Calling All Leaders!

1. Calling All Leaders! …. How To Create a Student Leadership Day for Your Community…

2. Who am I? • Susan Slate Hayes, Principal • Barkley Bridge Elementary School • Hartselle, Alabama • Morgan County, Alabama • AAESA Region One • 256.773.1931 • susan.hayes@hcs.k12.al.us

3. What is it? • A day where elementary-aged student ambassadors or student council members can attend a mini-conference with break out sessions specifically dedicated to fostering leadership qualities in young men and women. (In our region, we generally invite students from grades 3-6.) • An opportunity for young leaders across a school district, a county, or a region to come together and “network.”

4. Who is the organizer? • Alabama Association of Elementary School Administrators • Patrick Patterson, President • Rachel Poovy, Past President • Principals from eight counties in northern Alabama including Morgan, Lawrence, Cullman, Winston, Franklin, Colbert, Lauderdale, and Limestone.

5. Why do it? • At the secondary level students have many opportunities to build leadership skills that extend beyond the walls of their schools, but at the elementary level few such opportunities exist. • Programs such as these create those opportunities for tomorrow’s leaders.

6. How do you get started? • Choose a date and a place. • Whom do you want to invite? Build the date around that person’s schedule. • Does any active school district have a big, conflicting event? • Will schools have had enough time to select their leaders? • Where do you want to hold the event? Anything going on there? Will you have access to every area of the building you need?

7. Looking for a place? • A large enough room for opening and closing? • Rooms for breakout sessions? • Can you get the technology, resources, screens, etc… that you need? • An area that can be used for check-in? • Parking? Bus parking? • A kitchen-like area where lunch can be served? • Can you keep the students close enough to rotate break-out sessions effectively while far enough apart to quell noise in the sessions?

8. What will you charge schools to attend? • Count the number of schools you think will attend. • Will the host site charge you rent? • Can you get a deal on lunch? Do you have to order a minimum number? How much wiggle room do you have to change that number of lunches? Can you supplement lunch with donated or cheaper items such as chips or drinks? • Are your speakers/ presenters going to charge you a fee? • Can you get some door prizes donated? Or maybe goody bags?

9. How will you go about inviting? • Part of an organization like AAESA? Use them? • On your own? • 1. Get your addresses and contacts. • 2. Get a verbal commitment by e-mail, with a PO number, for your planning. • 3. Get a check at least two weeks before the event. • 4. Keep up with exactly how many are coming from each school. You may even want to set a cap.

10. And guess what’s gonna happen? • At least one somebody is going to show up who never made any contact with you. So be prepared to shift your small groups, order new meals, and find another spot where a bus can park on a moment’s notice. Be prepared to accept a check and write a receipt or accept a PO with a commitment to pay.

11. How do you go about securing speakers and how many do you need? • Consider the size of your classrooms and how many students can fit within each room. Know that most schools will only send one chaperone with the group. So you end up trying to keep groups together with their chaperone. • Now do the math to determine how many you need, and then have one or two local people “in the hopper” who can generally help you and then step up and present if needed.

12. Some speaker considerations… • Cyber citizenship? • Environmental footprint? • Service organizations looking for volunteers? • Bullying and cyberbullying? • Manners in meeting and greeting adults? • Flag etiquette? • Ethics and morals? • Seven Habits? • Career speakers? • Service projects?

13. How long should the sessions be? • Consider… • Total number of hours • Registration minutes • Opening session minutes • Lunch minutes • Rotation minutes • Bathroom break minutes • Closing session minutes • Bus loading and picture-taking minutes • Do your math…

14. Door prizes? How we did those… • List each school and label A, B, C, D, etc… • The attendees within the school are generally numbered. Example: BB has 15 present. • Each name tag given to an attendee within a school is lettered (one letter per school) and numbered (one number for each attendee). So A11 or maybe D8. • Every letter (school) has at least one winner. That number is randomly drawn.

15. What will you need that might not occur to you? • A “food allergy” consideration on your registration form. • A “bull horn” or some device to signal small groups to rotate. • Directional signs. (Small groups? Bathrooms?) • Signs or people to direct through lunch and dispose of trash. • Name tags, note pads, a receipt book. • Extra lunches for speakers and bus drivers. • Got some high school ambassadors you can borrow? • Napkins and other paper products. • A sweet. • Bodies to move furniture and such back where it belongs. • Something on the registration form stating that you will be making pictures and reserve the right to use them in powerpoints such as this one. • Local newspapers. • Someone of your own to make pictures.