Who Can Be a Champion?

Program Goal

To help the right students find a good match at one of the Lutheran colleges or universities and to spread the word about the unique values provided by these institutions.

Code of Ethics

Champions should be prepared to:

• Place the best interests of each student over the needs of the consortium or any given institution.
• Represent the breadth and depth of Lutheran higher education in a consistently positive manner.
• Place the interests of the consortium over any individual institution.
• Be sensitive to the financial challenges confronting families as they plan for college.
• Treat student concerns with care and respect and in a Christian manner.
• Be prepared to connect students and families with professional admissions and financial aid staff at member institutions.

Position Description

We believe there are many ways in which our Champions can interact with students and families. Our basic expectation is that each Champion will devote between five and ten hours of direct support a year. Activities CAN include any of the following, or other appropriate contacts with students, parents and congregations:

• Encourage students to sign up to receive additional information from the consortium at lutherancolleges.org.
• Organize a trip to local Lutheran College Fairs.
• Organize Lutheran College Sunday at home congregation.
• Pursue one-on-one conversations with students and parents.
• Phone or e-mail congratulations to students after their Lutheran college visits.
• Encourage youth ministers and other church staff to be advocates of Lutheran higher education.
• Encourage development of congregational scholarship programs for students attending Lutheran colleges and universities.
• Encourage discussion of the meaning and values provided by a faith-based education (important for students and adults alike).

The power of the Champions program will be realized when students have consistent exposure to the idea of a Lutheran-based education. Our expectation is not that every volunteer spend hours and days convincing students to attend a member college; instead, we believe that occasional events, informal conversations and a Champion’s willingness to discuss the opportunities in Lutheran higher education will allow students to give thoughtful consideration to our schools.

Why are Lutheran colleges and universities important? The depth of our member institutions – their academic diversity, commitment to rigor and to putting education in a Christian context and their outreach to all students is of great value to our church and our world.

Finally, we will also request Champions to complete short activity forms to track their engagement with students and families. These will not be used to evaluate the work of individual Champions; rather, we wish to collect aggregate information about the impact the program has on students and college enrollments.