will also come with the animals. Some teach-ers want them to come every period and as long as they allow donations from each class, go for it.

• It is important that the students working with the animals understand that puppies have accidents. It is not up to the advi-sor or maintenance staff to clean it up—it is up to the student volunteers.

• Volunteers need to recognize that the animals will get tired with all of the attention and play time they will get and will need rest time in their crate from time to time.

• Always make sure the animals have water available and that you take time to let them eat.

For additional details contact advisors Kim Shope [email protected] and David Aboud [email protected].

PASC News • October 2009 • www.pasc.net8

Student Members Attend State Board of Education Meeting

By: Gardiner Kreglow, SBE Student Member

The State Board of Education held its 290th

meeting September 12–13 in Harrisburg at the Department of Education. Several of the Board’s committee meet-ings met in the afternoon of the12th. I worked with the vocational technical education committee, where discussions were held on the transfer of high school vocational techni-cal credits to post secondary institutions in the Common-wealth. Numerous students and their families would benefit financially from direct credit transfer. This would allow some students the opportunity to continue their education, students who without direct credit transfer would be unable to afford it.

Student Member Elect Travis Gilbert attended a meeting of the committee on health and wellness. The majority of the discussion was regard-ing H1N1, and the procedure developed by the Department of Education and the Depart-ment of Health in the event of an outbreak at any K–12 public school in the common-wealth and any postsecondary institution in the Pennsylvania System of Higher Education. The remainder of the discus-sion focused on possible regula-tions the board could develop and future opportunities to hold public hearings on various issues.

The Board continues to look for ways to improve school safety. Currently a set of standards for the school day environment is being devel-oped under the leadership of Board Chairman Torsella and Secretary of Education Dr. Za-horchak. The state is making progress in school safety, and Dr. Zahorchak announced that the state has had great success in instituting and applying bul-lying prevention methods.

The Board spent most of its meeting in a study and discussion session on funding taking it from the federal to state perspective. Although the Board has no direct fiscal responsibility in its charter, it is important that Board members understand the financial effects of its policy efforts.

The Board had no major action items presented except for approving the 2009–2010 meeting schedule. The Board will continue to hold half of its meetings in locations across the state. The next meeting will be held in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, at W. W. Evans Memorial Elementary School in November. Members hope the budget will be passed by this meeting, and the Board will be able to review and ap-prove numerous regulations that have been put on hold until the budget was finalized. Discussions will continue to focus on health and wellness as well as school safety. Please feel free to contact me by email at [email protected] or Travis at [email protected] with any questions, com-ments, or suggestions.

PASC and the Alliance for Student ActivitiesThe Alliance for Student Activities was founded two years ago

by a group of educators and trainers who realized the need for a unifying voice and network to promote the benefits of student activities. The organization is focusing on advocacy, resources, networking and training to promote the value of student activi-ties and support activity advisors, and it is partnering with other organizations (like PASC) to advance the Alliance mission. PASC has joined more than 20 other state student council associations in affiliating with the Alliance.

A benefit of the PASC affiliation with the Alliance is more resources for PASC members. Your school’s membership in PASC entitles you to receive access to the Alliance’s electronic newslet-ters, including the monthly News of Note, and bi-monthly issues of The Advocate and In Brief. These can be accessed in the affiliate section of the Alliance website (www.alliance4studentactivities.org) using the ID: 0A47E4 and the Password: advisor

In addition to the newsletters mentioned, some of the Alliance’s accomplishments in the two years it has been in existence include:

• Online Training—To make training accessible to everyone, the Alliance is focusing on providing online training with a series of video lessons for class and club advisors available on its website.

• Exhibits—The Alliance has begun to exhibit at national and state educational conferences to raise awareness of the Alliance and speak to the importance a good student activity program can make in the school climate.

• University Outreach—Members are working with various contacts at the university level to implement seminars for future educators that will prepare them for their eventual roles as activity advisors or administrators in charge of activity programs and raise awareness of the value of activities in the school program.

• Forum—The Alliance has created an online networking forum where members can post questions or notes about resources they find valuable.

Don’t Miss These Resources

All included in PASC membership