Hola a todos, I am a new sponsor (having taken over in June 2020, inducted the spring 2020 candidates late in fall 2020, and now the first match of "on-time" members in March 2021). Before my time the society had been dormant in our school for decades so there was no rhythm to pick-up from the last sponsor. Here's the timeline, and then my question:
"March 2020" inductees were inducted in September 2020, and office elections happened the first meeting of the year (we have five - P, VP, T, Member Secretary and Recording Secretary)
February 2021, applications opened for the 2021 induction class, and the induction happened now, in March 2021.
Originally, I had planned on holding officer elections during the May meeting and then having the June meeting co-lead by 2020 and 2021 Executive Board members, with the September 2021 meeting being the first meeting run by the 2021 Executive Board.
Last night, following the induction, my four juniors on the Executive Board (VP, T, MS and RS) requested that they be able to keep their roles for the coming year - until May 2022. They shared that other Honor Societies do the same thing - if a Junior is elected they are allowed to remain in their role until they graduate. I feel the tension from both keeping our momentum going - the kids are doing great as student leaders - and being inclusive and opening elections up to all.
What do others do? How would you proceed? TIA!
I agree that they could continue to be a part of the leadership board, especially given our current environment. Officers in my chapter are elected as Erica explained above, however I do know of chapters that have both Junior and Senior positions.
You mentioned that the other societies in your school have Juniors and Seniors in leadership positions. Have you spoken to other advisors at your school? The language honor societies at my school try to align as much as possible because of this exact reason.
Kudos to you for inducting two groups this year in order to give as many deserving students as possible this honor!
At my old chapter we held officer elections at the end of the school year. Our soon to be graduate senior officers ran the elections for current juniors / rising seniors, so roles were established in the summer time when officers had ample time to brainstorm ideas for the coming school year. Juniors inducted in the fall could take on a leadership position of committee chair for their junior year.
Good luck, I agree with Theresa; if they are doing a good job I wouldn't necessarily replace them but I always tried to ensure everyone who wanted to contribute had a positive way to do so.
I would leave them in the position, this of all years! We only allow juniors and seniors to be members in our school, so this isn't an issue. Only members in their second year are eligible to be officials. However, we encourage juniors to take the initiative and lead in service projects, as we look at their service and commitment throughout the year when choosing the next year's officials.
Our process of selecting officials is very organic and very much NOT a democracy. Candidates fill out a Google form stating why they would make a good official and what their plans are for SHH should they be chosen. They also present in Spanish at a meeting for all members to hear how they do (officers lead the meetings all in Spanish). Current members then fill out a Google form rating the candidates in their strengths and likelihood to be trustworthy and capable. Finally, I print out service records from trackitforward.com, their statements, and give access to the google form results of the members to the current officials. We then meet and discuss the candidates. We weigh all the evidence then choose the officials and positions we think they would be best at. The positions and duties sometimes vary, according to the talents of the officials chosen.
It always makes me so proud to see how the officials come with no agenda and really make the best choices for SHH. I have NEVER had an official not live up to our high expectations doing it this way, nor has anyone ever complained it was unfair.
Best wishes!