Новошотландская студенческая ассоциация средних школ: развитие лидерских качеств молодежи.

The Nova Scotia Secondary School Students' Association (known commonly as the NSSSA or as "N Trip" to its members) is an organization in Nova Scotia, Canada run mainly by students in Grades 9 to 12, enrolled in a Nova Scotia secondary school. Its purpose is to foster growth of leadership skills among youth, primarily through the use of regional and province wide annual leadership conferences. Every student enrolled in a secondary school in Nova Scotia is permitted to attend these conferences

The NSSSA is run by a committee, who operate under the rules of a Constitution. There is an executive, consisting of an elected President who is typically either a student in either their last year of secondary school or their first year of post secondary, as well two elected Vice Presidents, internal and external. The executive has responsibility for the whole organization and is responsible for chairing the directing committee, known as Provincial Cabinet, and sitting on the planning committee, known as Conference Committee. The NSSSA is also divided into six regions, each of which has its own Regional Cabinet which combines the responsibilities of both the Provincial Cabinet and the Conference Committee on a much smaller scale.

The directing committee is known as Provincial Cabinet, known as PC, and consists of a President, Vice President External, Vice President Internal, Secretary, Treasurer, one Media Relations officer, two Conference Co Chairs, two Inclusion Conference Co Chairs, and twelve Co Premiers (two from each region). The non voting positions on the Provincial Cabinet include the Provincial Advisor, the Webmaster and Past President. The Provincial Cabinet is responsible for the overall direction of the organization, as well as forming its policies and dealing with external affairs. Its primary focus is to make sure the organization runs efficiently, and to be a reporting body for the Conference Committee.

The NSSSA holds at least eight conferences annually, one in each region, and one province wide conference on the third weekend of May, as well as an Inclusion Conference for special needs students. Additionally, most regions host a conference for students in grade 9. The Conference Committee, known as CC, is responsible for organizing and running the Provincial Conference each year. The same Conference Co Chairs who sit on Provincial Cabinet are also responsible for chairing and directing this committee, and are ultimately responsible for the proper running of Provincial Conference. The members of Conference Committee (besides the Co Chairs) include a Secretary, two or three "3 Tions" officers (responsible for registration and accommodation of students), two Skillbuilding co chairs (responsible for organizing the skillbuilders), three Public Relations officers, two W. E. N. D. Y. officers (responsible for organizing cheers and the talent show), two Welcoming co chairs (responsible for making the welcoming email, planning the welcoming activity and planning the opening night activity), two Heads of Logistics, two Head Chaperones, one Head of First Aid and one Head of Mental Health First Aid. The non voting positions on Conference Committee are the Committee Advisor. The Conference Committee reports to the Provincial Cabinet.

There are six regions within the NSSSA, corresponding roughly to the county divisions in Nova Scotia. Each of these regions holds its own conference every year for its member schools. These conferences are on a smaller scale than the Provincial Conference, so the duties of both province wide committees are combined for the regions into one single committee, known as the Regional Cabinet (or RC). Each region has its own Regional Cabinet, and positions are modeled on a cross section of the most important positions of Provincial Cabinet and Conference Committee. The Regional Cabinet is run by two Co Premiers. The chief duty of every Regional Cabinet is to hold a small scale Regional Conference modeled after Provincial Conference. Regional Conferences are also occasionally used as testing grounds for new ideas for Provincial Conference, as the Regional Conferences are always held before Provincial Conference every year. All positions on every committee are held for one year terms. This results in a high turnover rate, which has in the past led to inconsistencies in policy decisions. However, Lorne "Abe" Abramson, Provincial Advisor for currently 11 years has been able to keep the NSSSA relatively consistent overall, and few major changes have occurred in recent years to the organizational structure, apart from some renaming of positions. Most positions on all committees are filled via appointment. However, there are elections for some positions at an Annual General Meeting, held during the Provincial Conference. The elected positions include the President, Vice President, and all Co Premiers. One of the first decisions made upon election of the President and Vice President (although after the Provincial Conference) is the choosing of the Conference Co Chairs for the following year. The President and Vice President then appoint the Provincial Cabinet from among applicants, while the Co Chairs appoint the Conference Committee, also from applications submitted. Regional Cabinets are filled by the Co Premiers, also through the application process.

The NSSSA began as an idea in 1986 among two students at Halifax West High School in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The idea was based on an already established organization in Ontario known as the OSSSA (which has since been retired). The NSSSA was officially registered with the joint stock companies of Halifax in 1992, and the first Provincial Conference was held that same year. Known as L. I. N. K. (Leadership In Nova Scotia Kicks), it was sparsely attended, lasted for one day, and barely resembled the current structure of the NSSSA, but the enthusiasm generated by the conference was carried over to the next year, and conferences have been held every year. As attendance grew, further restructuring of the organization was needed, and the regions were formed shortly thereafter, with regional conferences becoming a reality in the mid 1990s.

Regional conferences are styled after the Provincial Conference, with many of the same activities occurring at both. The major difference is that regional conferences are on a much smaller scale (they can have anywhere from 12 to 500 attendees, depending on the region), and they take place over one night as opposed to three. Activities at regional conferences can vary. For instance, at certain conferences, there may not be a dance, while there may not be a talent show on others, all depending on individual region's resources. Regional cabinet organizes and runs their conference, and PC and CC attend all regional conferences to better assist in planning the Provincial Conference. In the past, regional conferences have occurred in late Winter, although in recent years they have been moved to late Autumn to better space out the conferences with the Provincial Conference. Typically, regional conferences take place at a public high school in the region. There are six of these each year. Metro, Strait, Chignecto, Sou West, Valley, and Cape Breton Victoria.

The inclusion conference was held as a special conference for students with special needs for the first time in 2005; it was called G. O. A. L. The idea proved a success and a second inclusion conference was held in 2006 named G. R. O. W. T. H. The Inclusion Conference Co Chairs were responsible for organizing and running this conference, which occurred in early April each year. With dwindling numbers following COVID 19, NSSSA disbanded the inclusion committee and ended the Inclusion Conference program by a vote at its annual general meeting in August, 2023. This was done as part of a change in approach towards accessibility and inclusion for young leaders with disabilities. in September, 2023, NSSSA appointed a volunteer Program Lead, Accessibility who's role is to lead NSSSA's accessibility efforts; consult with regional cabinets, conference committee and provincial cabinet on issues of accessibility; and advocate for participants with disabilities.

Every conference has a different name. The name of a conference is usually an acronym forming a short (usually three to five letters, although it has been as high as nine in the past in the case of one Valley regional conference (Stop Drop n' Roll standing for Students Taking Opportunities and Putting their Dreams Right On Path towards New Realizations On Learning and Leadership) word, with the letters standing for words that create a phrase usually related to leadership. Since 2014, the provincial conference has discontinued the use of acronyms in favour of a simple phrase, starting with Challenging the Status Quo 2014 and ending most recently with Rise Up 2018.

Year President 1992 Mark Fraser 1993 Tyler Hayden 1994 Dave Brien 1995 Chris Webb 1996 Liz Dipchand 1997 Darren Smith 1998 Caleb Wheeldon 1999 Neeti Tomar 2000 Tyson R. Hubley 2001 Brennan Dempsey 2002 Andrew Arbuckle 2003 Kelsey Tonner 2004 MacKenzie Masrshall 2005 Ty Walsh 2006 Heather MacDonald 2007 Noah Logan 2008 Shawna Lynn Brake 2009 Sam Durnford 2010 Matt LeMoine 2011 Evan Kennedy 2012 Emma Bartlett 2013 Gillian MacKenzie 2014 Quinn MacIsaac 2015 Holly Davy 2016 Maggie MacNeil 2017 Molly Anderson 2018 Zac Foran 2019 Eliza Nobes 2020 Abby Fraser 2021 Reya Hanspal 2022 Noor Mohrez 2023 Jack Kuzyk2024Kate MacLean

While there are many cheers and rituals of NSSSA, WENDYs are the only ones who know all of them, through a book passed from one WENDY to another known as the 'Cheer Bible.' As they each receive it, in turn, they are permitted to create and add their own cheers.

Spirit War: A classic at NSSSA, students are split in two groups as the cheer goes on. It's usually done in a public place, when one or more students stands and yells out 'We've got spirit, yes we do! We've got spirit, how 'bout you?' The other students will then argue the same cheer back, and as the cheer continues, more and more students get involved, making each side appear to have 'more spirit.' Finally, when the students don't think it will get any louder, they all begin hopping, and yelling 'We got the most!' repeatedly. Repeat After Me Cheers: These are all too common at NSSSA, and can be about many things. WENDYs usually initiate these, but any student can, really. They usually are not just words spoken aloud, but also actions to match the cheer. Some common repeat after me cheers are 'Little Red Wagon,' 'Hey Hey Superman,' and 'I was Eaten by a Boa Constrictor.'