Emerging Leaders Club is an opportunity for college students earning their education degrees to connect with Idaho AEYC’s network of experts and other early childhood educators. There are clubs around Idaho, but it's very simple to start your own if you don't have one on your campus!

STARTING UP

When starting any club on your campus, you’ll need a faculty member to serve as an advisor to your club. Talk to your professors and find someone who to teach you how to be an early educator!

Next, you’ll want to contact your Associated Students Office or Student Involvement Center on your campus to determine your college or university’s process for starting a club. They will have someone in their office to help you make sure you have all the necessary paperwork completed.

BEFORE YOUR FIRST MEETING

At least two weeks before your first meeting, you’ll want to recruit potential members. You can do this by asking professors if you can give a 5-minute talk at the beginning of their class to tell them about Emerging Leaders and hand out information. Be sure to include all levels – from freshman to graduate students – everyone can benefit from being a part of your club.

If you can, develop a website through the system used on your campus to promote clubs and events. If such a resource is not available, there are numerous low-cost platforms where you can easily build a microsite to promote your club. In addition, you'll want to create a flyer with information about the meeting and distribute them around campus (Don't forget to remove them after your meeting takes place!).

Having faculty in attendance at your first meeting will be vitally important. Be sure to set up appointments or email professors in your department and ask them to attend. Idaho AEYC can also connect you with early educators who can attend the meeting and share their experiences with Emerging Leaders.

A few days before the meeting, be sure to draft an agenda that lists out confirmed speakers and topics that will be discussed during the meeting.

DURING YOUR FIRST MEETING

This meeting is your chance to make a good first impression on potential members! We recommend having light refreshments available. We also highly recommend you have a sign-in sheet for participants – this will be the best way for you to gather their contact information so you can follow up with them after the meeting.

Stick to your agenda but be sure you leave time at the end for questions and discussion. This is the time where you will be able to:

• Discuss advocacy ideas and activities the group would like to participate in
• Generate ideas for blog content to be used on your site and to be promoted via Idaho AEYC
• Elect leaders of your organization and set requirements for those roles – they will need to be able to be a part of your Associated Student Organization to represent your club.
• Create a master calendar of monthly meetings

AFTER YOUR MEETING

Now that you’ve had your first meeting and have leaders selected, the leadership will want to reach out to members who signed up at the meeting and potential members. Share with them materials discussed during the meeting, including the master event calendar.

After you have established your leadership and calendar, send this information to Idaho AEYC as well – we will share it with our network of professionals and integrate you into our Emerging Leaders network