Austin Ostro for NES Lieutenant Governor

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VIII. Attendant of every ECR One Day and Chapter Conference for three years
IX.Attended Sommerville Megacon, NER Fall One Day, NER Spring One Day and the PHA Chapter Con in the NER. PLATFORMS:

Involvement-

Starting this year, Involvement became a part of LTG cabinet. Getting people involved in JSA is very important to me. This year I oversaw and instituted a new system for people to get involved with the running of conventions by signing up to be logistics agents. Logistics agents have helped count best speaker ballots, run amendments at Winter Congress, lead people on out of the hotel excursions and run the activism table. As your LTG, I want to expand on the work I did this year. I want to enable JSAers to get involved not only at conventions but during the planning of conventions. If a JSAer proves themselves through the work they do at conventions and in the planning stages, I would consider mid-year appointments to cabinet. JSA has so much more to offer than just debating and you can only take advantage of all the other opportunities by getting involved. Communication-

Both Gubernatorial and LTG cabinets work on very similar and often times overlapping things, therefore it is incredibly vital for both cabinets to be in constant communication. This last year I felt as if this was not the case, and in fact I was not really made aware of what LTG cabinet was doing throughout the year. Inter-cabinet communication is vital for a prosperous and successful state. I also think that there has to be better communication with non-cabinet members as to what cabinet has been doing. JSAers have a right to know what their leaders are doing. This is why I would direct my Chief of Staff to publish a weekly report of what LTG cabinet has accomplished. This will be posted on the website for everyone to see. A copy will also be sent to the Governor and the Gubernatorial Chief of Staff. This full disclosure will keep my cabinet accountable. New Role for the Chief of Staff-

The main job of the LTG Chief of Staff in the past was to coordinate legislation and to act as President pro-tempore of the JCOCP. As many of you know, at Fall State the JCOCP voted to institute their own elected speaker as head of the body starting next year. Therefore the position of LTG Chief of Staff really needs to be rethunk. I will task my Chief of Staff with 3 main goals. The first is to assist all members of LTG Cabinet with their assignments and to ensure that all work is done well and in a timely manner. The second is to as said above, coordinate Inter-cabinet and direct to JSAer communication. The third job will be to spearhead a new finanical aid program. The Mid-Atlantic this year worked to find corporate sponsors for their state, the revenue of which was used to subsidize the registration cost of JSAers who had trouble affording it. I know how difficult it is for many JSAers to pay to go to conventions and I think the student leadership has an obligation to ensure that no student will be turned away from JSA because of financial hardship. I with my Chief of Staff will work to create a new, hopefully lasting system, based on the Mid-Atlantic for this purpose. Civic Activism-

The reason why students join JSA is because they care about the political process and getting involved in it. Through a strong Civic Activism program, we can promote engagement in the process. That is why as Lieutenant Governor, strengthening Civic Activism in the Northeast will be a priority. I want to have representatives from different political organizations, on both sides of the political spectrum come to all 3 conventions, not just Winter Congress. At Fall State this year we instituted an Activism block which would serve as a perfect time in the future for these organizations to come and speak to us. I also want to help JSAers find internship opportunities that can allow them to gain experience in politics. Social Activism-

The Northeast State has raised a lot of money for a variety of great organizations over the years and I want to continue this trend as your Lieutenant Governor. One new focus of mine will be to get kids involved with charitable groups. Raising money is great, but getting your hands dirty for a cause is very meaningful.My Director of Social Activism and I will work with members to find hands on projects that they can work on. This can also be a new way for members to get involved because someone who has a great idea for an activism project could be asked to lead it. The Patriot-

Many of you remember that last year the Patriot almost entirely consisted of articles from Elected Officials and cabinet members, this year we made great strides to get more kids involved in the patriot and to cover a wider array of topics.. There are several common sense ways to make the Patriot better, one being to put it online. The Patriot being online in addition to being distributed in print allows for articles to be published with more regularity and more current event topics to be handled. We can also then use the Patriot to better publicize upcoming JSA events. I would also like the Patriot to talk more about JSA aside from letters from Elected Officials. For example, an article about how to best address block voting or how to fundraise for summer school. Public Relations:

It is through a solid public relations department that we can grow as a state. One new thing that the Northeast can do that would generate publicity would be to invite the media to our conventions. They could sit in on Opening session, debates and keynotes and then write about what we do. We have a great story that they would love to share if we gave them the opportunity. The Midwest State had a TV station come and observe their convention and a piece was done about it, there is no reason why we cannot do the same. I also think that we need to do a better job of getting the word out about JSA to schools. The more people that know about JSA, the more we will grow. Department heads of schools often hold conferences where they discuss ideas for how to best educate their students, which includes information about extracurricular activities. We should advertise JSA at these conferences as it is in many ways easier for a teacher to start a chapter than a student to start one.