Officers and chairs

Builders Clubs provide students with opportunities to serve in leadership roles. Each club is led by a student board of elected officers: president, vice president, secretary and treasurer. Some clubs also have a sergeant-at-arms, co-president or additional officer position that the club determines. Many clubs also have committees led by committee chairs.

President

• Leads most club meetings.
• Leads the club in planning and completing service projects, assisted by officers and chairs.
• Sets and monitors club goals with officers and advisor.
• Delegates tasks to officers and chairs with advisor.
• Appoints committee chairs with officers and advisor.

Vice president

• Learns and helps with duties of the president, fills in as needed.
• Gets to know each member and helps enrich their club experience.
• Recruits and welcomes new members.
• Welcomes guests.
• Assists the club in planning and completing service projects.
• Appoints committee chairs with officers and advisor.

Secretary

• Takes notes (minutes) and attendance at meetings.
• Maintains important files (meeting notes, attendance, etc.) for the club.
• Collects and stores committee chair reports.
• Organizes and monitors the club calendar and service project timelines
• Assists the club in planning and completing service projects.
• Appoints committee chairs with officers and advisor.

Treasurer

• Leads preparation of the club budget with the advisor and monitors it.
• Makes sure club’s money is received by the advisor and secure.
• Reports the status of the club budget to the board.
• Reports the status of the club budget to the sponsoring Kiwanis club, when needed.
• Assists the club in planning and completing service projects.
• Appoints committee chairs with officers and advisor.

Sergeant-at-arms

• Maintains order at meetings and makes sure everyone has a chance to talk.
• Serves as the club’s expert on parliamentary procedure.

Committee chair

• Runs committee meetings.
• Assigns tasks to members and keeps track of their progress toward completing the tasks and achieving committee goals.
• Gets to know and serve committee members.
• Appoints task leaders (such as a photographer, reporter or artist) based on members’ skills and interests.

Electing club officers
Officers are elected either at the end of the year prior to when they will serve or at the beginning of the club’s service year. Each club determines an election process that works best for it. Here are suggestions for how to handle elections:

At a meeting prior to holding elections.

• Define the officers’ roles and responsibilities and what strengths a student will need to excel in each role.
• Ask whether any students are interested in running for an officer position or would like to nominate a peer.
• Encourage each student running to prepare a statement to present at one of the next meetings about why he or she would be the right choice for the officer role.

At the meeting when the election is held:

• Review each officer’s role again with the entire club.
• Have candidates speak to the club about why they want to be an officer.
• Have students write their votes on pieces of paper for each position.
• Tally the votes and announce the incoming officers with the most votes.

Appointing committee chairs
Committee chairs are often appointed by club officers with the help of the advisor at the beginning of the club’s service year and/or as committees are needed and formed throughout the year. Appoint chairs that are interested in the topics and tasks of the committee.

Prior to a club meeting:

• Determine the committees the club will form.

• Create a basic description of what the committee will do. Refer to the Builders Club Member and Officer Toolkit, page 34, for a list of common committees.

At a club meeting:

• Share the list of committees, and descriptions of each.
• Invite members to apply for chair positions if they have time, want to lead and are interested in the committee’s focus.
• Let members know that each student interested in leading a committee should write and submit a short statement about which committee interests them and why they want to be its chair.

At an officers’ meeting:

• Review the collected statements of interest from members.
• With the advisor’s help, determine which student seems best matched to lead each committee, based on their statement and the skills they have shown during meetings.
• Let members know about students appointed as chairpersons for each committee.

Review the Builders Club Advisor Toolkit for information about training officers, officer installation ceremonies and suggestions about creating committees.