Hey Victoria,

It can definitely be tough to get freshmen involved, and your idea about using a freshman representative system is a great one. We haven't really discussed that for our chapter, but it's something we might consider. I have experience with another club at our school that has a freshman rep system in place, and it seems to work really well.

Here are some details about how that works: the Canine Club makes a presentation at the beginning of the year to introduce themselves and announces that there will be an opportunity for five freshmen to become representatives of their class. There is an open sign-up period and then, if necessary, an election is held. Once selected, each one of the five freshman reps is assigned a member to work with (ex. one with secretary, one with treasurer, etc.). They get to start planning at the board meetings and help out at all the big events. It gives them a peek of what it would be like to be on the board and has basically turned into a feeder system for the Canine Club officers for the following year. Not only does it get the freshmen involved, but it basically trains them for positions in the next year.

Shana L. Eisenstadt
UGA CVM c/o 2012
President, SCAVMA
Vice President, VBMA
Secretary, Canine Club