Happy New Year!

This is the first Tuesday Tipster for the new year. During the months of January through March, the Tuesday Tipsters will be separate for both the Secondary and Postsecondary Divisions.

UPCOMING DEADLINES
The following items must be postmarked on or before Wednesday, January 18, 2012:
Most of these forms are located in the Michigan Guidelines Supplement OR can be downloaded from the documents page of our Web site
1. Barbara Chambers Outstanding Advisor Award Nomination Deadline

2. Chapter of the Year Award Application

3. Michigan BPA Scholarship Application

4. State Executive Council Candidate Application

5. State Service Project Award Application (located in the Michigan Guidelines Supplement)

6. Statesman Torch Award (see info. below)

OTHER UPCOMING DEADLINES
January 23: National Anthem Singer contest (See below)

UPCOMING EVENTS
January 6, 2012: RLC - Regions 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 9
January 7, 2012: RLC - Region 8
January 10, 2012: RLC - Region 10
January 13, 2012: RLC - Region 4
January 14, 2012: RLC - Region 3

SLC PLANNING UPDATES
This is the first Tuesday Tipster that will contain some SLC information. Future updates will become longer. In addition, future SLC weekly updates should be read and printed for easy reference.

If you ever discover that you and/or your entire chapter are **NOT** attending the SLC, please let me know right away.

Also, please pay close attention to the competitive event information mentioned in this and future weekly updates. Any information posted in these updates supersedes what is published in the WSAP Guidelines Handbook 2012.

STATE OFFICE COMMUNICATION
As you know, we receive 10 times more e-mail during the SLC planning time. Please be patient as we respond to the many e-mail and telephone messages that we receive at this time of the year.

MEMBERSHIP VERIFICATION & DUES PAYMENTS
Schools with any outstanding balances for state membership dues, national membership dues, or regional registration will not be allowed to compete at the SLC. If your school fits this category, you will be notified via e-mail on a weekly basis. Please continue to handle these matters expeditiously.

STATE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL CANDIDATES
There are numerous students out there with exceptional leadership abilities. Serving as a state officer is a wonderful opportunity for students to improve their leadership skills and to grow socially and professionally. We receive many testimonies from past state officers in terms of how it changed their lives so early on.

We have had an increasingly low number of candidates at the past few state conferences. Do you have a student you can encourage to run for office? If you have a student who you feel is an outstanding leader, encourage him/her to run for state office. If he/she is interested, a candidate application/handbook can be downloaded from www.michiganbpa.org/documents. The application deadline is January 18.

CHAPTER SCHOLARSHIP/STATE SERVICE PROJECT
The chapter scholarship application for participation in the state service project is March 1, 2012. Please view www.michiganbpa.org/chapter-scholarship-opportunity for more details.

SLC REGISTRATION BOOKLET & FORMS
All of the SLC information including the SLC Registration Booklet and related forms will be available on the documents page of our Web site by the end of this week. The documents will be placed there temporarily until our SLC Web site is available.

The entire SLC Registration booklet must be reviewed by all chapter advisors. Do **NOT** just download the forms and fill them in. READ THE ENTIRE BOOK!!!

BPA SCHEDULER REGISTRATION IS NOT OPEN YET
The BPA Scheduler Web site is not open at the present time. Once it is available, advisors will be notified via a special e-mail alert.

JUDGES REFERRALS

Since it’s early in our planning process, we still need more judges. If you have recommendations of any judges, please direct them to our Web site to download a BPA Judge Volunteer Packet and sign-up online at www.michiganbpa.org/slc-judges.

NATIONAL ANTHEM SINGER AT SLC
The Michigan Association is continuing its tradition of having a contest for students who are interested in singing the National Anthem at the opening session of the state leadership conference. Any student who qualifies to attend the SLC as a regional event winner or statesman award recipient is eligible to submit an entry for this contest. Students must submit their performance singing the national anthem on audiocassette or CD, a current photograph, and short bio to the state office. Please note that these items will not be returned. The performance at the SLC will be a cappella; therefore, it’s best that the audition performance be submitted in that manner. All entries must be postmarked by January 24. Send entries to: Business Professionals of America, Eastern Michigan University, 208 King Hall, Ypsilanti, MI 48197.

TORCH AWARDS SUBMISSION
Everything for the torch awards program is done online. Do **NOT** mail any torch awards information to the state office.

More information about the torch awards program can be found online at www.michiganbpa.org/torch.

CONCLUSION
Thanks for your attention to all these matters. Please share this information with all your co- advisors.

Good luck as you prepare to attend the SLC!