ISTEP - Chapters and Leadership

ISTEP chapter membership is open to students in grades 7-12. It can be a combination of both middle school and high school students or you can have separate chapters. Having chapters in both high school and middle school is encouraged. If you have both, make sure to set up activities to do together. High school members can take the lead by educating middle school members about the latest tobacco prevention news or the middle school members can help with an upcoming high school chapter street marketing activity. It’s totally up to your chapter, but when we partner with others, we can get some pretty amazing results. 

ISTEP chapters are commonly formed in a school setting but chapters can be made up of members from a church, scout troop, or any other community setting where 7-12 grade students meet. It is encouraged to establish your chapter at the beginning of the school year, preferably by November. This gives you three months to start your chapter and six months to change the tobacco prevention world through street marketing events and activities among your local community.

Once your chapter has been established, it will be up to your chapter to decide how you’d like your chapter structured. If chapters decide they’d like to be more structured, it’s common to elect a President, Vice President and Secretary. Establishing chapter requirements and rules, keeping meeting minutes and an attendance log is recommended to have a successful, active chapter. 

How much time does an ISTEP Chapter require?

ISTEP never has a dull moment and there is always something you can do. There are four major street marketing events planned by the ISTEP Executive Council each year which your chapter has the option to participate in or your chapter may choose to put on events unique to your community. It’s up to your chapter how often you would like to meet, but it’s recommended to meet once a month or every other month to stay up-to-date on upcoming activities, newest tobacco prevention ideas, chapter event planning, etc.

At the beginning of the school year, it’s recommended your chapter members decide how many activities they’d like to implement during the year. Commonly, there are three meetings per one event. For example:

1. Planning Meeting – determine details of your event
2. Implementation of Event – put on your event
3. Follow-up Meeting – discuss how the event went, what you could do differently in the future, then determine the date of your next meeting to plan your next event

An ISTEP chapter advisor can be any trusted adult who works with a youth organization in the community (school teacher, 4-H, FFA, church groups, scout troops, etc.). ISTEP takes a youth-led approach to leadership, allowing youth to take the initiative in planning and implementing activities. The role of the adult chapter advisor can include, but isn’t limited to: 

• Assisting with planning and implementing activities
• Ensuring chapter members follow through with their plans
• Gathering Youth Code of Conduct and Participation consent forms
• Communicating with the youth members’ parents and the Iowa HHS ISTEP Coordinator
• Helping youth members get to and from activities such as the annual ISTEP Summit 

An ISTEP chapter orientation meeting is extremely important to being a successful chapter and starting the year with clear expectations. Before you jump right in, there are few things to think about:

• Establish goals for the year – how many street marketing events do you want to have? Will you participate in the statewide events planned by the Executive Council?
• Determine chapter structure - Will you elect a President, Vice President and Secretary? Will you establish set rules to follow during meetings and attendance requirements? Who will take minutes and attendance?
• Develop a plan of action – When will you hold meetings - every second Thursday of the month after school? When and where will you carry out your planned events for the year - home football game on October 24?