Dear WHSFA Advisor:

A new school year is here, which means it's time to renew your school's dues in the Wisconsin High School Forensic Association. To ensure we are able to offer our activities to the highest number of schools and students during this extraordinary circumstance of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are offering all our contests/festivals online this year, so irrespective of a school's circumstances of holding face-to-face or virtual classes, students can participate. The shift to online festivals also accounts for uncertain circumstances, risk, and liability with opening standard classrooms and school spaces to guests from other communities. This is a shift several interscholastic forensic/speech/theatre associations across the country have made this year, and Wisconsin is no different.

In order to ensure continuity of programming, your school's dues and membership in the WHSFA are more critical than ever. We cannot afford to support investment in online platforms for participation, nor assure a strong return to forensic activities following the pandemic if your school does not continue its engagement in our association.  If there is a question as to your school's allowance for extracurricular activities this year, please review our advocacy information in the "Online Contests" section here, and contact us if you would like our office to speak to your school/school district administration about what we're doing, and why it's essential to support education of the whole child amidst this pandemic.

Should you have any questions about our plans, please reach out. The WHSFA Board of Control is meeting this month to review and finalize plans, so once those are determined, we will share that information with advisors. 

In the meanwhile, please visit our new membership portal to review your school's membership invoice (the email address that is your username appears below the signature block below). A brief, instructional video walkthrough is on the portal's landing page, at https://members.whsfa.org/. If you are not the primary dues contact for your school, please ask them to log in to view the invoice; if we need to change who we have on file as the primary dues contact, we can (the system allows us to have only one primary contact per school). 

In solidary and support of students,

Adam Jacobi, Executive Director (he, him, his)
Wisconsin High School Forensic Association