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Local cities ready for NASC conference
By Jeff Kearns
With less than two months before the biggest student-council meeting in the country hits town, organizers and volunteers at Monta Vista High School say all the pieces are in place, except for one: where to put all of the 1,500 students arriving from all 50 states.
Donations to finance the $750,000 event have been rolling in steadily, and are expected to meet the goal by the time the week-long National Association of Student Councils conference kicks off on June 24.
"We have about 350 host families signed up, but we still need another 80 families to sign up to house students," said Carol Drocco, one of the housing coordinators for the conference. Each host family takes in three or more students. About 500 adults, mostly teachers and advisors, will also be attending the conference.
Drocco said the commitment needed from host families is minimal by design. Host families don't need to provide rooms and beds for every guest; rather, space on the floor for sleeping bags should suffice. And hosts only need to pick up the students on their first night in town (a Saturday) and feed them dinner.
"After Saturday, the hosts don't really need to do anything," Drocco said. "Buses will pick up the kids at 7:30 a.m. and bring them back at around 10:30 p.m."
One bonus for hosts is that there will be neighborhood block parties put on for conference participants at 15 to 20 locations around the city. Hosts, donors and volunteers will also be invited to a city-sponsored barbecue at Blackberry Farm two days before the conference kicks off. More than 200 Monta Vista students have also volunteered to work at the conference.
Organizers say they originally wanted host families who live in the Monta Vista area, but as the start date looms closer and closer, families elsewhere in the city are also being accepted.
The conference will take place at Monta Vista High School on McClellan Road, and at Lincoln School, an elementary school next door. Students will also attend events at the Flint Center at De Anza College, less than a half-mile away. To get there, students will walk from the conference while Sheriff's deputies block off the streets on their route.
During the conference, students will attend workshops on community service and participate in discussions on state, national and international issues.
"This really is an inspirational conference," Monta Vista senior and conference organizer Mike Kalisvaart said. "I've been to a lot of these things, and at a lot of them we talk about planning dances and what to do for homecoming. With the national conference, it's really focused on inspiration and getting the other students at their schools involved in leadership and student council."
Harry Bettencourt, director of student and community services at Fremont Union High School District and one of the main organizers of the event, said he and Drocco started planning for this convention for five years. Organizers say registration fees and funding from the Washington, DC-based NASC organization should cover about $450,000 of the total tab.
Bettencourt said financial support is falling into place as the conference nears. "We're in a really good position financially," he said. "That's not to say we couldn't use more donations, but we've been doing okay financially."
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
