School Leaders Converge on Capitol Hill

The 2017 NASSP Advocacy Conference, held April 24–26 in Washington, D.C., brought state leaders and principals from all over the country together to advocate on behalf of the nation’s schools and students. Participants attended panel discussions with representatives from other national education associations, congressional staff, and officials from the U.S. Department of Education, as well as a briefing about the latest news in Congress and NASSP’s legislative agenda. Participants also met with their respective members of Congress and congressional staff on Capitol Hill. All principals who attended the conference are members of the Federal Grassroots Network (FGN), a community of school leaders committed to building relationships with their members of Congress in order to inform them about how education policies affect schools in their home districts and states. All school leaders are welcome to join FGN, and can do so by visiting www.nassp.org/fgn.

New NASC Programs and Services Coming Soon

To ensure that its affiliated councils are getting the most from its programs and services, the National Association of Student Councils (NASC), a program of NASSP, has conducted extensive research on the needs of advisers and student leaders. In response to the findings, the organization will introduce enhanced features and all new benefits to enrich the program in the 2017–18 academic year—with no increase in annual fees—to further help student leaders and councils flourish. Upcoming offerings include a more robust online Adviser Resource Center, a streamlined National Student Project Database, and a web series on leadership for both advisers and students. To ensure that your council has access to these new and exciting features come fall, watch for renewal notices and have your primary adviser renew promptly at www.nasc.us/renew. If your school is not already affiliated with NASC, visit www.nasc.us/join to become a member.

Student Volunteers Honored in Washington, D.C.

This month, the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards’ 102 top youth volunteers—two from each state and the District of Columbia—will be honored with four days of special recognition events in our nation’s capital. While attending the event in Washington, D.C., 10 of the honorees will be named America’s top youth volunteers of 2017 and will each receive a $5,000 award, gold medallion, crystal trophy, and $5,000 grant from The Prudential Foundation for the nonprofit charitable organization of their choice. This program, conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with NASSP, is based exclusively on volunteer community service and has honored more than 115,000 service-minded young people at the local, state, and national levels since 1995. Visit www.nassp.org/spirit for more information and to find a list of winners.