Volunteer at LEAD

What is a Chaperone?
During each week of LEAD, chaperones help mentor and minister to our students. We want every student to feel cared for and to see the love of God on display. Chaperones are an important part of making that a reality. If you have a heart for ministry and a desire to be God’s hands and feet, helping to equip and engage the next generation, then you could be the chaperone our students need.

All chaperones must:

• Be at least 25
• Be a professing Christian
• Agree with SSI’s Statement of Belief and abide by the Crew Expectations (found below)

Camp Roles

• Serve with the assigned student group (see “Additional Information” below)
• Each week we work through a series of devotions and you may be asked to help lead
• Watch over students on off-campus tours and activities
• Help with student check-in and check-out

Additional Information
All chaperones serve alongside our college aged volunteers (“aides-de-camp” or “ADCs”) and are often assigned to a committee (student group). (

First and second-time students (House and Senate tracks) spend the week divided into smaller groups called “committees” (approx. 16 students). Chaperones often are assigned to work with a particular committee throughout the week, typically alongside a college-aged volunteer (Aide-de-Camp or ADC). During crew orientation on Saturday evening, we take time to walk you through the simulation and the bills your group will be working on. We encourage any questions you may have both during orientation and throughout the week. You are not required or expected to be an “expert” on policy or legislative procedure. You will also be able to ask any questions of other crew members as many of them will have come as students or will have volunteered before.

ADCs help to provide experience while chaperones are there to provide maturity. Because ADCs do most of the heavy lifting around the camp, chaperones are able to have more free time during the busy week.

Time Commitment
Crew check-in begins the Saturday before each week, starting at 4:45pm. We use this time to review Crew policies and track procedures, coupled with prayer and fellowship as we prepare for a week of ministry. Campers arrive the following day.

Camp ends on Friday, typically around 7pm. Crew are free to leave once every student has been checked out. We spend Friday evening and Saturday morning cleaning up campus. Any crew member who can stay Friday night to help the following day with clean-up would be greatly appreciated.

Apply
Complete the application below. After submitting your application, you will receive an email with more information.

Questions
If you have any questions about what is expected of our crew or about the application process, email us at programs@ssionline.org or call us at 517-321-6233.

What is an Aide-de-Camp (ADC)?
During each week of LEAD, ADCs help mentor and minister to our students. We want every student to feel cared for and to see the love of God on display. ADCs are an important part of making that a reality. If you have a heart for ministry and a desire to be God’s hands and feet, helping to equip and engage the next generation, then you could be the ADC our students need.

An ADC must

• Have graduated high school or no longer meet the age requirements to participate as a student
• Be a professing Christian
• Agree with SSI’s Statement of Belief and abide by the Crew Expectations (found below)

Camp Roles

• Serve with the assigned student group
• Help with student check-in and check-out
• Each week we work through a series of devotions, and you may be asked to help lead
• Attend all teaching sessions
• Assist with the Mock Committee meetings and the Mock Legislative Session
• Watch over students on off-campus tours and activities
• Set up activities for the students
• Complete office tasks as assigned by the SSI Staff
• Help clean up campus at the end of the week
• Assist wherever needed

Additional Information
As you may know, House and Senate students spend the week divided into smaller groups called “committees” (approx. 16 students). Unless you are assigned to an advanced track, you will be working with a particular committee, typically alongside another crew member. You should help the students (and sometimes other crew members) with questions regarding procedures and help make sure that your students are present and accounted for whenever a new session or activity is beginning and ending.

You can assist the students in helping them find their way around campus, explaining the program, or providing some instruction about a particular assignment. When working with students, you are encouraged to assist them with their assignments, but you should never do the work for them. Of course, the best way you can help is just being a friend and encouraging them.

Time Commitment
Crew orientation begins the Saturday before each week, starting at 4:45pm. We use this time to review Crew policies and track procedures, coupled with prayer and fellowship as we prepare for a week of ministry. Campers arrive the following day.

Camp ends on Friday, typically around 7pm. Crew are free to leave once every student has been checked out. We spend Friday evening and Saturday morning cleaning up campus. Any crew member who can stay Friday night to help the following day with clean-up would be greatly appreciated.

Apply
Complete the application below. After submitting your application, you will receive an email with more information.

Questions
If you have any questions about what is expected of our crew or about the application process, email us at programs@ssionline.org or call us at 517-321-6233.

Crew members are vitally important and are in a unique position to help ensure that all students have a positive and beneficial time at LEAD. The following is provided in order for you to know what is expected of our crew members so that you can best function as part of the LEAD team. Please feel free to call the SSI office for clarification or questions.

GENERAL EXPECTATIONS

Crew members are expected to:

• Fulfill the role to which they are assigned. SSI attempts to place crew in positions of their choosing, but we are not always able to do so. Wherever crew members are placed, we expect them to seek out areas where they can build relationships with the students, to complete any tasks assigned to them to the best of their ability, and to look for additional ways they can serve. Before committing to additional tasks (such as being a trial witness), crew members should seek approval from their primary track leader first to make sure they can be spared during those times.
• Respectfully submit to SSI Staff and LEAD instructors and serve with maturity and professionalism.
• Apply discretion when using cell phones, laptops, and other electronic equipment that students are otherwise prohibited from using in certain locations on campus.
• Use discretion in after-hours activities. Movies shown after lights-out must receive prior approval from the Director of Programs. Keep in mind with any activities held throughout campus that you are representing LEAD/SSI and that we are being allowed to use this campus and want to maintain a good relationship with the university and the employees of the University.
• Observe a strict curfew of 1 AM.

PROTECTION: Never be alone with a student. This is for your protection as well as the protection of the student.

POLICIES, STANDARDS & EXPECTATIONS: Crew members are expected to abide by our camp policies found under the following tabs on the LEAD webpage.

• Details and Policies (See “LEAD Policies.”)
• LEAD Campus Policies
• Student Conduct Covenant
• LEAD Dress Code

This is  the standard of behavior for our students, and all crew members should model that behavior. Please be aware of our dress code and pack accordingly as all crew follow the same dress code as the students. Only SSI staff members will initiate disciplinary actions with students. No other crew members should assume that responsibility. This includes asking students to change if they are out of dress code.

Exceptions:

The following policies apply only to students:

• Restriction on electronics – Students are not allowed to bring laptops or other computer equipment to camp (unless given a specific exception for track usage). Crew members may bring such electronics to camp but should use discretion in using them. If you are intending to do any heavy work, communicate your intentions with SSI as this may affect your ability to serve during camp.
• Cell phone usage – Students may not use cell phones in certain areas of campus. Crew members are expected to use their cell phones during camp to communicate with each other. Cell phone usage unrelated to camp should be kept at a minimum in front of students.
• 11pm lights out – Crew members should help ensure that by 11pm students are in their own dorms with the main light off, but crew curfew is at 1am.
• Running in pairs – Students are expected to run with someone if out earlier than 7am. Crew members may run alone before 7am.

DEVOTIONS: You may be asked to give a devotion one morning. Devotion summaries are prepared for you and we will go through devotions as a group during our orientation before the students arrive.

ROOM ASSIGNMENTS: Crew members are assigned rooms with each other. We do not room crew with other students.

START & END TIME: Crew orientation begins with check-in the Saturday before camp at 4:45pm when crew will also set up their dorm. Dinner will be provided at 5:30pm. Crew members who will not be coming for dinner should arrive by 6pm for check-in. On Friday, as students are checking out, crew members will be expected to stay and help with check-out/campus clean-up until students are gone. This is usually around 7pm. Crew may then leave after checking out with an SSI Staff member. If you will need to leave earlier on Friday, communicate with the Director of Programs before camp.

The majority of campus clean-up occurs on Friday night and Saturday morning. We would appreciate any help from crew who are able to stay late Friday night or through Saturday morning. We do provide dinner (around 7pm) for all crew who are able to stay Friday evening, and breakfast will be provided Saturday morning.

Crew members are expected to stay on campus during camp (from 6pm on Saturday to 7pm on Friday). Any absences during the week should be pre-arranged with the Director of Programs.

Thank you for your willingness to serve in this capacity.

CHAPERONE SPECIFIC EXPECTATIONS

PARTICIPATION: Chaperones will have certain responsibilities each day. These responsibilities are related to the group of students you are assigned to. You will not be required to help for any extra activities but may volunteer if you wish. Unless authorized by the Director of Programs, no activities or work assignments should be scheduled during chapel sessions.

Chaperones are expected to stay on campus during camp. If you need to leave during the week, please coordinate your absence with the Director of Programs.

AIDE-DE-CAMP SPECIFIC EXPECTATIONS

PARTICIPATION: Crew members will have certain responsibilities each day. ADCs are required to attend teaching sessions with the students unless requested to help with another assignment. ADCs will also be required to attend all other activities, including evening sessions, unless requested to help with another assignment. Unless authorized by the Director of Programs, no activities or work assignments should be scheduled during chapel sessions.

ADCs are expected to stay on campus during camp. You must receive prior permission from the Director of Programs if you want to leave during the week. There are certain times throughout the week that you may not be excused to leave unless it is an emergency.

OTHER: During camp ADCs are expected to refrain from pursuing romantic interests with other ADCs or students. At no time should two ADCs of the opposite sex be alone for extended periods of times and never after-hours. If you are already in a relationship with someone who will be at camp at the same time as you, talk with the Director of Programs about how you should conduct yourself at camp in light of that relationship.

TERMS OF AGREEMENT

SSI requires that its employees subscribe to its Statement of Faith and Lifestyle Statement, which can be found below. We ask that all LEAD crew also subscribe to them.

• SSI is a non-profit Christian organization representing Jesus Christ. As such, SSI requires its employees/volunteers to be born-again Christians, living their lives as Christian role models (Rom. 10:9-10; I Tim. 4:12; Luke 6:40). Employees/volunteers will conduct themselves in a way that will not raise questions regarding their Christian testimonies. A Christian lifestyle should reflect the biblical perspective of integrity and appropriate personal and family relationships, business conduct, and moral behavior. An employee/volunteer is expected to demonstrate a teachable spirit, an ability to share love for others, a willingness to live contentedly under authority, and a commitment to follow the Matthew 18 principle when an issue arises with fellow employees/volunteers or management. 
• SSI expects employees/volunteers to maintain a lifestyle based on biblical standards of moral conduct. Moral misconduct, which violates the bona fide occupational qualification for employees to be Christian role models, includes, but is not limited to drunkenness, premarital sex, adultery, and homosexual behavior or any other violation of the unique roles of male and female (Rom. 1:21-27; I Cor. 6:9-20). SSI believes that biblical marriage is limited to a covenant relationship between a man and a woman, and we believe in the sanctity of human life from conception through natural death. 
• SSI employees/volunteers will maintain a lifestyle based on biblical standards of conduct. Failure to do so may result in a reprimand or, in some cases, dismissal. It is the goal of SSI that each employee/volunteer will have a lifestyle where “…He might have the pre-eminence.” Col. 1:18 

Adapted with permission from www.acsiglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/ACSI-Lifestyle-Statement.pdf 

• The Bible is the inspired, infallible, and authoritative Word of God. 
• There is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 
• The Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God and the Savior of all humanity, was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, lived a sinless life culminating in His vicarious and atoning death through His blood, bodily resurrection, and His ascension to the right hand of the Father. He will come a second time at the end of this age. 
• Regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential for salvation, which is by grace, through repentance and faith in what Jesus did on the cross. 
• It is the present ministry of the indwelling Holy Spirit that enables the Christian to live a godly life. 
• There will be a resurrection of both the saved and the lost; those that are saved unto the resurrection of life, and those that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation. 
• There is a spiritual unity of all true believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

CHAPERONE EXPECTATIONS

Chaperones are vitally important and are in a unique position to help ensure that all students have a positive and beneficial time at LEAD. The following is provided in order for you to know what is expected of our Chaperones so that you can best function as part of the LEAD Team. Please feel free to call the SSI office for clarification or questions.

• Chaperones are expected to fulfill the role to which they are assigned. SSI attempts to place Chaperones in positions of their choosing, but we are not always able to do so. Wherever Chaperones are placed, we expect them to seek out areas where they can build relationships with the students and to complete the tasks assigned to them to the best of their ability.
• Chaperones are expected to respectfully submit to SSI Staff and LEAD instructors and to serve with maturity and professionalism.
• Chaperones are expected to apply discretion when using cell phones, laptops, and other electronic equipment that students are otherwise prohibited from using in the Johnson Center and Chrysler Building.
• Chaperones are expected to stay on campus during camp. If you need to leave during the week, please coordinate your absence with the Director of Programs.
• Guests are welcome to come on campus for chapel, meals, or to observe student activities or presentations provided they are not being disruptive or distracting. If a guest is coming on campus for a meal, please be sure to purchase a meal card from the office.

PROTECTION: Never be alone with a student. This is for your protection as well as the protection of the student.

POLICIES, STANDARDS, & EXPECTATIONS: Please review the policies page and campus rules carefully. This is the standard of behavior for our students, and we need our Chaperones to model that behavior. Please be aware of our dress code and pack accordingly. Chaperones are expected to follow the same dress code as the students. Chaperones will not be asked to initiate any disciplinary actions with students, nor should you assume that responsibility. This includes asking students to change if they are out of dress code.

PARTICIPATION: Chaperones will have certain responsibilities each day. These responsibilities are related to the group of students you are assigned to. You will not be required to help for any extra activities but may volunteer if you wish. Unless authorized by the Director of Programs, no activities or work assignments should be scheduled during chapel sessions.

DEVOTIONS: You may be asked to give a devotion one morning. Devotion summaries are prepared for you and we will go through devotions as a group during our orientation before the students arrive.

ROOM ASSIGNMENTS: Chaperones will room with other Chaperones and/or with ADCs. We do not room Chaperones with students.

START & END TIME: Volunteer orientation begins with registration the Saturday before camp at 5:15 pm. On Friday, once every student has been checked out, volunteers are free to leave. This will probably be around 7:00 pm. However, the majority of campus clean-up will occur Saturday morning. Any volunteers who are able to stay Friday night to help the following day with clean-up would be greatly appreciated. Do not plan to leave campus between these time without coordinating your absence without the Director of Programs.

Thank you for your willingness to serve in this capacity.

SSI requires that its employees subscribe to its Statement of Faith and Lifestyle Statement, which can be found below. We ask that all volunteers of LEAD also subscribe to them.

ADC Expectations

ADCs are vitally important and are in a unique position to help ensure that all students have a positive and beneficial time at LEAD. The following is provided in order for you to know what is expected of our ADCs so that you can best function as part of the LEAD Team. Please feel free to call the SSI office for clarification or questions.

• ADCs are expected to fulfill the role to which they are assigned. SSI attempts to place ADCs in positions of their choosing, but we are not always able to do so. Wherever ADCs are placed, we expect them to seek out areas where they can build relationships with the students, to complete any tasks assigned to them to the best of their ability, and to look for additional ways they can serve.
• ADCs are expected to respectfully submit to SSI Staff and LEAD instructors and to serve with maturity and professionalism.
• ADCs are expected to apply discretion when using cell phones, laptops, and other electronic equipment that students are otherwise prohibited from using in the Johnson Center and Chrysler Building.
• ADCs are expected to refrain from romantic interests with other ADCs or students. At no time should two ADCs of the opposite sex be alone for extended periods of times and never after-hours.
• ADCs are expected to use discretion in after-hours activities. In other words, don’t do anything that you would be ashamed to tell Mr. Muffett in the morning! Movies shown after lights-out must receive prior approval.
• A strict curfew of 2 AM will be observed.
• ADCs are expected to stay on campus during camp. You must receive prior permission from the Director of Programs or Programs Assistant if you want to leave during the week. There are certain times throughout the week that you may not be excused to leave unless it is an emergency.
• Guests are welcome to come on campus for chapel, meals, or to observe student activities or presentations provided they are not being disruptive or distracting. If a guest is coming on campus for a meal, please be sure to purchase a meal card from the office.

PROTECTION:  Never be alone with a student. This is for your protection as well as the protection of the student.

POLICIES, STANDARDS, & EXPECTATIONS: Please review the policies page and campus rules carefully. This is the standard of behavior for our students, and we need our ADCs to model that behavior. Please be aware of our dress code and pack accordingly. ADCs are expected to follow the same dress code as the students. ADCs will not be asked to initiate any disciplinary actions with students, nor should you assume that responsibility. This includes asking students to change if they are out of dress code.

PARTICIPATION: ADCs will have certain responsibilities each day. You are required to attend teaching sessions with the students unless you are requested to help with another assignment. You will also be required to attend all other activities, including evening sessions, unless you are requested to help with another assignment. Unless authorized by the Director of Programs or Programs Assistant, no activities or work assignments should be scheduled during chapel sessions.

DEVOTIONS: You may be asked to give a devotion one morning. Devotion summaries are prepared for you and we will go through devotions as a group during our orientation before the students arrive.

ROOM ASSIGNMENTS: ADCs will room with other ADCs and/or with Chaperones. Due to the late hours ADCs keep to finish tasks after students are in bed, ADCs may not room with other students.

START & END TIME: Volunteer orientation begins the Saturday before each week, starting at 5:15 pm. On Friday, once every student has been checked out, ADCs are free to leave.  This will probably be around 7:00 pm. However, the majority of campus clean-up will occur Saturday morning. Any volunteers who are able to stay Friday night to help the following day with clean-up would be greatly appreciated.

ADCs are expected to stay on campus from the times specified. They should not plan on leaving campus during the week or before 7:00 pm on Friday unless otherwise pre-arranged with the Director of Programs.

Thank you for your willingness to serve in this capacity.

TERMS OF AGREEMENT

SSI requires that its employees subscribe to its Statement of Faith and Lifestyle Statement, which can be found below. We ask that all volunteers at LEAD also subscribe to them.