The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Carri C. during the 2007-2008 League.
Promoting SSI
I decided to promote SSI at the local youth group that I am attending. At one of their recent youth activities, I invited all the students to come. I told them that there would be ice cream and games. During the week, I sent flyers out to remind everyone, and I began brainstorming ideas for that day.
I began by giving everyone ice cream, and no one objected to that. While we were eating, we listened to the 60 second promo, and then watched the SSI video promo and the Greatest Story Never Told video. Once these had finished, I got up to speak about SSI. I talked about how surprised I was at the fun, the intensity, and the biblical focus. I talked about some of the speakers that I had listened to at SSI, and about Mr. Muffett, how he was always happy, how he talked to everyone, and how he always told the same jokes every year at every SSI function.
After that I gave a short overview of what the Representative track is all about and what goes on. Then, I told them that we would be having our own little mock legislative session, and that everyone would be giving a short speech. That got a big reaction. Now I know why Mr. Muffett gets a thrill when he tells students that.
Our topic was football. I knew that some of the students loved football and some of the students knew nothing about football. So I decided to put them into 2 groups and had the first group be against football and the other be for football. This made it challenging for both "caucuses". I gave them 20 minutes to prepare their speeches, and during that time I went back and forth between both "caucuses" to watch and help out.
Once they were finished, we began the "Mock Legislative Session". To settle their nerves, I gave my speech from Week 2 of SSI this summer. Everyone seemed to get in the groove after that. The students that were for football gave arguments such as, "Football keeps you in tip-top shape" and "Football is America's sport". The opposing students gave arguments like, "Football gives the players many serious injuries" and "Football players tend to drink and party". It was a very amusing affair, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. At the end we had everyone vote, and it was decided that football was bad and that it should not be played.
This was a very fun experience, and I enjoyed it. It was nice that some of the parents stayed and that some of the students seemed interested in going to either an onsite or the summer camp. I am so glad that I did this.
