What Is STUCO

Columbia High School Student Council Handbook 2014-2015 Revised 8-10-14

What is STUCO?

STUCO, or Student Council, at Columbia High School, is a group of about 90-130 students who work together to provide activities to improve the communities of Columbia High School, the city of Columbia, Illinois. It is their job to aid in whatever ways possible to better the school for everyone. These students set the attitude for the school and take part in many of the behind the scenes activities or functions that occur at Columbia High School. Some of these may include: Homecoming Spirit Week, Powder Puff Football, Canned Food Drives, City of Columbia Recycling Event, Holiday Spirit Week, Project Hope Angel Tree, Winter Trivia, Valentine’s Day Activities, March Madness 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament, Shamrock Sales, Columbia’s Got Talent, Spring Field Day, Movie on the Turf, etc. We also encourage participation and attendance at leadership workshops on all levels; local, district and state.

How do I join Student Council?

There are a couple of ways to become a part of STUCO at Columbia High School. If you have proven to be a leader in your class, you can become an elected Class Officer – President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Class Publicist, and Historian. If you would prefer not being a class officer, you may be elected as a class representative. There are a total of 8 elected positions per class; 6 class officers and 2 class representatives. In order to be placed on the spring ballot, you must complete a petition and have teachers and your parents approve it supporting that you have demonstrated leadership qualities. Once your petition has been turned in meeting all deadlines and is approved by administration, the advisors, and the Election (Credentials) Committee, you will be placed on the ballot for elections which are held the 3rd week of April. Elections will be held by ballots and counted by the Student Council Advisors.

After you have served on student council for a minimum of 2 years or have proven to be an exemplary leader, you may be appointed by the advisors to the Executive Board as a junior or senior. In order to be appointed you must complete a petition and go through and interview process with the advisors and current Executive Board members demonstrating your knowledge and your commitment to student council. Please refer to the Executive Board Appointments for further information.

The third way you may become a member is for you to be appointed as a member-at-large. In order to be appointed you must complete a petition getting approval from teachers and your parents. Your petition MUST be completed and turned in on time. This is done ONLY in the spring after all elections have taken place.

Freshmen elections will take place in the fall after school has begun with all other elections occurring in the spring. Petitions are due the first week of school with elections taking place the second week. Freshmen member-at-large positions will also be appointed throughout the first month of the school year. This process is the same as the member-at-large positions appointed in the spring. No appointments will take place after September 1st.

How do I Stay an Active Member of Student Council?

1. You must maintain 15 activity points per quarter minimum. a. You must complete an Activity Point Request form within 2 weeks of the activity in order to get credit and earn points for participating in that activity. The ONLY time you do NOT need to complete this form is for the monthly Student Senate meetings or unless designated by the advisors. You may find these by the student council bulletin board or may find them in Mrs. McKee’s or Ms. Burton’s classrooms. Late forms will NOT be accepted. 2. You must attend all meetings – if you have 3 unexcused absences you will be automatically removed from the roster. a. If you miss a meeting, you must complete an Absent Approval Form within 1 week and submit it to the advisors b. You must pick up the meeting agenda and read a copy of the minutes found on the Student Council website within 1 week of the meeting in order to earn you point for attending the meeting. 3. You must volunteer for at least one evening to help with concessions at a girl’s volleyball or basketball game. 4. You must participate in the Student Council fundraisers. 5. Pay the annual dues of $10 by September 1st 6. Attend, participate, and support student council events 7. You must follow all guidelines as stated in the CHS Student Council Constitution and By-Laws approved at our annual planning meeting. (Please refer to your copy for all details)

Who are the Advisors? 1 Mrs. Amanda McKee and Ms. Carey Burton are the Columbia High School advisors. Mrs. McKee has been the co-advisor for the past 4 years at CHS and was involved in student council all 4 years serving as the Executive Board Vice President when she was in high school. Ms. Burton is the co-advisor this year. She was on student council while she was in high school. If you have any questions about anything pertaining to Student Council, they would be the best people to contact. These advisors help with all aspects of STUCO.

What is the difference between local, district and state levels?

Local – The local level of student council would be all activities that take place at Columbia High School and within the city of Columbia, Illinois. This pertains to all the things your council does at our high school or in the surrounding community. The local level for our school meets once a month during the school year as an entire Senate. We hold meetings the first Thursday of the month during advisory in the Cafeteria. All student council members are expected to attend every meeting. If not, you must notify one of the advisors or a member of the Executive Board and read the minutes that will be posted on the STUCO Website within one week of the meeting in order to earn points for the meeting. Having 3 unexcused absences from STUCO will earn automatic dismissal from our organization. To maintain your membership, you must pay $10 membership dues; earn a minimum of 15 points per quarter and complete all requirements for fundraising and working concessions. It is your responsibility to complete the Activity Point Request form within 2 weeks from the event in order for your 15 points to be counted per quarter. Late Point Request forms will not be accepted!

Please refer to the CHS Student Council Constitution and By-Laws and page 1 of this Handbook for details.

District – We are in the Kaskaskia District of Student Councils (KDSC). The entire district has the opportunity to meet for a fall workshop, a leadership workshop in January and then a spring convention hosted by one of our district schools. All of these events occur during the school day and a registration fee is required to attend. Members of our student council can run for a district office at the Spring Convention. You may also be a presenter at the District Convention as a Small Group Discussion Leader where you would present an idea from CHS and share it with peers from the district. If you are interested in running for a position, would like to be a Discussion Group Leader (DGL) or have any further questions, please talk to Mrs. Pickett or Miss Truttmann. HOSPITALITY NIGHT is a fun evening of activities planned by a member school district. It is usually held at the beginning of November that allows you to socialize with other students within our district in a fun way.

State – The Illinois Association of Student Councils (IASC) is our state organization. This convention meets in May every year and alternates between being hosted in Springfield or the Chicago area. The IASC Executive Board meets as often as needed. You must apply for a position in order to attend the State Convention. In the past, we have been named an IASC Honor Council with our Historian tracking our events on an annual basis and submitting an Honor Book for approval. Other positions would be Hall of Ideas (submit a successful idea you have had for other STUCO members to review), Credentials Committee, Honor Council Committee, Small Group Discussion Leader, and other positions. Please contact one of the advisors if you have questions about any of these positions. You must submit your application for these positions by the end of October and are expected to meet all guidelines in order to be accepted.

When are Executive Board Appointments?

The Executive Board appointments take place at the end of March. You must have been involved in student council for the past 2 years or have demonstrated exemplary leadership in order to be considered for the Executive Board. These positions are appointed due to the importance of needing strong leaders who have demonstrated commitment, dedication, strong character and leadership skills throughout their past years on Student Council in this position. The level of participation throughout their past years must demonstrate that they have maintained above the minimum of 15 participation points; has served as a committee chairman; has actively participated in leadership workshops and has met all requirements mandated to the full senate members. They must complete a petition for Executive Board members, have approval from administration and parents, and go through an interview process with the advisors and the current Executive Board members. These appointments will take place before the general elections held in April. The changeover will take place after the State Convention.

We have Summer Meetings?

2 Summer meetings are extremely important as we begin to organize Homecoming events and start the year off with a plan. In the past, we have been involved in Freshmen E.A.G.L.E Leader Day so meeting in the summer assists us in preparing for our first few meetings. We traditionally hold our annual planning meeting the week-end of Columbia Daze. This meeting is mandatory and lasts for several hours so we can plan our first semester of school and tentatively plan for the second semester. We focus on the goals of our organization and discuss what we want to accomplish this year as a Council. We also complete our Homecoming plans. This is the time that many students volunteer for Committee Chair positions for the school year. It’s important that we get together just to have fun and celebrate our accomplishments! Please come prepared with new ideas that you would like to see STUCO implement for the new school year!

What are Standing Committees?

Most everyone on student council should be involved in a committee of some kind. Our standing committees work together throughout the school year to maintain the tasks for each group. There is a chairperson or possibly co-chairpersons leading each of these. They are in charge of following through with the duties of the committee. The list of committees may be but are not limited to the following:

1. Election/Credentials Committee – Executive Board President serves as this committee chairman and all Class Presidents are on the committee. This committee oversees all elections that take place throughout the school year. You will publicize the elections; prepare petitions and ballots; approve the petitions to make sure they were completed correctly and met all deadlines; recruit students to serve as election judges; get lists of students that are able to vote from the guidance secretary; set up elections; coordinating all activities and details to run a smooth election process. Your committee meets at least three times a year to plan all details involved in these elections (April elections; August Freshmen elections).

2. Constitution and By-Laws Committee - The Executive Board President serves as this committee chair and all Class Presidents and Vice-Presidents serve as committee members. This committee meets at the end of the school year or over the summer to review our current constitution and by-laws. The group will decide whether the constitution will remain the same or whether revisions need to be made and will make recommendations to the full Senate to be voted upon at one of our summer planning meetings.

3. Students Helping Others Committee - Volunteers will serve as this committee chair. You will meet with this group to decide what activities you would like to do to help others within our school, and the community. Some ideas done in the past: Welcome new students; Banner lockers to welcome Freshmen; play BINGO with a local nursing home, etc. Your ideas are welcome!

4. Vending Machine Committee - Volunteers will serve as this committee chair. You will meet to plan the details of running the vending machine. Who and how to purchase items; how often to purchase items; who will fill the machines and how often; count money on a weekly basis and make deposits; and make a spread sheet to see how much revenue is produced on a monthly basis. You will also need to place the orders to be picked up on a regular basis – FAX and Pull Form.

5. Publicity Committee – Publicity Chairman from the Executive Board will serve as chair and all Class Publicists will make up this committee. Your committee will publicize all events that take place throughout the school year. You will use all sources of media available to us. You will contact local newspapers of upcoming events; write articles for the high school newsletter; make fliers and posters to advertise well in advance; use announcements as a form of communication with students; work closely with students who are Facebook administrators for student council; and keep the StuCo website up to date with all events. Your creative ideas are welcomed on how to best publicize all of our events.

6. Service Project Committee - Executive Board Vice-President serves as this committee chair and all Class Vice-Presidents as well as volunteers will serve on this committee. This committee will oversee all service projects student council is involved in throughout the school year. You will meet and choose which organizations we will service using funds from hat days in both Homecoming and Holiday Spirit Weeks; Angel Tree for Project Hope, etc. This group will coordinate all details involved for service project collections.

7. League for Excellence Committee – All class presidents will serve on this committee which will meet once a semester with all presidents or a representative from every club at Columbia High School. The purpose of this committee is to coordinate large school wide activities so all clubs can support one another to make these events more successful than they have been in the past. They will also plan an all school assembly to reward students for goals set by this committee held at the end of both semesters.

8. School Improvement Committee – Two students are selected and must attend the School Improvement Committee meeting once a month. This committee is made up of parents, staff, teachers and principals. They discuss different ways we 3 can improve our school and prepare a written plan to be implemented at CHS. You would represent the student body if you serve on this committee.

9. Concessions Committee – A volunteer will serve as committee chair for concessions. You will meet to discuss the schedule for girl’s volleyball and basketball games in which you are providing concessions. You will decide what items need to be bought to sell; count money; make deposits and inform the advisors when supplies need to be purchased. You will also be responsible for finding workers for all volleyball and basketball games. You must also notify all workers EAGLE notes reminding them when they work.

10. Recycling Committee – A volunteer will serve as committee chair for Recycling. You will make sure every teacher has a recycle bin and a sign posted on it stating what can be recycled. Notify teachers that they will choose students from their advisory period to only recycle their classroom bin as needed. You will make sure the plastic bottle recycling bins are cleaned out when full and taken to the advisors classroom. This committee will also organize the spring City of Columbia Recycling Event held at Columbia High School. You will be in charge of finding workers and making sure they have their waivers signed and all positions are filled. You will also be able to develop more ideas of items to be recycled at our school such as ink cartridges, cell phones, etc.

11. Special Olympics Committee – A volunteer will serve as committee chair for Special Olympics. You will be responsible for working closely with the special education teachers throughout the school year in order to assist and provide help with the needs of the Special Olympics athletes. You may plan an annual event for this group and volunteer in Mrs. Lintz’s classroom. This will also include organizing fundraisers, sell t-shirts, and encourage students to participate in the 5K Run/Walk in Forest Park to raise money for Autism Awareness.

12. Principal’s Advisory Committee - A volunteer will serve as chairman for this committee. You will select student council members to meet with the Principal on a quarterly basis to discuss issues and problem solve ideas with our administration.

13. Birthday Committee – A volunteer will serve as chairman for this committee. You will meet with your committee to help each student feel special on his/her birthday or half birthday (summer birthdays). You decide how you will do this (locker banners, candy, etc). You will meet with the high school secretaries to find the list of birthdays on a monthly basis. It’s important that no one’s birthday is forgotten!

14. Fundraising Committee – Executive Board Treasurer and all Class Treasurers serve on this committee. You are in charge of organizing and planning the student council and the class fundraising events. You will review your class accounts on a regular basis and track your expenses associated with all fundraising that takes place throughout the school year and summers.

15. Staff Appreciation Committee – Volunteer Chairman – You will organize simple activities to show appreciation for our staff at CHS throughout the school year. Back to school survival kits, Homecoming t-shirts/luncheon, appreciation notes, snacks for parent-teacher conferences, etc. You and your committee will decide when, where, what and how those will be done. It’s important to let our staff know they are appreciated!

16. Other - Your new idea could go here…

What are Special (Ad Hoc) Committees?

Special committees exist for specific periods of times. These could be events that only occur certain times of the year and once completed, do not need to meet again until the following year. We have listed the current or past committees in which we have had but we are not limited to only these. If you have a new idea, we are willing to form a new special committee for that purpose. Currently they may be but are not limited to:

1. Fall Canned Food Drive – Organize details – fliers, announcements, and organize methods for collection of cans and an incentive to motivate students to participate. You will also choose which food pantry you will give the canned foods to. You will work with the Service Committee.

2. Holiday Spirit Week – Approve date, meet to decide dress up days and food rewards each day of the week; decorate the cafeteria (put up tree and lights); find the throne for Santa pictures; find a photographer for Santa pictures; organize all details for a successful spirit week. You may also organize the Angel Tree if you wish making ornaments and trees with assignments of items needed by local needy families.

4 3. Winter Activity– Complete all details of a winter activity in January. Will schedule all activities to occur that evening. Ex: Poll students to see what they would like to do; plan a simple activity / theme; trivia questions; advertise information to PR committee, etc. Make it a fun event that will interest a wide variety of students!

4. Chili Cook-Off Event – Organize classes and clubs who wish to participate. Work with the athletic director at a date and time that will work best before a boy’s basketball game and put it on the schedule as soon as possible. Make tickets, organize workers, set-up, put together a money box and keep clubs informed of the event. Work with the PR Committee for publicizing the event.

5. Valentine’s Day – Candy-grams; carnations or roses sales; contact florists to order flowers; make candy-grams and decide how they will be delivered. Make sure you publicize this event well ahead of time! Work with the PR Committee.

6. Shamrock Sales – Sell Shamrocks for MDA. You may sell them at lunch or organize an event for funds to go the MDA. Must be detailed in your plans and keep in contact with the advisors

7. March Madness Bracket-ology and 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament - Schedule gym; have plenty of time to organize teams; advertise ahead of time; bracket-o-logy brackets need to be handed out in time and money collected; hold basketball tournament during March; need referees; need concessions?, plan all details. Also order t-shirts? You are responsible for the entire organization of this event.

8. Columbia’s Got Talent – Tryouts 1 month in advance; reduce it to a 1-hour program; rubrics for selection of acts; rubrics for judges; select judges; organize all paperwork involved in tallying scores, etc for the Idol event. Publicizing this is critical! Work with the PR Committee.

9. E.A.G.L.E Day /Freshmen Orientation – Before school begins in August – Help organize games, activities, cheers, and stations to rotate. You will help assist with a group of freshmen to encourage them to participate. Be flexible, positive and get freshmen involved!

10. Fashion No Go Show & Club Fashion Show – Committee gets together and writes a skit for what fashions are a no-go for CHS dress code to perform at Freshmen Orientation. You will also perform the skit at the first day of school at the assembly! This committee will also organize volunteers to perform a skit representing student council at the Freshmen E.A.G.L.E. event at CHS.

11. Movie on the Turf – Committee chair is a volunteer. Work with athletic director and advisors to schedule a movie that could be held on the football field. Work with the budget, sell tickets, choose movie, etc. for this event.

12. Powder Puff Football / Macho Volleyball for Breast Cancer Awareness – Committee chair is a volunteer. You will be in charge of organizing the football game and/or volleyball game; publicizing the event; help with the rules meetings; work closely with the football coaches; organize all registration forms, etc. for these events. Scheduling this event is very important to make it most successful!

13. Jefferson Barracks Veteran’s Administration Volunteer Services Committee – Volunteer chairman for this committee. You will be in charge of organizing a committee to help with the VA on Valentine’s Day to celebrate National Hospitalized Veterans held at the VA Hospital. You may organize a donation drive for items needed and/or fundraiser for this department.

14. Registration Committee – Volunteer chairman for this committee. You will be in charge of working with administration and the administrative secretaries to organize volunteers to assist during the 3 days of registration at the end of July. Several stations need volunteers. Please see administration in May to organize this before the end of the school year!

15. Homecoming Committees -See below

16. Other – Your new idea could go here…

What are the Homecoming Committees and How Can I Help?

Student Council is in charge of ALL Homecoming activities. Once school begins, Homecoming quickly approaches. Homecoming activities take precedence over all other STUCO activities at the beginning of the year. These committees are special committees since they only take place for a short period of time. Here is a breakdown of the current specific tasks for committee but are not limited to:

5 1. Parade – Contact the City of Columbia as soon as we have the date set to approve the day and time; also contact the Chief of Police for approval of the day and time; invite all organizations (sports and clubs) in advance; write up the parade line-up; select a parade Marshall; don’t forget to invite the Jr ROTC; buy candy for all court members; make copies of the parade line- up so we can hand them out at the parade; be there to line people up for the parade; contact the newspapers, etc. to encourage community participation – possible alumni as well. Need to recruit float judges and revise the rubric for grading / judging floats.

2. Bonfire / Carbashing “Rally Night” – Work with the parade committee to plan day and time; contact Shady Creek or Budnick to save wooden pallets for the fire; contact the fire dept to make sure they can attend; decide what you want the bonfire atmosphere to look like – do you want cheerleaders, sports captains, the band, etc to create a rally night atmosphere or do you want it to be mellow and serve food and watch the fire burn; plan if you want food or not; do you want a MR. SCREAMING EAGLE or MR. IRRESISTABLE contest with spirit activities attached – SCREAMING EAGLE would be a Senior boy who demonstrates the most SPIRIT…. Will lead assemblies or rallies for the rest of the year? Any idea you have is open to try. Organization of ordering and purchasing supplies in advance and letting the custodial staff know what they need to do to help. You need lots of help setting up!!!

3. Homecoming Dance – You will be in charge of everything associated with the Homecoming Dance. You will be in charge of finding the DJ, staying on budget, designing the tickets, finding chaperones, locating attendance prizes, etc. You will make Homecoming tickets and prepare them well in advance to be sold the week of Homecoming. Organization of how these will be sold and getting students to sign up to sell tickets at lunches is also your responsibility. You will meet and finalize everything at least 1 month in advance. Decide your backdrop – needs to be drawn out to approve by the advisors; decide what needs to be ordered from catalogues and what can be made. Need list of jobs to be done Friday night – sign up sheet to be posted. Make sure stage is ordered. Need to decide the set-up of the cafeteria and the gym.

4. Hall Decorations - Meet and organize criteria for judging halls on Monday of Spirit Week. Find judges to score rubrics early Monday morning… Find a student from each grade level to be in charge of their halls to decorate. Encourage all classes to plan how to decorate their halls so when students arrive, they will have an assignment. Need to make sign-up sheets for students to sign in and out upon arrival and departure. Make sure all students are award of the rules – watch the type of tape that is used…otherwise your class may be disqualified. Have your plans approved by the advisors in advance.

5. Class Float Building – Meet and organize your class float for the Homecoming parade. You need to obtain the following: trailer, someone to pull the trailer, place to build the trailer, parents/students to purchase supplies on a budget. Each grade level needs to have their own committee. Have your plans approved by the advisors in advance.

6. Coronation - Meet and organize how Homecoming court elections will be ran; obtain all materials necessary for all grade level elections and King/Queen elections. When, where, how, who, etc. Will be responsible for obtaining student information sheets. This information will be used when announcing students at the CHS assembly; football game, and Coronation ceremony. You will also be responsible for writing up each of these for the emcee at the assembly, football game and coronation ceremony. You will select the emcees for coronation. Locating lighting, etc and someone to manpower these so correct lighting will be used during the coronation is another job…Actually anything that has to do with the coronation and its preparation is the responsibility of this committee. You need to be detailed with your organization to lead this committee.

7. Spirit Week Assemblies – Organize Homecoming week assemblies (except for Friday Game Day). Find the emcee, make sure we have a sound system, complete work orders for what tables are needed and communicate how you would like the gym to be set up for all assemblies. The kick off assembly requires cheerleaders and the band so remember to ask them. Be creative with new activities… we need to keep the attention of the entire student body to make these assemblies successful!

8. Games – This committee takes great organization! You need to meet early in the school year to review past games days so you can get your ideas approved early. You may want to meet at the annual planning meeting to begin your planning…. You will choose games to be played at all assemblies throughout spirit week of Homecoming week. You are responsible for organizing how students will sign up for games; find workers to assist in signing up students for games and explaining the rules. You will type up all the rules and sign up sheets. This has to be done at least 2 weeks before Homecoming. The games will be posted on Monday of Spirit Week so everyone knows which team they will be on. You are also responsible for locating and obtaining all supplies necessary to play the games – remember you have a budget. Please be creative with new game ideas and encourage classmates to sign up. This is a huge part of Spirit Week so have fun with it. You will need approval of games in advance! You have to also contact the assembly committee and custodians to let them know how you will need to have the gym set up to play these games during Tues/Thurs assemblies.

9. Other: Can you think of a committee that we have forgotten OR that will assist you in having a more successful HOMECOMING? If so, we can discuss it and place it in this space!