AWSP Blog

In this edition of AWSP News, we discuss the Washington State Principals of the Year, reaching out to the AWSP team about the realities of principaling right now, the new COVID restrictions, incredible professional learning for you and your admin teams, the alarming failure rates happening across the state and at all levels, the AWSL Adviser of the Year, our popular ASB Finance workshop, the National Conference on Student Activities, Giving Tuesday (Dec 1), helping us save Cispus, and a great leadership example.

The 2020 AWSL Virtual Fall Conference was a smashing success with over 5,000 attendees. Yes, we can celebrate the number of participants, but the success of this conference lies in who was able to attend. With the need to switch to a virtual format, we invited and encouraged schools to bring as many students as they wanted. Focusing on equity, becoming while doing, and the belief that all students can lead, we hoped that students who had never attended a conference of any kind, especially a 'leadership' conference who could learn, grow, connect, and see the leadership abilities within them.

Here are some fun days in November and ways to use them with your students, staff, and families.

November! We have crossed another threshold. Moving into November, we made it through our first ever COVID Great ShakeOut, and Halloween, had a blue moon, fell back to standard time, and are anxiously (nervously?) awaiting the results of the Presidential election. We will close out the month with a well-deserved long Thanksgiving weekend. So much is happening!

The 59th anniversary of the United States Senate Youth Program (USSYP) will take place in March of 2021. For the past 59 years, two students per state have been selected to receive a $10,000 scholarship and attend a weeklong program in Washington D.C., funded by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation. To apply for consideration in our state this year, a student must be a junior or senior and must hold an elected position in student council or school government. If students are unable to hold leadership positions this year due to the pandemic, they can submit the position they held during the 2019-2020 academic year.