Student Engagement

Student Engagement is an important part of IMSA’s community. In Student Affairs, we believe every student should have the opportunity to foster relationships with their peers and staff outside of the classroom environment. In our work, we encourage development through co-curricular and extracurricular experiences. By becoming involved, students become empowered to maximize their leadership potential through these intentional learning experiences.

Titan Involvement Awards

The purpose of the Titan Involvement Awards is to recognize the outstanding leadership and achievements of IMSA’s student athletics, organizations, students, advisors, and coaches. The awards ceremony is hosted by the Student Affairs Office and Student Council.

Nominations- links for awards will go live in March 2023

Group Nominations may be submitted by either the Club Executive Board or Advisor.
Individual Student Awards may be submitted by their advisor or coach.
Individual Advisor Awards may be submitted by members of the Executive Board.

Individual Awards

• Rising Star: This award is for a first-year member, not necessarily a sophomore, who has made great contributions to the organization.
• Most Distinguished Executive Board Member: This prestigious award is designed to recognize an outstanding member within your organization for all of their
  individual hard work. This award will be presented to a student that, through their achievements, has made a valuable contribution and lasting impact on the IMSA campus and/or the surrounding community.
• Spirit of Service: This award honors a student who has participated in community service with vigor, devotion, and an unshakable positive attitude. This student serves with an inspirational and infectious optimism and leads the way for others through their actions and involvement.
• Commitment to Justice: This award will be presented to a student who has demonstrated a commitment to justice and/or has been an activist, trying to create positive change for the campus, the IMSA community, and/or the world. The individual should have strong leadership, passion, and dedication to a particular issue or collection of issues.
• Outstanding Advisor: Any advisor/sponsor to a student organization may receive this award. TWO awards will be given: one for general club advisors and the second for advisors to a co-curricular organization. The advisor must have a strong educational role within the group and have helped students learn through their involvement. The nominee should demonstrate dedication, availability, and energy in their involvement with their students. They should be valued and respected by those students with whom they work and have a strong understanding of the organization’s needs and goals

Group Awards 

• Best Event or Program: This award will recognize THREE organizations, one for each category below.
  • Student Development: This is an award for clubs that serve the enrichment needs of students through speakers, workshops, retreats, conferences, and other acts to continually educate the IMSA community.
  • Innovative: This award recognizes clubs or organizations that have shown tremendous creativity and originality in “thinking outside the box” while in a virtual format. This could include programming, membership recruitment, or creative marketing.
  • Educational: This award goes to the best and most effective educational program put on by a club or organization.
• Rookie Club of the Year: This award recognizes a club or organization that has put forth the effort to enhance the IMSA community and has maintained strong and consistent operations. Only student organizations that were chartered during this academic year are eligible for this award.
• Best Multiple Organization Collaboration: This award goes to a group of organizations (two or more) that have successfully worked together to sponsor or host an event or program that has benefited the IMSA community.
• Philanthropic or Community Engagement Award: This award recognizes a club that has contributed time, support, or money on a local or national level to better the IMSA community and beyond. This can be through fundraisers, events, campaigns, and more!
• Outstanding Organization: These awards recognize SIX organizations who have exemplified outstanding achievements and organizational development among their peer organizations. Groups are eligible to apply for only ONE category below.
  • Academic
  • Multicultural or Identity
  • STEM
  • Service
  • Political/Activism
  • Special Interest

A team made up of 5-7 IMSA staff members will review the nomination applications during one week in April. This team will potentially consist of members from Student Affairs, Public Affairs, and any other volunteer staff member who is not affiliated with the nominee’s organizations.

Competitions

• North American Computational Linguistic Olympiad: (NACLO) is a contest in which high-school students solve linguistic puzzles. You can visit http://nacloweb.org/  to get more information about the competition and register at https://www.nacloweb.org/register_student.php. Put your IMSA email when you register. Once you register, you will get more information from them. 
• USA Championship:  Information on the Chicago chapter at Lake Forest College with advisor Shubhik K. DebBurman can be found at www.chicagosfn.org.

Conferences

• TBD for the 2022-2023 school year.

Scholarships

• PAST: The United States Senate Youth Program (USSYP) Washington Week ONLINE will be held in a fully virtual format for the 2021 program year. Each year, this extremely competitive merit-based program brings two high school juniors and seniors from every state, the District of Columbia, and the Department of Defense Education Activity, to Washington, D.C. for an intensive week-long study of the federal government and its leaders.  Each student will also receive a $10,000 undergraduate college scholarship, with encouragement to continue coursework in history, government, and public affairs. Delegates must be juniors or seniors and elected or appointed student officers for the 2019-2020 or the 2020-2021 academic year. Due to COVID-19, students who are unable to serve in qualifying leadership positions for the 2020-2021 academic year may use positions held in the previous year, as verified by the state selection administrator, and they must reside in the state where they attend school. A description of the program, rules, an explanation of the selection process, and an application form are located at https://www.isbe.net/Pages/United-States-Senate-Youth-Program-Hearst-Scholarship.aspx. Student applications are due November 13, 2020, by 4:00 pm. Questions or inquiries may be sent to ussyp@isbe.net.