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| In This Issue |
| Preparing for Conferences, by Aala Nasir, National TSA President |
| Compromise Amendment Update, by Jessica Strait, National TSA Vice President |
| Tips on Running for a TSA Office, by Shanda Manasco, National TSA Secretary |
| Membership Engagement, by Simon Jolly, National TSA Treasurer |
| MyTSA Working for You, by Yoshua Torralva, National TSA Reporter |
| A Creative Fundraiser, by Preston Crawford, National TSA Sergeant-at-Arms |
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Preparing for Conferences
By Aala Nasir, National TSA President
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With 2018 under way, regional and state TSA conferences are right around the corner. In preparation, you and your fellow chapter members are likely attending weekly meetings, fundraising, and completing your competitions and LEAP resumes. Here are some tips on how to successfully prepare for upcoming TSA competitions.
- Do not procrastinate! We have all heard this advice before, but working ahead and having time to edit and re-edit your submissions will make you a more successful competitor.
- Make sure you have completed all of the requirements of your competitive events, including your LEAP resume/response. You do not want to risk disqualification for missing an important detail on a project you have spent weeks or months perfecting.
- Host a fundraiser with your chapter. This can be anything from a spirit night at a local restaurant to a school bake sale. Be sure to get the necessary permission. Be creative and make sure all chapter members are involved. Organizing a fundraiser not only allows you to raise money, but also strengthens the bond among chapter members and with your community.
- Last but not least, have fun! Remember to occasionally take a step back and appreciate being a part of such an amazing organization.
I hope you take these tips into consideration as you enter 2018 and prepare for your conferences. Best wishes for a successful season.
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Compromise Amendment Update
By Jessica Strait, National TSA Vice President
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As reported in the fall edition of TSA's School Scene, the voting delegates of the 2017 annual business meeting chose to have a council of state presidents develop an amendment that proposes a new national officer election process and to have this proposed amendment presented at the annual business meeting that will take place at the 2018 national TSA conference in Atlanta, Georgia.
The committee of state presidents has shared their opinions and ideas about a new election process through participation in a survey and conference call.
The national officer team has carefully reviewed all the opinions and ideas of the committee and has developed the first draft of a compromise amendment. This draft is currently under review by a professional parliamentarian and will soon be distributed to the committee for review. The committee members have done an excellent job articulating the views of their state delegations.
Many state presidents also participated in their region's national TSA officer Google Hangout in October of 2017. During the hangouts, state presidents reported on their state delegation activities. The national TSA officers shared updates on the chapter m
arketing templates now available on the TSA website, LEAP Week, the compromise amendment survey results, and region projects. Additionally, state presidents and national TSA officers exchanged best practices, answered questions, and discussed region projects.
Here is a link to the TSA regions and the states within each region.
State delegation presidents have had a busy year, and the national TSA officer team thanks them for the hard work and dedication.
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Tips on Running for a TSA Office
By Shanda Manasco, National TSA Secretary
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If you have a passion for TSA and want to serve your organization, one of the best ways to do so is to run for a TSA office.
Whether you are running for a chapter, state, or national TSA office, your contribution as an officer can make a significant impact on the organization. Running for any office can be overwhelming, but it can also be a fun and rewarding experience.
Here are some tips to consider when running for a TSA officer position:
- Consider Why You Are Running - Think about why you want to run for an office. Consider the pros and cons. Do you want to devote a large portion of your time to be an officer? Do you work well with others? Do you have good communication skills? Are you good at voicing the opinions of others? Consider the leadership qualities you have to offer
- Create a Vision - Develop a purpose for your campaign that will benefit the organization. Decide what actions can impact and improve the organization. Identify your vision and communicate it to others.
- Talk To Others - Communication is the key to success. Do not be afraid to ask for advice. Seek the opinions of those you respect; your parents, siblings, classmates, or past officers. Also, discuss your platform with TSA members to get their opinions and feedback. Let your campaign ideas be linked with your name by talking to as many people as you can.
- Become Confident in Your Campaign Speech - Your campaign speech can play a vital role in the election. Focus on creating a speech that conveys your personality well. At the same time, you should clearly state your goals and how you can positively contribute to the officer team. Be sure to practice and memorize your speech. Your speech has the power to leave a lasting impression, so be sure you are confident and passionate about your platform objectives.
- Have a Good Time - This is a very important tip. Running for office can be stressful, but it can also be fun! It is an opportunity to meet new people and create new friendships that can last a lifetime.
Your chapter advisor can provide you with information about running for a chapter officer. Your state's TSA website will have information about submitting an application for a state TSA office. For more information about running for a national TSA officer position, visit the
National Officer Candidate Program
page of the
TSA website
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Member Engagement
By Simon Jolly, National TSA Treasurer
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As the TSA conference season approaches, it is important for TSA members to remain engaged in competition preparations and with their chapter activities.
One simple way to keep members and the community engaged is through social media. By creating your TSA chapter's social media presence, members are able to stay up-to-date on chapter news, and community members and organizations can stay informed on the accomplishments of your TSA chapter.
Social media is becoming an integral and powerful way to communicate your message. However, the power of social media can only be harnessed with proper use.
The following guidelines will ensure help harness the power of social media when developing a social media presence for your chapter.
1. Create a username that is recognizable and appropriate.
The best and most effective usernames are those easily found by anyone. Perhaps simply including the name of your school and "TSA" will be a great user name to connect with potential followers.
2. Post frequently and with purpose.
Chapter social media should be frequent enough that it keeps your organization in the mind of your followers and fulfills its purposes as a means to communicate information. During a typical week three posts should be the maximum to strike a balance between information output and number of posts.
3, Use state and national hashtags.
Be sure to use the national TSA hashtag #WeAreTSA and the state association hashtag for your chapter whenever you post in order to connect with the larger following of TSA members around the state and country.
Through social media, your chapter can remain engaged throughout the conference season and energized leading up to the 2018 national TSA conference in Atlanta, Georgia!
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MyTSA Working for You
By Yoshua Torralva, National TSA Reporter
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My
TSA
is a great way to catalogue and organize all of your TSA achievements. This resume-formatted profile allows you to input officer roles, LEAP accomplishments, competitive achievements, and more. Here is how to sign up:
1. Go to
www.tsaweb.org
and click on MyTSA on the bottom right portion of the homepage.
2. Click on "Sign up for Account" on the bottom right corner of the login portal.
3. Input all information in each field.
4. Once registered, log in to the portal with your newly created username and password.
5. You can then select the appropriate category to list your TSA accomplishment.
6. Input details relating to your achievement. In the "Details" section, you can chronicle key events and/or lessons learned from your TSA experiences.
7. After saving an achievement, you have the option to print your MyTSA profile.
My
TSA
is an excellent way to document your TSA experiences. If you are beginning your TSA career, I encourage you to start cataloguing your TSA milestones using MyTSA. It will come in handy when completing college or work applications.
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A Creative Fundraiser
By Preston Crawford, National TSA Sergeant-at-Arms
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Every TSA chapter strives to be successful and grow in size but no chapter can do either of those things without fundraising.
Fundraising is an important component for TSA chapters and can help boost the momentum of a growing chapter. Bake sales are always an option, but what if it were possible to get younger people interested in STEM while raising money? A one-week robotics boot camp could be a great way to do that.
For a modest fee, my middle school chapter advisor opened his tech lab for a week to elementary school students in our area and allowed them to build robots to expose them to STEM elements. The camp revenue covered the costs for the entire chapter to attend that year's national TSA conference. The elementary students enjoyed learning about robots, dragsters, structural design, and much more. The chapter members enjoyed sharing their STEM knowledge and enthusiasm with the younger kids.
The event successfully raised money while promoting STEM learning and recruiting future members for TSA.
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_____________________________________________________________________________
The Technology Student Association enhances personal development, leadership, and career opportunities in STEM, whereby members apply and integrate these concepts through intracurricular activities, competitions, and related programs.
School Scene (ISSN 1066-341X) is published three times a year by the Technology Student Association, 1904 Association Drive, Reston, VA 20191-1540. Telephone: 703-860-9000; Fax: 703-758-4852. Web site: www.tsaweb.org.
Copyright © 2008 TSA.
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