MY PLATFORM
Connecting Chapters.
Connecting People.
Hello, and welcome to my platform: STARS! STARS is a five-point plan designed to address the regional and state-level issues of PNW JSA. The reasoning behind this acronym STARS is that the shape has five points, like my plan, and represent the patriotic love required for genuine progress.
SUPPORTING CHAPTERS
Platform Point #1
PAIRING DEBATE AGENTS WITH CHAPTERS
While state conventions are a major aspect of the JSA experience, that experience would be incomplete without the chapter component. It is at chapter meetings where delegates have the opportunity to practice their debate and moderating skills in a more intimate setting, helping them prepare for major conventions. By pairing a Debate Agent with each chapter, we can strengthen new and existing chapters by ensuring that resolutions continue to be fun and engaging. Debate Agents can work with chapter leadership to brainstorm new resolutions, and together they can compile a list of interesting resolutions so that delegates are retained and excited every week.
DELEGATING PR AGENTS TO CHAPTERS
Many chapters have a central method of communication, however, they don’t utilize enough resources in order to promote JSA locally. Assigning PR agents to struggling chapters will increase the amount of publicity JSA gets and in turn, recruit more members.
CREATING A CONVENTION REGISTRATION GUIDE
Registration, especially for Fall State, is a confusing process with minimal direction. By creating a registration guide, Chapter Presidents will be able to more easily register delegates for convention and hopefully expedite the process so that registration can be completed faster and sooner so that many can pay the early bird price.
TAKING INITIATIVE
Platform Point #2
INCREASING FUNDRAISING DUTIES
Fundraising Agents are an essential part of JSA’s success. While they help raise a lot of money during conventions and through online campaigns, there is a gap outside of this. I propose for Fundraising Agents to also be partnered with chapters, much like CIA agents, and aid them in creating fundraising events and campaigns. This way, they not only have an impact on the state level, but can help financially struggling chapters as well. Chapters who have more funds will be able to provide more scholarships to individual delegates or even use the money to subsidize other convention costs.
MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO JOIN CABINET
Often times, many delegates are inspired to be more involved in JSA after state conventions. By releasing Cabinet Applications after every state convention, interested delegates will have more opportunities to get involved with JSA instead of having to wait for the Mid-Year apps or apps for the following year. This will provide greater opportunities for underclassmen to get involved by heavily advertising the applications throughout each state convention, exciting new delegates to join the backbone of this great organization.
INCREASE BIPARTISANSHIP
The PNW is a very liberal state that lacks the political diversity needed to produce better understanding of the “other side”. Activism will aim to create more bipartisanship by inviting more conservative speakers and sharing more conservative events. By creating a more open environment for conservative JSAers, hopefully, more will be encouraged to speak up and share their thoughts.
ASSURING ACCOUNTABILITY
Platform Point #3
EARLIER DELIVERABLES
The Convention Coordinator and Assistant CoCo rely on other departments to first complete their work before they can release the agenda. Creating more detailed deliverables with earlier due dates will help with the organization of conventions in general and help advisors plan around said agendas as well.
PRODUCTION SIGN-IN SHEET
To increase the coordination of gathering, prepping, and releasing photos, an organizational tool is needed. By having a sign in sheet, the Director of Photography will more easily be able to collect all of the photos and the Director of Production can keep track of the amount of work done by each production member.
PRODUCTION TRAINING
Many new production members do not have another job besides taking photos or videos and do not know how to watermark, or create videos. During Cab Con, time should be taken to train all Production team members so that jobs can be distributed more effectively and overall more material can be created in a timely manner.
CHAPTER TRANSITION CALLS
Sometimes, former Chapter Presidents leave new Chapter Presidents without any guidance on how to run a chapter. By having the assigned CIA agent facilitate a transition call or meeting between new and old chapter board members, this will ensure a smoother transition of power as well as more educated Chapter Presidents.
RECOGNIZING DELEGATES
Platform Point #4
RATE THE RESOLUTION
A lot of the time, there is a separation between the Debate Department and the delegation as a whole. Adding a “Rate the Resolution” scale to the bottom of best speaker ballots would increase transparency between the two and allow for more feedback for more engaging debates.
INTRODUCE MORE BEGINNER DEBATES
Retaining freshmen is incredibly important for the future of JSA. By providing these delegates with a safer environment to speak and giving them more opportunities to experience debates with less experienced delegates, this will boost their confidence and encourage them to stay in JSA, creating a stronger PNW.
SPURRING DISCUSSION
Partisanship is a big issue in PNW JSA as liberally-leaning delegates greatly outnumber those that are lean conservative. I propose to have debate agents assigned to different debates and play the Devil's advocate to spur more discussion and fill in for the lack of conservative speakers. The debate agents will also be reminded only to volunteer is there are no other delegates interested, making sure that other delegates still have the opportunity to speak. This would fill in the gap for partisan debate topics, ensuring that the debate is not one-sided, but also encouraging delegates to research and understand the other viewpoint.
IMPLEMENT DESIGN CONTESTS
In an effort to create a more connected state, I propose that we hold designing contests for merchandise and then have a poll to decide on what to sell for the rest of the year. This will allow regular delegates to get involved with the fundraising process and for more feedback from the delegation on what they are interested in buying.
STRENGTHENING CABINET
Platform Point #5
CABINET MERCHANDISE
Cabinet merchandise will not only generate more money for scholarship funds, but increase the visibility of our state Cabinet. Most of the time, many delegates do not understand what Cabinet is or its function. With Cabinet merchandise, this will encourage delegates to not only sense Cabinet’s presence at conventions, but encourage them to learn more and hopefully join. In addition, Cabinet merchandise will help promote JSA as an organization, as members wear their gear proudly and can use it as a expansion tool!
DEPARTMENT COFFEE DAYS
As the year progresses, some cabinet members begin to lose focus and neglect their cabinet duties. By having work days similar to Cab Con where everyone comes together to be productive, members will be more motivated to continue to get their work done. This is not necessarily feasible for every department, but will be encouraged.
I believe that this will be beneficially for the Convention Department as a lot of work for everyone in that department needs to be done within a dense time frame and it can also work to bring the department closer together. The frequency and timing of other Department Coffee Days would depend on the department’s head and their team members as some departments are very busy before conventions (Convention, Fundraising, and Debate), while others have more work after (Production). This will be organized by the department heads and overseen by the Chief of Staff. While these would not be required for all department members (scheduling, transportation, and other issues), it provides more opportunities for departments to bond but also to accomplish a lot of their deliverables in one sitting.
These Department Days activities can widely vary depending on the duties of each department. For example, the Convention Department would meet at a local coffee shop to compile and proof the convention agenda, while the Fundraising Department would meet at a local shopping market to purchase items such as candy grams and beverages.
In addition, department heads can work with other department heads to ensure those in the IER and OR have locations and days to work as well. Department heads can also plan joint-Coffee Days, intermixing departments while still creating an efficient environment for JSA work to be completed.