MAKING THE MOST OF MEMBER
COMMITTEES FOR YOUR CHAPTER
B Y: S P E N S E R A DA M S S U N N Y V A L E H I G H S C H O O L A G R I C U LT U R E S C I E N C E T E A C H E R
C
ommittees - Do you use them, or are they just something that exists in record books? Why do they exist? When appropriately utilized, committees are a way to allow more students to get involved within your chapter and ensure that you are meeting all aspects of the POA. They can also allow you to spread the wealth within your organization and help prevent officer burnout. We all have those students who are highly involved but have no desire to be an officer. Giving them experience on committees can allow them to gain the same leadership skills officers do without the added "pressure." In our chapter, we have three committee chairs that help run five subcommittees/programs each, taking on the format of the Program of Activities. We have found this distribution of power to be the best because it gives more students the ability to lead while also providing some consistency and experience. Also, in our chapter, we have given our chairs nicknames that play on FFA and school history. We have seen that giving our committee chairs nicknames has piqued students' interest who might shy away from the term "committee chair ." Our chairs are as follows, "Rascal" - Growing Leaders Chair, "Watchdog" - Building Communities Chair, and "Rustic"- Strengthening Agriculture Chair. Our chairs serve as members of our executive committee but are not considered officers. This means that they attend leadership conferences and state conventions. They do attend our summer planning sessions but typically will not be there the entire time, attending just the parts that are relevant to them. They meet with the vice president throughout the year 6
