ADVISOR ACADEMY
Developing Student Leaders. Building Stronger Organizations.
A professional learning experience for student organization advisors across Ohio
What is the Advisor Academy hosted by OASL?
The OASL Advisor Academy is a professional learning experience designed for educators who advise student councils, leadership organizations, clubs, and other student groups.
The Academy is designed for both new advisors who are looking for a foundation and experienced advisors who want to rethink, refresh, and strengthen their practice.
At the center of the Academy is one question:
“How do we move from being the adult who runs the organization to the adult who develops student leaders who can run it?”
The goal is not simply to give advisors more activities or another list of things to do. Instead, OASL wants to help advisors develop the skills, systems, and mindset that allow students to take greater ownership of their organization.
Who Is This For?
New Advisors
Looking for a foundation, practical tools, and a roadmap for your first year advising a student organization?
Experienced Advisors
Want to rethink how you advise, reduce the amount of work that falls on you, strengthen student ownership, or bring new energy to an established organization?
All Student Organizations
The Academy is built around the idea that every advisor, regardless of experience, can continue developing their practice.
Location: The ESC of Central Ohio - 2080 Citygate Dr, Columbus, OH 43219
Cost: $115 which includes light breakfast, lunch, materials, snacks, networking, programming plus opportunity to pay for Ashland Graduate Credit.
Register at: oasl-oh.org/events
DATE: November 9th, 2026 - 8:30am-2pm (Program starts at 9am)
Member Cost: $115
Option to purchase Ashland Graduate Credit by joining cohort.
What Advisors Will Explore
1. The Advisor’s Role & Student Development
From Event Manager to Leadership Coach
Explore developmental differences between middle and high school students, the advisor’s role as a mentor and coach, and how to gradually transfer responsibility from the adult to students.
Ownership Transfer Model: Model → Do Together → Coach → Student Lead
2. Building Belonging & Inclusive Club Culture
Make Your Organization a Place Students Want to Be
Explore ways to build belonging, create inclusive club cultures, strengthen student connections, build student agency and make meetings places where students want to participate.
Practice redesigning common meeting openers and identify simple culture routines to use throughout the year.
3. Running High Impact Club Meetings
No Dead Meetings
Explore meeting structure, pacing, delegation, student leadership, project planning, and ways to create meetings that are active, meaningful, and student driven.
Use the OASL Student Organizational Playbook to build practical meeting and planning strategies.
4. Goal Setting & Student Ownership/ Accountability
Stop Assigning. Start Developing.
Explore goal setting, accountability, delegation, student roles, weekly check ins, leadership development, and connecting student leadership experiences to real world skills and pathways. We want students to build agency in their organization.
Design student leadership development, accountability structures and ownership/cadence
5. Problem Solving Clinic
Bring Your Real Problem
Bring an actual challenge from your organization and work with other advisors to think through possible solutions.
Challenges may include student engagement, conflict, difficult student situations, diverse learners, communication, advisor burnout, working with administration, or student ownership.
More Than a One Day Workshop
The October Academy is the beginning of a yearlong professional learning experience.
November | Academy Launch | In Person
Develop a personal growth goal and identify strategies to try with students.
December | Advisor Huddle | Virtual
What’s actually working? Reflect on what advisors have tried, what students have taken ownership of, and where they are still getting stuck.
January | Midyear Reset | Virtual
Reset. Refocus. Rebuild. Examine goals, roles, meetings, delegation, student engagement, and advisor workload.
March/April | Impact Lab | Virtual
From Activity to Impact. Examine student voice, leadership growth, problem solving, and evidence of impact.
May | Final Reflection | Professional Reflection
Reflect on how advising practice has changed, what has been learned about student leadership, and what to carry into the following school year.
What Makes OASL Different?
OASL has spent more than 70 years working with student leaders and the educators who support them. The Academy brings that experience into professional learning for advisors.
Student ownership
Practical strategies
Belonging and relationships
Experiential learning
Problem solving
Leadership development
Reflection and transfer
Building organizations that can thrive beyond one advisor
Participants will leave with both ideas to try tomorrow and a framework for thinking differently about their role as an advisor.
A Resource Advisors Can Keep Using
A major component of the Academy will be the OASL Student Organizational Playbook. The Playbook is designed to serve as a yearlong leadership spine for student organizations.
10 month leadership development sequence
Ready to run activities
Student ownership strategies
Meeting tools
Goal setting and planning tools
Problem solving activities
Belonging and culture activities
Service and community engagement ideas
Council operations resources
Reflection and impact tools
Student transition and succession resources
Potential Ashland University Partnership
OASL is exploring the possibility of offering graduate professional learning credit through Ashland University as part of the Advisor Academy experience.
The proposed model would connect the October in person Academy with the virtual cohort experiences and a final reflection focused on advising practice and student growth.
OASL would welcome the opportunity to work with Ashland to determine the appropriate requirements, documentation, assignments, and structure for graduate credit.
Who Is This For?
New Advisors
Looking for a foundation, practical tools, and a roadmap for your first year advising a student organization?
Experienced Advisors
Want to rethink how you advise, reduce the amount of work that falls on you, strengthen student ownership, or bring new energy to an established organization?
All Student Organizations
The Academy is built around the idea that every advisor, regardless of experience, can continue developing their practice.
Advisor Academy
Developing Student Leaders. Building Stronger Organizations.
Presented by the Ohio Association of Student Leaders
More information contact: Anthony.paletta@oasl-oh.org,
440-382-6922