ASDA: Transitioning Leadership and Events for Predental Students, Lecture notes of History

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Predental Organization

Toolkit

Everything you need to build a predental

organization at your school

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

• History of ASDA INTRODUCTION TO ASDA
• Resources
• Leadership Roles
• Key Contacts....................................................................................................................................
• Step One: Do Your Research GETTING STARTED
• Step Two: Formalizing your Club
• Step Three: Continuing the Momentum.........................................................................................
• Qualities of Great Leaders LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE
• Officer Roles and Responsibilities...................................................................................................
• Elections
• Transitioning Leadership...............................................................................................................
• Regular Club Meetings MEETINGS AND EVENTS
• Benefits of Events
• Types of Events
• Steps in Planning Events
• Examples of Successful Events......................................................................................................
• Purpose of Fundraising FUNDRAISING
• Use of Funds..................................................................................................................................
• Constitution IMPORTANT FORMS
• Meeting Minutes...........................................................................................................................
• Budget Proposal Form
• Event Proposal Form
• Internal Expenses Worksheet
• Shadowing Guidelines...................................................................................................................

for new programs and initiatives to directly benefit predental ASDA members. The Predental Consultant oversees the committee and serves as the liaison between the Predental Advisory Committee and ASDA Council on Membership.

Resources ASDA created many resources for dental school chapters, but they can be adapted to fit the needs of your predental organization. Most resources are available on ASDA’s website under the For Chapters tab at ASDAnet.org/chapterleadershipresources.aspx.

Chapter Handbook – This handbook was developed for dental school chapter leaders to provide information on ASDA’s structure, organizing a chapter, membership and communication strategies, leadership roles and descriptions, fundraising and activities, advocacy, and working with state dental societies.

How-To Guides – These guides provide the steps involved in organizing an event and best practices from ASDA chapters. Guides are available for topics such as community service, fundraising, vendor fairs, chapter leader transition and retreats, and chapter websites.

“The Value of ASDA Membership” Presentation – A PowerPoint presentation on ASDA’s mission, organizational structure, interaction with state dental societies and the ADA, key issues and accomplishments, list of benefits and meetings, and contacts for ASDA.

History of ASDA Video – Video available on YouTube that provides an overview of ASDA from its beginning until present day.

ASDA Predental Video – This video available on YouTube is of a current dental student leader talking about his experience in ASDA as a predental student.

Chapter Newsletters – Samples of various award-winning chapter newsletters are available for chapters to use as a reference when developing their newsletter. We also have editorial guidelines and tips for creating a chapter newsletter.

Chapter Communications Tips – A list of unique ideas gathered from our chapters on various chapter communications, including newsletter topics and authors, website content and design, social media, and traditional means such as posters and PowerPoint slides.

Predental Webinars – ASDA has a growing list of webinars specifically for predentals at ASDAnet.org/predental/webinars.aspx. Share these with your club members or show it during a club meeting.

ASDA Predental Week – This event is held in February one week before ASDA’s annual session to celebrate our predental members. Predental clubs can register to participate and receive a promotional kit containing posters, ASDA buttons and membership applications. Clubs can earn an incentive for recruiting the most predentals to ASDA. Predentals who join ASDA that week can win raffle prizes. More information is available at ASDAnet.org/predentalweek

Keep Up-to-Date on Dental News ASDA produces various communications for members to gain new insights into dentistry. These tools can help you prepare for dental school interviews. Many of the articles also are great discussion topics for predental club meetings.

ASDA Engage ASDA Engage is an online resource that allows predental and dental students to stay on top of legislation that is currently affecting the field of dentistry. By subscribing to action alerts, you will receive emails with pre-drafted letters to congressman urging them to vote in favor of dental students and dentists. Subscribe at http://cqrcengage.com/asda/home.

Mouth, Journal of the American Student Dental Association Mouth is a quarterly printed award-winning journal dedicated to keeping students and new dentists up-to-date on the ever-changing, multifaceted world of dentistry. It offers articles on scientific and issue-oriented subjects of interest.

ASDA News ASDA News is a printed newsletter that includes national news updates, an opinion section and member, faculty and chapter spotlights. Articles are written by students for students, and it is published ten times a year.

Mouthing Off ASDA updates its award-winning blog multiple times a week. Posts include student perspectives on dental issues, news stories gathered from the Web, plus video and onsite updates from ASDA meetings. Check out Mouthing Off at www.ASDAblog.com.

Word of Mouth Word of Mouth is a monthly e-newsletter sent to all members. It provides up-to-date information on association issues, upcoming ASDA events and deadlines, member benefit information and more.

Advocacy Brief The Advocacy Brief is a monthly e-newsletter sent to all members. It highlights key legislative issues in dentistry compiled by ADEA and the ADA. It also includes ASDA chapter legislative events such as ADPAC drives and state lobby days.

YouTube Search ASDAnet on YouTube for tips on dental school applications, writing a CV, interviews for dental school and more.

ASDA is always looking for contributors and story ideas for Mouth, ASDA News and the award- winning blog, Mouthing Off. If you or someone from your club is interested in writing, go to ASDAnet.org/howtosubmit.aspx.

GETTING STARTED

Congratulations on your decision to start a predental club at your school. Doing so really says a lot about your character, which will be recognized by dental school admission officers and appreciated by your school’s predental students. However, before you commit, make sure that you are willing to devote the time and are truly passionate about this endeavor. Since starting a club does take time, do as much as you can during the summer, if possible, so you are not too distracted from your studies.

Step One: Do Your Research It is a good idea to find a peer or two to help you through the process of starting the club and to be your sounding board for any difficult decisions since this can be a challenging task. Next, find out the needs your club should address. This can be accomplished by meeting with the predental advisor(s) at your college in order to round-up your fellow predental students. These meetings are also a wonderful time to discuss the kind of resources that are offered to students. For example, your advisor might have access to the ADEA Guide to Dental Schools, DAT study materials and various other resources that could be beneficial.

After you have the names of interested predental students, meet with them to see what their concerns are and what they would like to get out of the club. If your school offers a pre-med club, check with the officers to see what they do for their predental members, how many predental members they have and collaborate on how to meet the needs of these students together. Contact a few other predental clubs in your state and ask what kind of meeting topics and speakers they have, what they do for volunteering, etc. You may also find dentistry-related volunteer events on your state dental association’s website. Finally, do some thinking about what the needs are in your community and brainstorm how your predental club can help.

Use the all of the answers you gathered to set goals for the club. One of your main goals should be to make your club as relevant to members as possible in order to attract and maintain as many members as you can. Make it a point to gather resources valuable to your members, especially if the resources provided by the predental advisors at your school are lacking.

Step Two: Formalize your Club Now that you have met with fellow predentals and have come up with some ideas for the club, you will need to check your school’s guidelines for student organizations to make your club official on campus. See the Sample Constitution in Appendix for help. This may include appointing a faculty member as your club’s sponsor. Make sure to find the right fit and keep the advisor informed of your club’s goals and activities.

Schedule the first meeting of your new organization. Invite the predental students you gathered from the advisor meetings and possibly local high school students. Promote your club by creating a Facebook page. This can be a wonderful resource for your club members to keep them up to date on meeting dates, volunteer opportunities, local predental events held at dental schools and much more. You may want to set up a general email for your organization so members can contact you with questions or suggestions.

Step Three: Continue the Momentum From here on out, you will need to keep the ball rolling for your club. Continue to promote your organization. Make brochures and t-shirts, design a logo for the club, etc. Continue to find new ways to attract new members and retain current members. Some ideas include:

• Create an incentive program for members that attract new members.
• Present membership certificates to your entire membership at the end of the school year.
• Develop awards such as “Most Involved Member,” “Perfect Meeting Attendance” and "Most Recruited Members.”
• Investigate the possibility of holding a year-end banquet for the club. Some schools have banquet facilities that may accommodate your needs. Sell tickets to the event for members and guests to defray the costs.
• Create other leadership positions within your club to get more members involved and to delegate the work.

 Assist and supervise other executive board officers in any way needed for the betterment of the organization.  Find appropriate speakers for club meetings and appoint committees for events.  Update the organization’s status with the pre-health advisors of the institution.  Acts as an ambassador for the club and encourages other predentals to join.

Vice President: The vice president is the president’s right hand; their cooperation on tasks will ensure the club’s progress on a variety of difficult issues.  Assist the president and preside at club meetings in the absence of the president.  Aid in maintaining the organization’s status with the pre-health advisors of the institution.  Assist in the organization and conduction of club meetings.  Locate and reserve rooms for club meetings.  Assists in membership recruitment efforts for the club.

Treasurer: The treasurer manages the club’s finances; this position requires attention to detail when completing paperwork to strategically spend the club’s funds.  Act as the official custodian of the funds of the organization and dispenses funds as directed by the executive board.  Design a budget to be approved by the executive board.  Maintain a record of all paying members and collect membership dues from all returning and new members.  Provide accurate reports of funds to the institution and executive board.

Secretary: The secretary serves to connect the club with its members by providing updates on worthwhile opportunities.  Take accurate minutes at executive board meetings and maintain records of ideas and businesses.  Keep copies of all contacts of the organization, including members.  Send meeting minutes and pertinent information to all members of the club.  Prior to each meeting, provides members information regarding meeting location and time, as well as a description of the meeting.

Once the club experiences considerable growth, additional leadership positions may be necessary, including directors, webmasters, committees etc. For example, a director of shadowing position could sensibly develop alongside a club’s decision to begin offering shadowing arrangement services. This director can be held responsible for organizing convenient times for students to shadow dentists. To reach out to more students, a director of publicity position could develop, responsible for using marketing tools to advertise the club’s role and events throughout the campus via flyers or the college newspaper.

In the digital age, social media such as Facebook and Twitter can be used to connect with potential members. A webmaster can design a website to communicate the benefits of joining

the predental organization or to update members on the latest events and activities. Committees can also be formed to run temporary activities such as community outreach events, cancer walks, charity acts, etc. The benefits of creating committees are that it offers members an opportunity to gain leadership experience and it can increase the number of volunteers who don’t want a large time commitment. The committee members may be interested in pursuing future opportunities within your club and other organizations.

Elections This is a fundamental step to ensure the organization is served by an executive board that meets the mission and annual goals. It is recommended that elections be held annually at the end of each academic year so that officers serve a one-year term. To assure fairness, elections should be held for all club positions. For beginning clubs, it might be best to not have limitations on allowing candidates to run. However as more candidates decide to run, you might implement a rule that only members may run, require a minimum GPA of a 3.0 or that candidates must have attended a certain number of meetings.

Promotion of the election should be done at least one month to guarantee that a sufficient amount of students are interested in running. The traditional method for elections has been students preparing oral speeches and delivering it to the entire club. Following the speeches, only members would be allowed to participate in ballot voting. The present executive board would count the votes and release the names of the future officers.

An alternative is an electronic election. Since ideally elections are held during the end of the spring semesters, finals often prohibit some members from participating. To ensure that all members can vote, candidates can prepare PDF documents on why they think they are the best person for the job. Such a document should include a brief biography, future ideas for the club, experience relative to the position, and other qualities. Members can be given two weeks to compare speeches and be permitted to vote on sites such as www.doodle.com on Election Day.

Transitioning Leadership Once the new executive board is elected, they should not reinvent the wheel and should be able to start where you left off. That means passing all the knowledge that you have gained during your term to them. A great way to transition this knowledge is to have a meeting with the outgoing and incoming executive boards. Each outgoing officer provides a summary of their responsibilities and the accomplishments during their term. This allows all new executive board members to understand the duties of each officer. After each officer provides a summary to the group, officers can break into pairs with the outgoing leader to learn specifics of the role. Reference ASDA’s Chapter Leadership Transition Guide for templates for this meeting.

This meeting is most productive if the new board prepares questions and the outgoing board comes up with helpful tips. Changes and adaptations may be necessary over time so duties from one generation of executive board to another may not be identical. Adopting more efficient ways to carry out the same responsibilities are necessary to strengthen your organization. Nevertheless, all predental clubs have the same mission: to provide the best experience for their members and community and to increase their members’ chances of getting accepted into dental school.

as new students are arriving on campus. They also provide opportunities for new members to become more involved in the organization if you encourage them to participate in the event planning process. Events provide an outlet for your organization to become involved in the community and raise awareness of important dental issues. Finally, they provide a means for your members to become more informed about current issues facing the dental field, the dental school application process and so much more. Below you will find everything you need to help you start planning events.

Types of Events As a new organization, it is best to start with simple events (bake sales, student panels, etc.). As you get more event-planning experience, you can dive into larger and more costly events (community outreach, fundraising, etc.). Below you will find a list of the types of events that your organization might want to run. Remember, start small and expand when ready.

1. Fundraising events ( see fundraising section on page 19 or download ASDA’s Fundraising How-to Guide) Athletic Events o Walk/run, dance marathon, etc. o You can either organize your own or encourage your members to create a team and participate in an existing event that raises money for a cause your organization supports (ex: Relay for Life). Sales o Baked goods, t-shirts, calendars, raffles, etc. o If donating to a charity, provide information about the cause to those purchasing your product. University Funds o Partner with an existing organization, help promote your collaborative event and then donate a percentage of the proceeds to your designated charity. o See if your school allocates money to student organizations and if there are additional resources available for certain types of events. Schools will often have discretionary funds that student groups can apply for, especially for charitable events. 2. Community Service Events Collection Drives o Blood drive through American Red Cross or your state’s blood center. o Collect dental care supplies to donate to a charity of your choice. Volunteering o Spend time at a local hospital or clinic. o Give a presentation about dental hygiene to community organizations/schools. 3. Educational Events Presentations o Show a film or documentary about current dental issues. o Show a clip about a new piece of dental equipment or technology.

Informative Lecture Style Meetings o Invite a local dentist share their experience in their practice, a day in the life of dentist and give advice to members. o Invite recruiters from different branches of the military along with the Public Health Service Corps to discuss different scholarships offered. o Review specialties and other options available after graduation. o Discuss current topics that dentists and dental students are facing (utilize ASDA’s website and publications for topics and talking points). o Hold an ASDA informational meeting and discuss the benefits of the organization and how members can be more involved. o Present a timeline for applying to dental schools and what members can do to make themselves stronger applicants. o Present an overview of the DAT and different study materials and methods. o Present a review of dental schools and the different factors that are important when selecting a program. o Invite a dental school admissions counselor to speak about their school and what they look for in prospective students. o Partner with Crack the DAT, Coursesaver or another test prep company to sponsor a scholarship and provide more tips on taking the DAT. Interactive Meetings o Hold a meeting to discuss which courses to take and which professors are the best at the beginning of each course request season. o Invite a guest speaker from your university’s writing center to hold a personal statement workshop. o Make cards for a local nursing home or children’s hospital around the holidays. o Hold mock interviews and discuss appropriate attire and etiquette. o Invite dental students to give a tutorial like suturing bananas. o Discuss dental blogs (e.g., ASDA’s Mouthing Off, Curious Dentist, Excursives, ADA New Dentist, etc.) Panel Style Meetings o Invite local dental students to answer questions about dental school and the admissions process. o Organize a panel of accepted students from your club to give advice to members.

4. Recruitment Events In conjunction with another organization or function o Set up a booth at a school-wide club fair o Promote your predental organization via pre-health courses and other more broad pre-health organizations.  Partner with one of these organizations on an event to give your predental organization more publicity. Individually o Organize at least one large-scale event each year that gives a voice to your organization.

o Time of year (indoors or outdoors) o Target crowd (do you want your event to be near the freshman dorms, biology building, popular hangout area, etc.)  Money o Do you need to pay to use a space on campus? o How much will supplies for your event cost? o Does your school allocate funds for all student organizations or do you need to raise the money on your own?  Advertising o Include your event in a school/class/pre-health email blast or calendar. o Hang posters, hand out flyers, etc. o Ask a professor to announce your event at the beginning/end of a lecture. o Create a Facebook group or event. o Place an ad in your college newspaper.  Food/Beverages o Free food will always attract people to your event. o How fancy is your event? Do you need cookies or catering?  Supplies and Decorations o Always have sign-in sheets, markers and nametags.  It might also be helpful to have people sign up in advance for the event. o Recreational event: balloons, streamers, music, etc. o Guest speaker: microphone, water, PowerPoint accessibility, thank you gift.  If you want to be creative, consider handing out toothbrushes, floss, mini-toothpaste, etc.  Manpower o Form committees to be in charge of different events throughout the year. o Try to assign specific responsibilities to each committee member. o This is a great way to get new members involved in your organization!

How Do I Get Supplies?  Check to see if your organization has any leftover supplies from previous events.  Visit the local dollar store for great finds!  See if you can get a discount at your school store because you’re an on-campus organization.  Try co-sponsoring your event with another group so you can share some of the expenses.  Research if there are any organizations on campus that will help fund your event if it meets certain criteria and you apply in advance.

How Do I Advertise?  Prepare fliers as early as possible to allow for enough time to design, print and distribute them (3 weeks is usually sufficient).  Try to advertise in strategic areas, such as bio/chem/physics departments.  Reserve tables at high-traffic areas like dining halls, libraries, cafes, etc. during the week of your event. You may have to reserve these tables in advance, and it would be most effective to reserve them for multiple days.

 Create a Facebook event a week prior to the event so it’s fresh in people’s minds.  Newspaper ads should run the day of the event.  Posters may have to be approved before they are hung—make sure you research this policy several weeks in advance.

Running the Event

1. Confirm your room reservation/setup, food and any guest speakers a few days before the event.
2. Arrive at the location at least an hour in advance to set up.
3. Try your best to start the event on time!
4. Follow up—get feedback from attendees (in person or survey), send thank-you notes to organization members who helped with the planning and set-up and to any guest speakers who attended.
5. Pat yourself on the back—be proud, you just ran an effective event!

Examples of Successful Events

1. Project Smile: Present oral hygiene skits or read an oral hygiene or dental-related book to elementary school classes. Make costumes of a giant tooth, an apple and a can of soda. The giant tooth has Velcro attached to it so you can attach balls which represented bacteria and sugar onto the tooth after the tooth character drank the can of soda. Make a giant toothbrush that the students can use to brush off all of the bacteria. For this event, you can order supplies from Crest or Colgate. You may even be able to get them donated from the companies. Contact a local elementary school to see if they would like to have an event like this. 2. Raise money for a noteworthy organization. Pick a key location on campus and spend a few afternoons asking students for donations or try selling baked goods or t-shirts. If you fundraise for an organization like Operation Smile or Smile Train, you can then put the money toward funding cleft palate surgeries. 3. Invite ASDA representatives from different dental schools to come and speak to your members about their school and the application process. You can also have seniors who have already been through the application process run a question and answer panel for the younger members. 4. Organize a shadowing schedule so your members can gain exposure to dentistry by shadowing local dentists. Dentists are often happy to have students come in and observe. Create a list of local dentists from all specialties that are willing to host students and for how many hours. (Some will look for one day and others will be open for once a week for a few weeks). Also, draft a sample letter and contact info form for your club and drop off at local dental offices asking them to mentor a student. Your initial contact can be in person or over the phone, but the dentist may need something to remind them about the program. See Shadowing: Confidentiality and Guidelines page 29 and download the Shadowing Guide and Log.

Fundraising

The process of receiving and allocating money for an event can be an arduous process. Therefore, it is best to start planning your use of funds at least 2-3 months prior to an event. For more tips and ideas for fundraisers, download ASDA’s Fundraising How-to Guide.

Purpose of Fundraising There are several reasons why you should be raising money for you organization. First, you need to cover the operational costs of your predental organization. Every school allocates different amounts of funding to their student groups, but this often needs to be supplemented by your own fundraising. Second, you should raise money to donate to your organization’s designated charities. As members of the predental community, it is important to start contributing to important causes in the dental community. Finally, large-scale fundraising events are also a great form of publicity and a great way to raise awareness about current dental issues.

Use of Funds Many predental clubs choose one particular charity to partner with. The partnership often includes both advocacy and fundraising. Fundraising events can often serve the dual purpose of exposing the students on your campus to prominent dental issues while raising money. Another approach would be to choose a different organization to support each semester, which will spread funding and exposure to many different causes. Either way, fundraising for a charitable organization should be an integral aspect of your predental organization.

Examples of noteworthy dental organizations include: Give Kids a Smile; Operation Smile; Smile Train; Global Medical and Dental Brigades; Mission of Mercy (this varies by state); Team Smile; Oral Cancer Foundation; and Donated Dental Services.

Although many schools provide funds for the operations of student-run organizations, fundraising may be necessary to for your club to hold events and manage operations. It is crucial for your organization to maintain a careful budget. In the Appendix at the end of this guide, you can see a sample internal expenses worksheet and funding request form as an example of how to request funding for certain events from your school.

Important Forms

This collection of sample forms can be used to jump start a newly formed predental organization. Each of them serves basic, but important purposes, for organizing the different functions and operations of the club. Not all forms may be necessary for your organization. Check with your school for the list of required documents.

Constitution This document delineates the typical responsibilities of a collegiate organization, including predental societies wishing to be founded or developed. The constitution must also list a specific agreed-upon set of missions and objectives for the organization.

Meeting Minutes This document can serve as a guide both to how meeting minutes should be taken and the flow of a typical club meeting. You should add or remove sections specific to your club.

Budget Proposal Form This form is used to outline the projected costs of all planned events taking place in an upcoming semester. The form is submitted to the university’s association for student organizations at the beginning of the semester to gain approval for allotted funds for planned events.

Event Proposal Form In addition to the budget proposal form submitted at the beginning of the semester, the event proposal form is submitted for each planned event to provide greater detail surrounding the objectives and required budgets.

Internal Expenses Worksheet This form can be used internally by predental clubs to track expenses and allotted budgets, both at the overall and more detailed level. Budgets can be organized by the event as well.

Shadowing Form This is given to all predental students who have arranged shadowing and work opportunities with dentist supervisors. It reiterates the necessity of discretion of privacy and confidentiality, as well as provides general shadowing etiquette and guidelines. Download the Shadowing Guide and Log for information on arranging and preparing for shadow opportunities and a log to track your time.

See Appendix for examples of each of these forms.