Business Professionals of America » Service Programs » The Torch Awards Program » Role of the Advisor

Role of the Advisor

The local advisor is the supervisor and administrator of his/her students’ 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 résumés 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 members’ 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 http://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. On the other hand, 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.
  2. Help students plan for their Torch résumé and help familiarize them with the Torch Awards Online System.
  3. Give feedback throughout the year on how the students’ activities look.
  4. Evaluate students’ résumés and officially submit the complete résumés using the online system. Résumés are submitted for each award separately. Résumés must be submitted by April 1 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 BPA Mall.
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 activities. Local advisors/reviewers control the process by controlling the submission of résumés at every level.

(For more details on using the Torch Award Online System, click here.)