Each year, OASC

recognizes outstanding advisors

who embody the ideals of our

organization with the Warren E.

Shull Advisor of the Year Award.

Warren E. Shull founded the National Association of

Student Councils more than three-quarters of a cen-

tury ago when he was a student council officer at

his high school in Oklahoma. Mr. Shull passed

away in 1987, but his legacy lives on through the

award named in his honor.

At the 2014 OASC Spring Conference, we

recognized Kelle Angel of South Albany High

School with the Oregon High School Activities

Advisor of the Year Award. Her principal, Brent

Belveal stated that “Kelle is the ‘heart beat’ of our

school culture. Mrs. Angel’s constant encourage-

ment and more importantly her empowerment

of her students creates a school culture with high

expectations, plentiful recognition, and school

safety.”

What makes this even more special is

that Mrs. Angel was nominated by one of her

Continued on page 2

June/July 2014

O R E G O N A S S O C I A T I O N O F S T U D E N T C O U N C I L S 707 13th Street SE, Suite 100

Salem, Oregon 97301

503-480-7206

Hands-On Leadership

Important Dates June 24-30: Oregon’s trip to NASC Conference, Orlando, FL

July 9: Last Day to Register for Summer Camp

July 13-18: Session 1 OASC HS Camp, WOU/Monmouth & July 20-25: Session 2 OASC HS Camp, WOU/Monmouth

July 20-23: Session 3 OASC MS Camp, WOU/Monmouth

In this issue . . .

Board Chair Notes, pg 3

Alumni Experience, pg 3

The 4 Agreements, pp 4-5

From Your SEC President,

pg 5

Leadership Class, pg 6

Ideas & Icebreakers, pg 7

SEC News, pp 8-9

Updated Calendar, pg 10

Summer Camps!, pg 11

Meet the Speaker, pg 12

Community Service, pg 13

Advisor Tips, “Forming

Groups,” pp 14-15

Lesson Plan: “What is

OASC Summer Camp

Really Like?” pp 16-18

Maegan Mackelvie

Board Chair

Ridgeview HS, Redmond

Kelsey Bowers

Tualatin HS, Tualatin

Leigh Church

Hazelbrook MS, Tualatin

Jeremy Crowin

Brown MS, Hillsboro

Amo Estrada

Echo Jr/Sr HS, Echo

Julie Kasper

Century HS, Hillsboro

Patrick Mackelvie

Alumni

Stacy Michaelson

Alumni

Noland Peebles

Thurston HS, Springfield

Heather Ransom

South MS, Grants Pass

OASC Board Members OASC Executive Director: Sara Nilles

“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”

~ Steve Jobs

OASC High School Activities

Advisor of the Year – 2014

Jake Halbakken

President

Oregon City HS, Oregon City

Victoria Blanger

At-Large Representative

Gresham HS, Gresham

Ana Parvankin

At-Large Representative

Sam Barlow HS, Gresham

Mica Annis

Metro Representative

Glencoe HS, Hillsboro

Lizzi Cox

Eastern Representative

Echo Sr HS, Echo

Nathan Geissel

Southern Representative

Grants Pass HS, Grants Pass

Ally Gibbons

Central Representative

The Dalles Wahtonka HS, The Dalles

Amanda Kelley

Mid-West Representative

South Albany HS, Albany

Joe Stuart

Northwest Region

McMinnville HS, McMinnville

Zeke Medley

Mid-Level Representative

South MS, Grants Pass

Corina Romero

Mid-Level Representative

Brown MS, Hillsboro

Student Executive Council

Sara Nilles

OASC Executive Director

OASC Hands-On Leadership

June/July 2014

Page 2

Continued from page 1, “OASC High School Activities Advisor of the Year – 2014,” by Sara Nilles

colleagues and students. Ashley Balck, a leadership student at South Albany High School, wrote a heart-

felt letter that she read on stage to honor Mrs. Kelle Angel. In the letter she wrote “So many times she is

the ‘hidden hero’ of projects and works silently behind everything without any recognition. She is not a

leadership advisor because she wants the recognition or the fame, but rather to help each and every

high school student she comes in contact with reach their fullest potential.”

Kelle supports the students she works with to continue developing as leaders and networking

with other schools by helping them attend OASC’s Fall and Spring Conferences. She is a life-long

learner and demonstrates this trait by being a great role model for Oregon student leaders. Kelle

recently attended the California Association of Directors of Activities conference in order to continue to

grow and learn from other activities directors from across the U.S. and Canada.

We are honored to have Kelle Angel represent Oregon and OASC this year as the High School

Activities Advisor of the Year!

Kelle Angel, from South Albany High School on stage at the

OASC Spring Conference with Ashley Balck receiving her award

as the Oregon High School Activities Advisor of the Year 2014.

February 2011

June/July 2014

OASC Hands-On Leadership

Page 3

End of the Year Banquet From the Desk of Your OASC Board Chair . . .

“Great leadership usually starts with a willing heart, a positive attitude, and a desire to make a difference.”

~ Mac Anderson

As our school year draws to a close, it is a nice time to reflect and honor the seniors as

they venture into their next adventure. Some ideas on ways to recognize them may be:

Hold a Leadership Banquet at a local restaurant. Invite senior families and the rest of

your Student Council class. At the banquet, play a running slideshow of the past 4

years in pictures. Have your advisor and class advisors give well wish speeches or

words of advice. Also allow the seniors to speak to the group if they have any appre-

ciation they want to share.

Have your senior students do final projects or presentations; reflecting on their learning over the past

4 years. Where are they headed next and what advice would they give to underclassmen?

Present class gifts to the class. Have each class get together and come up with a gift to either present

to each senior or a memento to the whole class. Sharing tokens of appreciation or survival kits for the

future!

Contact your senior’s parents and have them submit a letter to their student in a senior sendoff.

Compile all the letters get them bound and present them to the seniors on the last day of school.

Whether you do one of those things or all, it is important to show gratitude to your senior leaders

as they say goodbye and move forward.

Maegan MacKelvie

OASC Board Chair

Any of us who are involved in leadership, ASB, or have even been in a leadership

position outside of Student Council, know that through being a leader you gain many ex-

periences. Some of the experiences we face through being a leader help us look back

and see what can be improved next time or what you could add to the specific

event. Leadership also helps us develop better skills. Ben Bowman, a previous a

camper and counselor for OASC, from Tualatin, says he learned many skills at

camp that prepared him for college, such as “teamwork skills, public speaking

skills, personal relationship skills. It helped me learn and express sensitivity and empathy.”

Leadership also requires working with others. Adam Slaton, a previous OASC camper says that

he learned “time management, project planning, consensus building, teamwork, and public speaking,”

all from his experiences from leadership.

In many ways, leadership roles can help us reflect on ourselves and give us a little reality check.

Leadership taught Jordan Komoto “to be yourself, to develop confidence, and traits that allow you to

carry on to college and beyond.” Many times we may be the center of attention but we have to remem-

ber that other people may have great ideas as well that you are missing out on. Remember to take a

step back and hear other people out. Devon Bathon agrees that a skill he learned at camp was to listen

and work as a team.

As you can see, we can gain many skills from our leadership experiences such as, teamwork,

public speaking, relationship skills, time management, and working towards a goal, all things that can

help us out in the real world even after high school. What better place to learn all these great skills then

at the one and only OASC leadership camp this summer!

What Alumni Have Gained from their Leadership Experiences

Ally Gibbons

Central Representative

The Dalles Wahtonka HS, The Dalles

OASC Hands-On Leadership

June/July 2014

Page 4

When the school year ends, and we all look forward to summer relaxation,

summer can also be a great time to reflect on the past year and think about how you

can improve in the coming year. We have a tendency to get so wrapped up in the

day to day struggles that we have little time to reflect on ourselves. One of the great

benefits of being a student or a teacher is that our work obligations greatly decrease.

This gives us time that many other people don’t have. We can use this time to help

rejuvenate ourselves and in some instances, refocus on what’s important.

There are many leadership development books like The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective Peo-

ple that might make for good reading material if you are interested in developing your leadership po-

tential. However, if you have had a particularly stressful year, or find that you are having a lot of per-

sonal struggles, I’ve got a recommendation for you. I read this book several years ago, when I was

having a particularly rough year, and it helped me refocus my efforts on what’s important. The book is

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide To Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz. In this book, he

lays out four basic principles that he says will help make you successful and freer in your daily life.

While reading, I was struck by how obvious they seemed, but how most people struggle to live up to

them on a daily basis. These four agreements are:

Be Impeccable With Your Word

This is one of the most difficult one for people to live up to so it might be the best place to

start. One of the most powerful characteristics we have as humans is the ability to speak.

However, we often use this ability to berate ourselves or others. By gossiping about others

or saying bad things about ourselves, we significantly weaken our ability to be successful.

Instead, we should be careful to use our words to help empower ourselves and maintain our

relationships with others.

Don’t Take Anything Personally

This is one of my favorite agreements. When others aren’t impeccable with their words, it

is possible that they can hurt us. Don Miguel Ruiz argues that we all live in our own separate

realities. What he means by this is that we all look at the world in different ways. We all

have our own paradigms that help us make sense of the world. The way you interpret events

is different than the way I do. This can lead to conflict. If you realize this, it’s hard to take

things personally because people aren’t reacting to you, they are reacting to the way they

see the world.

Don’t Make Assumptions

Assumptions that we make are not truth. The problem, however, is that they feel like truth.

Have the courage to ask questions and ask for what you want. Don’t assume that others will

take care of your needs. Also, don’t assume that they know what you are thinking or feeling.

It is better to ask than to make an assumption.

Continued on page 5

Good Summer Read:

The Four Agreements

Jeremy Corwin

Board Member

Brown MS, Hillsboro

June/July 2014

OASC Hands-On Leadership

Page 5

Hello, OASC, you have officially made it to summer! I hope you’re as excited for

this break as I am! For me, summer means even more time with OASC! Soon, I’ll be

heading to Orlando, Florida with fifteen other student leaders to attend the NASC

national conference! I’m excited to hear new ideas and bring them back to all of you,

and represent the state of Oregon at the conference! After NASC, OASC Summer

Camp —Life As A Leader— is only two weeks later! I will be attending both High

School sessions this year, and I hope to meet new friends and reconnect with old

ones! Summer is busy time not only for me, but also for all of you as well! It can be easy to disconnect

from everyone and forget about school until September. But I have a challenge for all of you!

This summer, stay connected with your student council! Summer is the perfect opportunity to get

your council to bond and to create strong friendships! My advice to you would be to once a month hold

a picnic or a potluck at a local park and invite all of your council. Play some new icebreakers, or just

relax and enjoy each other’s company before the school year starts! If you plan early enough, you

might even be able to have a retreat and really get some planning done for the school year. Retreats

are a great way to get your council excited for the upcoming school year. On top of all of this, I’d highly

recommend that you or your students attend OASC summer camp. I guarantee they will come back ex-

cited about leadership!

Whether you’re traveling across the world, or across the state, be sure to keep your council go-

ing, and keep them active! Have potluck or a retreat, send them to camp! At least have some sort of a

gathering. Take advantage of the free time in the summer and make the most out it! That is my advice to

all of you! Have a wonderful summer everyone, I will see you all at camp!

Summertime Excitement!

A Note from Your SEC President . . .

Jake Halbakken

2013-14 President

Oregon City HS, Oregon City

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeoing together is progress. Working together is success.”

~ James Crook

Continued from page 4, “A Good Summer Read: The Four Agreements,” by Jeremy Corwin

Always Do Your Best

While the other three agreements have to do with your mind, this agreement is where the

rubber hits the road. This agreement has to do with your actions. If you always do your best,

you have nothing to regret in the future. Your best is going to change from day to day, based

on your health, amount of sleep, and other factors.

The Four Agreements goes into much more detail than this, obviously. If you find that you have a

lot of conflicts with others or find yourself to be at the whims of other people’s emotions, I highly

recommend this book. If you open yourself to the ideas in this book, you may find that you can make

a positive change in your daily interactions with others. Leadership is not always about what you do on

the outside. Often times, leadership starts with what you do on the inside.

“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done, because he wants to do it.”

~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

OASC Hands-On Leadership

June/July 2014

Page 6

If you’ve ever been in a high school leadership class, as a student or an advisor, you

know for sure one thing. There are some days where absolutely nothing gets done.

Everyone just seems to be sitting around looking on their phones, doing homework, or

skipping out to go on a Dutch Bros. Run. This is ok every once in a while, every leader-

ship class needs a day every now and then, usually after a big event like homecoming,

to just chill out, recuperate, and recharge their batteries. But sometimes, these days

start to stack up one after another, and days or even weeks can go by without the class

producing anything, or just a few members of the class doing what needs to be done.

We all know this is bad, it leads to sloppy output, critique from outsiders, and often, tur-

moil and arguing within the class. However, there are a few ways to keep your leadership class involved

all year long.

One way to keep your class involved and have them be effective is by having brainstorming ses-

sions. If it seems like there is nothing to do and you have nothing coming up to plan for, have the mem-

bers of your leadership class each come up with several ideas that they think would be cool to make hap-

pen. We did this and had ideas like, a pancake feed, a student-staff basketball game, a senior citizen

prom, and taking class trips to our local food banks, soup kitchens, and animal shelters to help out there.

This gave most of the members of our class something to look into and plan for, and kept most people

busy for a while, trying to accomplish their goals.

Another way you can run an effective leadership class is through an idea we use here in the

McMinnville High school leadership class. Create committees for different parts of the leadership class,

designate a committee head, and have people sign up to work in those committees for that category. At

our school we had committees for clubs, school spirit, community service, and athletics. Then, when a

project or event came up, it would be designated to whichever committee it was most fit to be dealt with.

It keeps people busy because instead of all the members of the class just trying do one thing, we could

have multiple things done at once by small groups and we also saw that the quality of the work was also

much better, because people were really able to focus on what they were doing.

All leadership classes have times during the year when they have zero production, and it can be

tricky to keep that from happening over long periods of time. But hopefully, these ideas will be able to

help you run an effective leadership class.

Looking at Leadership Class

Stacy Michaelson

Board Member

Alumni

Joe Stuart

Northwest Region

McMinnville HS, McMinnville

June/July 2014

OASC Hands-On Leadership

Page 7

Summer Retreat Ideas & Icebreakers . . .

OASC Hands-On Leadership

June/July 2014

Page 8

From Your Student Executive Council . . . From Ana Parvankin, Your At-Large Representative: First off, congratulations to all ASB and all class officers

who served this year! I am sure you all have done incredible things in your schools this year, which is some-

thing you should be proud off. With that, congratulations to all the new incoming student government offi-

cers as well! There's a lot of excitement and hard work in store. But in order for your plans to be successful,

it's important to have a strong core of teamwork in your class. And remember, this includes both class offi-

cers and ASB officers- they are both equally important. This should all start this summer.

One way to do this is to have a summer retreat for your leadership class. This retreat should have both a

serious and fun side to it. There are many beach houses that you can rent as a class (and divide the cost equally)

and stay overnight. There are also many other places to go to during the day that could serve as a retreat, such as

laser tag, bowling, roller skating, or hiking. During the retreat, there are so many activities you can do as a class

to become closer and more understanding of each other, which would be the "serious" part of the retreat.

An awesome activity to do is the "leadership color game" (which you would Google to find the work-

sheets). People are associated with four different colors- blue, green, yellow, and orange. These colors symbolize

many different personality traits, both positive and negative. Your "color" also shows things like your communica-

tion styles which could be helpful for your class throughout the year to make more successful events. Have a great

summer!

From Mica Annis, Your Metro Representative: Hey, OASC! Happy summer lovely people. Our metro schools have been super busy, despite the impeding end of the school year. Franklin High School produced a Dis-

tracted Driving Awareness this past April. Franklin’s ASB contacted IMPACT Oregon. With that partnership

they were able to bring a crashed car and give students the opportunity to sign a pledge promising to drive

safely. This was an inexpensive event that still had a lasting impact on the student body. Over at Hillsboro

High School, students put on their annual Spring Fling. This casual dance is a fun event, complete with black

lights and glow sticks. Students wore neon and white clothing and had the option to spray glow reactive paint on

themselves at the door. A casual spring dance like this is fun for under and upperclassmen and is continuing to

grow at schools such as Hillsboro High School.

From Zeke Medley, Your Mid-Level Representative: The summer is here! For a lot of us, that means getting ready for next year’s oncoming sixth graders. Eagle point is running a "Future Leader Program" that makes

positive connections with oncoming 5th graders. Track state finished with many southern middle schools

bringing home ribbons! Most middle schools finished up their talent shows, showcasing Oregon's many

talents. Best of luck this summer!

From Corina Romero, Your Mid-Level Representative: Let's take it back to the month of April. I was talking about how R.A. Brown Middle School and Evergreen Middle School (both in the Hillsboro school district)

were having a competition to see which school could raise money for a non-profit organization known as the

Thirst Project. Evergreen did an amazing job raising around $800, and Brown as well with around $1200.

Both schools together raised more than $2000 for the Thirst Project! That is 1/3 of a way to a new well, and

fresh drinking water for a whole community! This is really a great thing that all of these students did!

From Amanda Kelley, Your Midwest Representative: Hello, Mid-West! I hope all of your school years finished up smoothly. I am so excited to see what great leaders you’ll all be sending to camp this year! To finish off

the year, South Albany has always had a Homegoing week. This week includes various activities and dress

up days for the whole school to participate in. This year we had a SAHS Undercover theme. The week con-

sists of our talent show, macho volleyball, and powder puff. We had a lot of success in the amount of stu-

dents who attended these events this year. That would probably be because we are now on all of the Social

Media sites, which helps get the word out! PLEASE let me know what you all have been up to!

“We cannot get what we’ve never had, unless we’re willing to do what we’ve never done.”

~ Brian Tracy

June/July 2014

OASC Hands-On Leadership

Page 9

From Lizzi Cox, Your Eastern Representative: At the end of the year, many schools are itching for sum-

mer vacation. To keep students from checking out

early, Echo High School has a solution. They put

together an activity titled “Fu-Fu-Ra.” Fu-Fu-Ra

takes place all around the school. It starts of by

splitting the grades up into two teams. All the teams

race around the school, finding teachers and competing

in the crazy challenges they can think up. Classic favor-

ites like “Quiz Game” and any type of water games are

always a must. Fu-Fu-Ra took place on the second half of

the last school day after all finals were finished. The ASB

at Echo are the people who plan all the activities.

This year, the ASB added a second part to Fu-Fu

-Ra. Students teamed up in groups of four, with the only

rule being there must be at least one of the opposite

gender on a team. The teams of four could go to one of

three activities in each session. There were three ses-

sions. First session, groups could play in a volleyball

tournament, play childhood games or participate in

Frisbee golf. Second session there was a 3-on-3 basket-

ball tournament, kick the can and board games. In the

third session students could choose between a dodge

ball tournament, going through an obstacle course or

water games. Fu-Fu-Ra was a great success this year

and all the teachers who helped and the ASB did amaz-

ing! Is your school in the Eastern Region and are you

doing anything fun this summer? E-mail me at

lizzic16@gmail.com if you want your school to feature in

the OASC newsletter!

From Ally Gibbons, Your Central Representative: Hey there, OASC! Central Region has been crazy busy wrapping up the 2013-2014 school year. On May 22nd, Redmond High School put on a great conference for

the central region. Its focus was “We is Greater than Me.” The keynote speaker was Richard Parkhouse, an

author as well as a previous speaker for CADA and NASC. The conference was an amazing opportunity for

our region to come together and focus on finishing our school year with a bang! There were amazing ideas

flowing for different projects to take back to our schools next year including various ways to bring your

student body together to give back to your community. We all learned that if you believe it, we can build the

world’s greatest high school! A big thanks to Redmond High School for putting this event on and we hope there

will be another event like this next year! If you would like your school to be featured in a newsletter feel free to

email me at AllyG1998@gmail.com!

More SEC News . . .

“Courage is . . . Sacrificing personal gain for the benefit of others;

Speaking your mind even though others don’t agree;

Taking complete responsibility for your actions and your mistakes.

Doing what you know is right—regardless of the consequences.”

~ Eric Harvey

OASC Hands-On Leadership

June/July 2014

Page 10

OCTOBER, 2014 Sept.29 – Oct. 3: OASC Middle School Regional Work-

shops w/ Oct. 6: Last day to register for the HS Fall Conf. in Sea-

side at the early-bird rate Oct. 5 (?): SEC Campaign Selection Meeting (Executive

Board)

NOVEMBER, 2014 Nov. 1: SEC Retreat / Executive Board Meeting Nov. 2-3: OASC H.S. Fall Conference in Seaside

DECEMBER, 2014 Dec. 5-7: National Conference on Student Activities –

Scottsdale, AZ

June, 2014 June 24-30: Oregon’s trip to NASC June 27-29: National Conference, Orlando, FL

July, 2014 July 9: Last Day to register for camp (based on availabil-

ity) July 9: Final payments for camp are DUE July 13-18: Session 1 H.S. Summer Leadership Camp (Staff Arrive 11/12th) July 20-25: Session 2 H.S. Summer Leadership Camp (Staff Arrive 18/19th) July 20-23: Session 3 M.S. Summer Leadership Camp (Staff Arrive 18th) July 20-23: Advisor Leadership Institute

AUGUST, 2014 August 18: SEC Retreat – Sara’s house August 19: OASC Executive Board Meeting

SEPTEMBER, 2014 Sept. 12: Last day to register for the MS Fall Regional

workshops at the early-bird rate Sept. 22: Last day to update #’s for the MS Fall Re-

gional workshops without penalty Sept. 26: SEC Applications need to be in the mail and

postmarked no later than this day!

If you would like to learn more about any of the events listed above, please visit http://oasc.org/?page_id=65

for links to more information. You can also contact Sara Nilles, OASC Program Director . . .

707 13th Street SE, Suite 100 | Salem, OR 97301-4035 | 503-480-7206 voice | 503-581-9840 fax | email: sara@oasc.org

“The only thing that stands between a person and what they want from life is often

the will to try it and the faith to believe it’s possible.”

~ Richard M. DeVos

OASC 2014

June/July 2014

OASC Hands-On Leadership

Page 11

OASC Hands-On Leadership

June/July 2014

Page 12

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience,

but where he stands at time fo challenge and controversy.”

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Houston Kraft is a professional high school and middle school speaker and leadership trainer.

He sees the world in stories – stories about paralyzing fear and powerful love – and aims to share that

vision with people all over the country. Whether working with students and staff one-on-one, in small

groups for a multi-day workshop, or in front of the whole school presenting one of his favorite keynotes,

Houston loves to connect directly with the hearts of people and make a tangible, sustainable change in

their lives.

After spending his first few years of high school coasting along, one teacher asked Houston if he

had ever thought about joining student leadership. It was a simple question, but it would change the di-

rection of his entire life.

Some teachers have a gift for teaching math, other teachers help students recognize their own

gifts. Houston went on to become student body president at Snohomish High School and, later, class

president for 2 years at Bowdoin College. With a love for performance and a passion for student suc-

cess, Houston knew he wanted to spend time listening to students and telling their stories. He realized,

with the help and support of some amazing people, that their stories were usually a part of everyone’s

stories. We all have struggles. We all have fears. We all make tough choices. We all have amazing gifts.

And while none of us are perfect, we all have the capability to be great.

He now spends his time speaking with students and teachers all over the country. He pushes for posi-

tive messages - an advocate of kindness, compassion, and love. His full school assemblies are relevant,

funny, and real and are paired with powerful leadership workshops to leave behind excited advocates

of his message. One assembly doesn't change a school culture, so Houston works hard to sustain his

message with follow up resources, a positive social media presence, and his new app CharacterStrong

Learn more about at Houston at http://www.houstonkraft.com/.

Check it out . . . Looking for a great motivational speaker?

Looking for someone to pump up spirit at your school? Need an

expert to bring your group together? Each month, we’ll focus on a great

speaker . . . We’re working to help you find the perfect fit for you and your school!

Read on!

Houston

Kraft

June/July 2014

OASC Hands-On Leadership

Page 13

Want to put together a community service project but not sure where to start. Interested

in learning about something you haven’t tried before? Check this one out!

“Leadership is not something you do to people; its something you do with people.”

~ Ken Blanchard

Hi! My name is Tina Long and our family was featured in the film ‘Bully’.

Since David and I lost our son Tyler to peer abuse driven suicide over 4 years ago,

we have strived to find preventions and solutions to bullying and other issues for

our youth. We have traveled the country speaking to anyone that cares about bullying and kids that are

struggling with depression or other concerns.

In honor of our son, my husband and I started the nonprofit Everything Starts with 1

(www.everythingstartswith1.org). When we learned about the services of the 121Help program, we

recognized how important and potentially life-saving a national youth helpline is to our youth.

121Help is a program of the North American Alliance of Child Helplines (www.naach.co) and

was created for the children, youth, and adults who care about them. The services are free, confiden-

tial, and available 24/7 and counselors can be reached through a toll-free number, a free-to-use tex-

tline, chat, and email. 121Help is looking for youth partners to get the word out about their services to

schools across the country.

We would love your help! We are reaching out to the state Student Council Associations

with hope that you can help us reach local student councils that work in middle and high schools.

There are a couple of ways that your student councils could get involved…from acting as student

ambassadors that promote the helpline services in their school (with posters, social media, crea-

tive “get the word out” events, etc.) to fundraising. If a school is interested in working with us to

fundraise, we would be happy to provide any materials that they might need.

We are hoping that we can count on you to pass our information on to your local councils. Please

let us know what we can do to help!

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Tina Long www.121help.me www.naach.co

OASC Hands-On Leadership

June/July 2014

Page 14

Tips for Leadership Advisors

Submitted by Sara Nilles

OASC Executive Director

Continued on page 15

June/July 2014

OASC Hands-On Leadership

Page 15

Continued from page 14, “25 Ways to Form Pairs, Teams, or Groups!,” by Sara Nilles

“Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn’t blow in the wind or change with the weather.

It is the inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won’t cheat,

then you know he never will.”

~ John D. MacDonald

Hands-On Leadership Page 16

Lesson Plans for Leaders on the Go . . . Busy, but you'd like to try something new? Check out this month’s featured leadership lesson plan.

What is OASC Summer Camp REALLY like?

OASC Hands-On Leadership

June/July 2014

Duration: 45 minutes to one hour

Materials/Resources

Web connectivity, projector, speakers, whiteboard, markers, copies of camp brochure

Rationale

As campers and staff already know, describing the experience of a week at an OASC summer camp is nearly impossible. Often,

we say, “You just have to be there! Then you’d know!” or “It’s…it’s…it’s amaaaazing!” Certain, we know the magic of camp is

equal parts relationships, learning, and awesomeness. But how can we explain that in a way that helps others “get” it? This les-

son is designed with the hope that if campers *experience* a taste of camp…they’ll want more! Modify and personalize to meet

the needs of your audience.

Lesson

Introduction

Thanks to the host advisor/teacher

Briefly share personal leadership journey and its effect on your opportunities, profession, relationships

ex: I brought in my 7th, 8th, and 9th grade year books from the 80’s with pages to my ASB pictures tabbed.

I was talking with 7th graders and hoped to establish common ground. Also, I got to express that what

they are learning now could perhaps lead them toward leadership adventures in their future. Fun fact:

I get to serve on OASC summer camp staff with one of the members of my 7th grade leadership class.

Friendships in leadership endure!

Briefly explain why you think all kids should attend camp

It has changed my life! I share that we all learn lessons of leadership when we are ready. Even though I

have been learning and practicing leadership for nearly 3 decades, I still learn something new at camp

every year that improves the way I serve others.

Video

Ask campers-to-be to actively watch the OASC camp promo video with the intention of determining what camp is about.

After the video, ask volunteers to share out what they think camp is about. Write their answers on the board.

Kids I worked with said things like “Fun!” “Games!” “Dancing!” “Laughing!”

Confirm their observations AND that learning immediately applicable leaderships are a big part of camp too.

The next step is an example of a leadership skill I learned from Lisa Evans during my first year at camp. It

SERIOUSLY has changed my life and improved relationships both personal and professional.

Mini Lesson – Three Levels of Listening

Set: Get everyone thinking on the same page..

“How many ears to you have?” (Two!)

“How many mouths?” (One!)

Right! This is a good ratio for the amount of listening and talking that leaders can practice, too.

But, listening is complicated. So, let’s break it down to three levels...

b. Model: Ask a volunteer (the advisor?) to be your partner…

Overview: For each scenario, you will ask your partner a question and then demonstrate how a listener from

each level would listen to the partner’s answer. As you demonstrate, ask kids to watch and think of the

things they see the listener doing and the speaker feeling. After each demonstration, engage the audience

in explaining what they noticed. Then, ask the group to label the level of listening.

Level 1: Ask the partner about their plans for the summer. As they begin to talk, interject quickly with com-

ments like, “Oh, me too! That’s one of my favorite things to do. In fact, this one time, at band camp…” In

effect, steal the conversation, making it all about YOU. You might also take out your phone and read and

send a text, turning away from the speaker and offering small “uh-huhs” while the talk. When you sense

the audience has gotten the general idea, pause and ask them to describe what they saw. What did you do?

What did the listener do? How did this affect communication? Who was this level of listening about? What

would you call this level of listening? This level is more about “me”, the listener. The objective is to

be heard and bring attention to self.

Level 2: Ask your partner the same question, but this time, listen and ask pertinent questions that invite elabo-

ration and detail. Show that you are sincerely interested. Be sure to turn in toward the speaker, have open

body language, nod and listen more than you speak. Avoid interrupting. Again, when you sense you have

established the general idea, ask students the questions above. Kids are able to identify that in this sce-

nario, the listen shows interest, concern, and connection. Body language and on topic questions show this.

The speaker generally feels heard and that the listener is interested. This level is more about “You”, the

speaker. The objective is to connect and understand.

Level 3: I usually do a bit of prep for the audience for this level. Level 3 is most effective for “heart conversa-

tions”. Lisa taught me that these kinds of conversations are meant to hold the space for the speaker to truly

speak what they need to say. I explain that we know when to use this kind of listening almost via “Spidey

Sense”. You know when someone just needs to be heard. They don’t need solutions or questions…just time

and space to express.

I usually look for a more heart-centered question to ask. For instance, when an advisor and I did this series of

demonstrations, she had revealed during level 2 that she would be in Hawaii this summer, and it would be

the first time she would be away from her two year old son. So, for this scenario, I asked her how she felt

about being away from her son for the length of her vacation. The result was a true, vulnerable kind of shar-

ing about her feelings. Whatever question you ask, listen carefully. Don’t ask questions. Nod and be en-

couraging with your expressions instead. Even if there is awkward silence, let the speaker decide if they

want to share more or not.

When you’ve reached a good place to pause, ask your audience to state what they noticed.

This level is more about the speaker’s heart. The objective is to connect and truly hear.

c. Debrief: Help students reflect and process…

Which level most of their conversations happen in during a typical school day?

As a leader, which level would help you connect with those you serve? Why?

Where else in your life could you use these three levels?

d. Experience: Engage students in level 2 listening….

Direct students to partner up and sit so that they are facing one another. I like to have kids sit on the floor. Have

them identify a partner A and partner B. Explain that they will now practice Level 2.

Review the qualities of this kind of listening.

I like to warn participants that there could be some awkward moments. After all, someone is going to be LISTENING

to you! That likely means eye contact and limited interruptions. They might even invite us to SAY MORE! If we

are not used to this, it feels unusual at first. Ask them to trust it and see what happens. J

Partners will take turns listening to one another answer the question “What are some of your favorite memories with

your family?” or “Who is a person in your life you truly admire?” Give each person 60 to 90 seconds to answer

the question.

Afterward, debrief with questions like, “What did it feel like to be a listener? A speaker?”

e. Connect to Camp – camp is all the things we listed on the board from the video AND learning skills like the three levels of

listening.

How many ears? How many mouths? Why?

June/July 2014

OASC Hands-On Leadership

Page 17

Hands-On Leadership Page 18 OASC Hands-On Leadership

June/July 2014

4. Camp Q & A

a. oasc.org web site and show

Session dates

Application

Scholarship opportunities

Fees

Camp logistics / learning about life on a college campus

WOSU

Accommodations in the dorms

Meals at dining hall

Discuss fundraising ideas

School fund available?

Traditional: car washes, can drives…

Millennial: email families, social media, “jump start”

Community: request support via letter from area service groups, organizations, businesses

5. Answer questions

The kids I spoke with were quite interested to know if they would be able attend and room with a friend. I explained

how campers are assigned a roommate and council to purposefully assist them in building new relationships and

skills.

Follow up

Leave a stash of brochures

Reconnect with the advisor to offer support regarding questions and fundraising.

Remind advisors of upcoming deadlines as they near.

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength,

not a lack of knowledge, but a lack of will.”

~ Vince Lombardi

Source: Angela Newport, Session 2 Camp Staff, McMinnville HS