The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Luke W. during the 2009-2010 League.
Mission: Promote SSI
Promoting the Student Statesmanship Institute and completing a one-page paper talking about the process of promoting SSI are required steps to receiving the John Quincy Adams Award. Ironically, this process of "doing and reporting" is the same process I went through when promoting SSI – I had not only gone to SSI but at the table with a prospective attendee of the program I had to make an account of it. The only difference was this – during my SSI promotion, I had to make the report compelling.
I promoted SSI at the 27th annual Michigan Home Education Convention, hosted by the Information Network for Christian Homes (INCH), on May 14th at the Lansing Center. When I arrived, I was handed a Student Statesmanship T-shirt – the same given to teens who attend the camp during the summer. I was given an option: either I could keep the shirt or I could return it.
The morning of the event I was battling a cold. I sneezed into the shirt many times. Because I did not want to infect the next person to wear the shirt I made a decision. I decided to keep the shirt for personal use.
The process I went through when deciding to keep the shirt is quite similar to the steps that go into selling the Student Statesmanship Institute to other people. When delivering "the pitch" it was like I was handing them a shirt that they could either keep or give back. I needed to give them the "learn-about government" virus so that they would keep the shirt and go to SSI.
Selling a week-long camp is more difficult than giving away a free T-shirt. This probably explains why I didn't sell anything. When you are giving away a free shirt the only thing that goes into the decision making process of the receiver is, "Would I wear this in public and can it fit in my closet?" If the answer is ‘no' to question one, then a follow-up question presents itself: "Would I wear this in my home, perhaps before I go to sleep?"
The question of a person, for the purposes of this discussion, a man, receiving a sales pitch for a week long summer camp is much more involved; however, there's only one question: "What will the wife say?"
Hopefully seeds that will reach fruition in his wife's decision-making were planted in that man's heart. Having an SSI presence at the INCH conference gets people to think about attending the summer program. If he had just paid for the program that day he could have saved $10. The savings would have been more than enough to purchase a discounted T-shirt.
The Information Network for Christian Homes has a mission that fits around the Student Statesmanship. The INCH website details the group's mission:
"Since 1984 our mission has been to serve families interested or involved in home education by providing the information, resources and encouragement needed to teach their children at home in the state of Michigan, and to work to ensure the continued freedom to do so."
The two groups work hand-in-hand. Both organizations want to provide information and resources and want to ensure that such a flow continues. Where INCH is the outworking of that goal by an older generation, SSI is the education of the younger generation to pick up the torch. Unlike this report, both INCH and SSI have a compelling reason to keep writing the future of tomorrow.
