Adult Participants

Group Leaders and other Chaperones are expected to participate fully in the conference events. There will be daily Mass, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and opportunities for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. On Saturday afternoon there will also be a special workshop for those adults.

The Group Leader and other Chaperones sleep in the tents with the teens (men with the boys in their group, women with the girls in their group) in the spots assigned by the Registration Coordinator. They are expected to get to know their youth and watch out for them during the weekend.

The mimimum age for Group Leaders and other Chaperones is age 21 years.

Organizing Your Group:  Preparing to bring teenagers to a conference can be a large untertaking. We offer these suggestions based on experience in the past. This is a wonderful opportunity for our young people to hear the Good News of salvation and celebrate their faith in a community with peers. It has been to us, as organizers and chaperones of previous conferences, a truly wonderful experience.

The headaches, time and energy are all small sacrifices when we see the joy of our teenagers. The students can only register as part of a group; without adults they would not be able to attend.

A group can be as few as three teens with a same sex adult chaperone, but it makes sense as much as possible, to work with larger numbers. It may require reaching out to other adults and encouraging them to join you. It may require volunteering to blend a number of smaller groups into one. It may require working together with another parish.

Meetings and travelling with a larger group of teens makes the trip more exciting for your young people, gives them an opportunity to make friends who share their beliefs, and may lay the foundation for a continued faith community. It also makes things more enjoyable for adults.

Due to the nature of the conference, as well as for the sleeping arrangements, it is necessary that there be at least one male adult chaperone for every ten or fewer young males and one female chaperone for every ten or fewer young women. Therefore, even if you bring only ten youth, but six girls and four boys, you would need two chaperones; a male and a female.

Recruiting Adult Chaperones:  Realize that it is possible to interest adults working with teens. We have brought as many as 12 adults and 80 teens including clergy to one conference, 14 adults and 40 teens to another. May we suggest:

Begin with prayer. Put your planning in God's hands. Ask Him to send you the adults you need to open the minds and the hearts of the young people so they will wish to participate. Trust Him.

Involve prayer chains, prayer groups, Adoration chapels, etc. in your prayer back up. Ask them to continue praying for you and with you (and for us) until the conference is finished. Try to have a team prepared to pray continually during the conference.

Immediately: Begin to plant seeds about needing help for the summer conference among your neighbours and friends. Begin sharing with youth about the possiblilty of going and encourage them to invite adults to come with them. Show the professionally produced promo video or dvd to everyone you possibly can.  It really gives the flavour of the weekend and can inspire people to get involved personally or to invite others to attend.

This event is for High School Aged Youth (those who will graduate from Grade 8 in June 2009 upto the end of grade 12).  We are unable to accomodate youth outside of this age range.  Youth who attended the conference the previous year and are in first year of college or university may attend as a youth participant if part of a group of High School aged youth with a suitable number of Chaperones age 21 years or over.  All eligible participants under 21 years of age are registered as Youth rather than as Adults.

Post the posters and begin bulletin and verbal announcements at Mass about the opportunity for youth to attend and the need for adult volunteers. Ask your parish priest to help screen the potential volunteers if the group does not know them. While some adults will simply volunteer for the weekend, hopefully others will want to continue working with teens afterward to help them grow in their faith. Some adults need to be invited to help.

As soon as possible: Be bold in determining how many people you will bring. It is difficult for teens to commit early without knowing their summer job plans but new people will take vacant places. Send in registration deposits early.

Keep extra names on a waiting list because inevitably, some will drop out - both adults and teens.

Chaperones should be an example of obedience and cooperation with their small group for sleeping. They can help locate a lost sleeping bag or be an ear to a teen who needs to talk. Chaperones can help a teen process what they are experiencing and can be a great support to them back home. The Group Leader and other Chaperones can help fundraise before the trip. They can and should find opportunities to pray with young people, sometimes as simple as grace before meals, a rosary while traveling or spontaneous prayer and praise.