Torch Awards Roles

A student is responsible for building his/her Torch résumé through the Torch Awards Online System. Each member should read through the activity list in this handbook, plan activities, carry them out, and log into the Torch Awards Online System to add the activities to the résumé themselves. Students should then respond accordingly to their advisor’s/reviewer’s comments on their activities and ensure that the advisor/local reviewer submits the résumé through the online system by the appropriate deadline.

Students must get their Member IDs and passwords from their advisor. If forgotten, students/advisors may request the username and/or password online at https://www.registermychapter.com/bpamem/ForgotPW.asp.

Each activity added in the online system has one of the seven Torch categories and an activity attached to it. The student must also list the date of the activity and must write a description of the activity to add it to the résumé. Activity descriptions must be a complete sentence.

Rules for Résumés and Résumé Activities

Activity descriptions do not need to begin with an action verb. This is a change to the resume rule.

1. A Torch Award Résumé covers entire span of a BPA member’s membership through all divisions (Middle Level, Secondary or Post-secondary). Therefore, a student can have activities from multiple years, but only as long as the activities occurred while the student was a member of that BPA division.  Points cannot be counted from before the student was a member, and points cannot be carried over from one division to the next.
2. Students can keep adding to their résumé from year to year within a division until they earn an Ambassador Award. Once an Ambassador Award is earned, all subsequent activities begin a new Torch résumé. (Advisors can import activities for students from the previous year by using the import functions in the Membership Registration System.)
3. Students may earn only one Ambassador Award per year, but can earn multiple Ambassador Awards over the course of a multi-year BPA membership. Activities from one Ambassador résumé cannot be counted towards the next résumé.
4. Each completed activity or project during a school year may be claimed only once; major projects may be broken into smaller segments.
5. Points cannot be documented until the activity has been completed.
6. Each activity has a limit on the number of times it can be used on one résumé. This number is listed at the end of each activity explanation in the list of activities in this handbook. The Torch Award Online System will not allow additional instances of that activity.
7. Each activity description must list the date and a complete description of the activity to add it to the resume.
8. Each activity description must be a complete sentence.
9. Activity description spelling and grammar must be correct.

The local advisor is the supervisor and administrator of his/her student's Torch Award quest. The advisor is involved through the beginning, middle and end of a student's journey through the Torch Awards program, providing access to the online system, walking students through the process, and submitting completed resumes for award consideration.

Delegating Torch Award Responsibilities to a Student

An advisor may choose to delegate his/her Torch Award duties to a responsible student, such as a chapter President or Vice President. This student then shares responsibility with his/her advisor to fill the role of supervisor and administrator of chapter member's participation in the program.

The steps to appoint a student as a local Torch Award Reviewer are as follows:

1. Log into the Membership Registration System at https://www.bpa.org/membership/regsystem
2. If you are still adding students to your chapter, make sure the checkbox Torch Award Reviewer is checked for that student when you add him/her.
3. If the student you want to delegate duties to is already in the system, find your list of members in the Membership Registration System. Click “edit” for that student, check the “Torch Award Reviewer” checkbox, then click the “Save” button.

Advisor/Chapter Reviewer Responsibilities

Whether it is an advisor or student administering the program for the chapter, that person has the following responsibilities:

1. Provide students with their Member IDs and Torch password. Member IDs are listed in the Torch Award Online System (and in the Membership Registration System) for advisors and local reviewers when they log in. Passwords are set by Local Advisors when they register students at the beginning of the year and can be changed by the local advisor by logging back into the membership system at https://www.registermychapter.com/bpamem/.
2. Help students plan for their Torch resume and help familiarize them with the Torch Awards Online System.
3. Give feedback throughout the year on how the students' activities look.
4. Officially submit the complete résumés using the online system. Résumés are submitted for each award separately. Résumés must be submitted by April 1, 2017 to be considered for the Ambassador Award.
5. Award students who have earned the Executive Award with a pin and certificate (both can be purchased from the shop area https://costore.com/bpamall/welcome.asp.) NOTE: There is no longer approval/rejection for each activity in the system. Instead, a local advisor/ reviewer should communicate with students regarding their expectations for all activities. Local advisors/reviewers control the process by controlling the submission of résumés at every level.

State Advisors are responsible for reviewing submitted Statesman and/or Diplomat résumés using the Torch Awards Online System. State advisors are the administrators of the Diplomat and/or Statesman Awards. Statesman Awards must be given at the state level. State advisors decide how and when to give the Diplomat Award. They can leave it up to the local advisor, assign regional helpers to give it at regions, or take care of it at the state level.

Delegating Diplomat/Statesman Responsibilities to a Helper

State Advisors have the option of delegating Torch Award duties to State Advisor Helpers. To create Torch Award accounts for these helpers, State Advisors should follow the following steps:

1. Log into the State Advisor Administrative section of the Membership Registration System at https://www.registermychapter.com/bpamem/State.asp. Log in, Membership/State Advisor Helper.
2. To give the helper authority over all of the state's Torch Awards, leave the region field blank.
3. To limit the helper's authority to a particular region for the purpose of regional Diplomat awards, enter the region into the region field.
4. Save changes.

State Advisor/Helper Responsibilities

The State Advisor must delegate all of the following responsibilities between him/herself or State Advisor Helpers:

1. Set a deadline for Diplomat and Statesman resume submissions and disseminate this information to local advisors and students.
2. Use the online system to evaluate submitted resumes, approving satisfactory resumes and rejecting unsatisfactory resumes. Ideally, this is done throughout the year as resumes come in so that students can improve unsatisfactory resumes and advisors can resubmit the improved resumes for re-evaluation.
3. Recognize students who have earned Diplomat/Statesman Awards with a pin and certificateat the appropriate conference. Pins and certificates can be purchased from the BPA Mall.