REQUIREMENTS
In order for an applicant/former participant ("applicant") to be eligible to serve as a coach, they must recruit freshmen students and fundraise from local businesses and/or organizations according to the following specifications:
Sophomore Applicants – 2 Recruits* and $250 USD
Junior Applicants – 1 Recruit* and $200 USD
Senior Applicants – $150 USD
(*) = Please see the "Recruitment" section below for what counts as a "recruit."
Applicants are also required to attend all Coaches Training sessions. The dates for these sessions will be announced at a later time, but we anticipate that they will take place sometime near the middle of January.
DEADLINES
December 15, 2023
– All sophomore applicants must have at least one recruit.
January 15, 2024
– All sophomore applicants must have at least two recruits.
– All junior applicants must have at least one recruit.
March 1, 2023
– All fundraising is due (more information about how the funds will be collected will be communicated at a later date). Please note that checks are strongly preferred and should be made out to "The National Hispanic Institute."
If an applicant fails to meet any one of the deadlines listed above, they will be removed from the applicant pool and indefinitely rendered ineligible to coach. Exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis in light of extenuating circumstances.
HEAD COACH APPLICANTS
All those interested in serving as the Head Coach of the region are asked to contact any of the Assistant Project Administrators as soon as possible — at the latest by December 1, 2023 — to agree on a mutually convenient time for an interview.
HEAD OF CATEGORY APPLICANTS
In order to evaluate applicants' understandings of the mission and pedagogy of NHI, applicants are asked to create the curriculum for the first three three-hour meetings of their category and formulate it into an agenda. Each activity/exercise in the agenda should serve a function that is connected to the holistic objective of the meeting — please be sure to clearly state these two objectives as part of the your agendas. As for the format, items may be adumbrated or thoroughly explained. All that is required is that the duration of each activity/exercise be indicated and that an explanation of each activity/exercise be included. Agendas must be submitted to tipoftexas@nhimail.com by December 15, 2023 at 11:59PM in order to be considered.
RECRUITMENT
In order to be counted toward this requirement, recruited students must have: (1) submitted an application to participate in the Texas Great Debate with NHI at Tip of Texas, (2) paid the application fee, and (3) paid the entirety of their tuition or at least have a payment plan set-up with NHI by the regional deadline (regional deadline TBD).
If a recruit meets all three of these criteria but for whatever reason they are subsequently unable to participate, their recruiter will not be penalized. Provided that all other requirements have been satisfied, they will remain eligible to coach.
In order to meet a recruitment deadline, coach applicants' recruit(s) need only uphold the first two criteria. However, it is important to underscore the fact that meeting each one of the recruitment deadlines does not necessarily mean that a coach applicant has fulfilled the recruitment requirement. If, for instance, a coach applicant meets all recruitment deadlines but the student(s) they recruited do not uphold the third criterion, that coach applicant will not be eligible to coach.
Recruited students frequently forget to list their recruiter on their application. In order to ensure that all coach applicants' recruits are accounted for, we strongly encourage coach applicants to declare their recruits using the Recruit Identification form.
FUNDRAISING
All amounts fundraised are used to cover local expenses, such as transportation, training materials, facility fees, and event costs and are also used to assist dedicated and promising students for whom participation in an NHI program poses a substantial financial burden.
Fundraising represents an investment on the part of each applicant––as they procure these funds on behalf of and for the benefit of the region––and on the part of the community at large, as it is local businesses and organizations that provide the funds. Applicants are strongly discouraged from using personal or family funds in order to fulfill this requirement.
ATTENDANCE POLICY
All members are expected to uphold high standards of timeliness and punctuality. It is our belief that individuals who do not respect others’ time cannot be effective leaders—and at NHI at Tip of Texas, we insist on working only with those who we believe are such leaders.
Accordingly, the following policies are in effect:
At every function that members of the staff are asked to attend (Coaches Training sessions, the Induction Ceremony, weekly meetings, etc.), each coach is assigned one of four statuses: Absent A (unexcused absence), Absent B (excused absence), Late, and Present.
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An "excused" absence is one that is reported in the Notification of Absence form and demonstrates that the reason for the absence meets at least one of the following criteria: (1) it is both unavoidable and necessary, (2) it is medical in nature, (3) it is a serious prior commitment, or (4) it is a personal or family emergency. If criterion four is the case, no explanation is necessary.
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A coach is "late" if they arrive more than five minutes after the scheduled start time.
In order to determine which coaches will be selected to travel with the team and serve as a JFL at the Texas Great Debate, an attendance-based ranking system will be used. In this system, each coach begins the season with 15 points. An unexcused absence (Absent A) results in a five-point deduction, an excused absence (Absent B) results in a three-point deduction, and a late arrival results in a two-point deduction. After the last official meeting, coaches will be ranked by the number of points they have preserved. Based on those rankings, two coaches from each partner category and one coach from each single-competitor category will be selected to travel with the team.
Any coach whose deductions are such that their point-total is less than or equal to zero will immediately be removed from the coaching roster for the remainder of the season; said individual may contribute to the team during the final practice week, but will not be welcome at our "regular" weekly meetings.