For Parents

PARENT FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: What will my student learn and experience during a CSM trip?

During a CSM trip, your student will be invited to join in with what God is doing in our cities. They will do this through serving alongside community partners and engaging in activities to supplement their learning and encourage personal faith formation. Please review the Student Learning Experience page for more specifics and samples of curriculum.

Q: How will CSM keep my student safe on the trip?

We commit to prioritizing your student’s safety. Our experienced team has built relationships, knows the area, and will keep you safe. This is how we ensure this:

1. Your student will always be serving with a community organization who CSM knows and trusts and that is known in the neighborhood. 

2. Each serving group will be assigned a trained City Host who knows the neighborhood and will manage the trip logistics. Your City Host will be with your group for the duration of your trip.

3. We maintain a strict 5:1 student to adult ratio. We do not break up groups from different churches/ministries/schools, so your students will always be serving under the care of at least 2 adult leaders/chaperones from your group. A background check is required for all adult leaders and chaperones.

4. All group sleeping areas are locked at all times and only accessible to CSM groups. Additional locked storage areas are provided, as needed.

5. Specific dress requirements in order to prioritize safety at service sites will be sent to the group leader in advance of the trip (e.g. long pants for gardening). Additional protective gear will be provided as needed (such as work gloves, reflective vests, etc).

Q: Who will my student be interacting with at CSM? Will the adults be background checked?

In each city, CSM has a full-time City Director who works for CSM year-round and lives in the city off-site, maintaining a consistent presence. Each Spring and Summer, CSM hires seasonal interns, City Hosts, who live on-site and are trained and equipped to manage the trip logistics. All CSM staff are fully background checked.

Additionally, each adult chaperone and group leader over the age of 18 is required to pass a background check in order to attend the trip.

Q: What should my student pack for the trip?

Packing lists can be found at the following links:

• Nashville

• Washington, DC

• Kansas City

Q: Where will my student’s housing accommodations be?

In most cities, we partner with local churches to house our groups. Typically, groups sleep on bunk beds or air mattresses in classrooms with shared restroom facilities. Housing sites abide by local ordinances regarding fire code and are insured by CSM. Your trip leader will be provided specific housing information and photos during registration, so please contact them for more information.

Q: What are meals like on a CSM trip? Are accommodations available for students with food allergies?

A self-serve cold breakfast (e.g. bagels, cereal, fruit) is available each morning at the housing site. Participants will pack a sack lunch each morning to eat at their morning service site. Gluten and dairy free options are available for breakfast and lunch.

Dinner each evening is at an international restaurant, such as Indian, Thai, Puerto Rican, Lebanese or food local to the city where they are serving (e.g. BBQ in Kansas City). Gluten and dairy free options are available at each restaurant.

We are happy to make the necessary accommodations if your student has a food allergy. Please contact your group leader to coordinate the needed adjustments for meals.

Q: What waivers do I need to sign in order for my student to participate?

Your trip leader will provide you with the CSM Trip Participant Paperwork packet that you will need to sign and return 2 weeks prior to the trip’s start date. Please contact your trip leader for more information.

Q: Can my student bring their cell phone with them on their CSM trip?

Students are permitted to bring their cell phones on a CSM trip, but are not permitted to use their cell phones at service sites. Student phones should be left at the housing site each day. During free time and at the housing site, cell phone usage is up to the trip leader. All adult chaperones will have cell phones with them at all times in case of emergencies. Please contact your group leader with any additional questions around cell phone use.

RESOURCES FOR PARENTS

Q: What questions should I ask my student when they return home?

There is so much you want to know but maybe you aren’t quite sure where to start and sticking with the classics of “what all did you do” “what did you learn” just doesn’t push the conversation enough. So how can you ask good questions that invite you into a process that has already begun with your student on the trip? What questions can you ask that not only reveal what your student did or learned, but how they are being made different because of the experiences. We have some suggestions for you below to help not make the car ride home awkward.

Questions that Disrupt

During the trip your student was introduced to and experienced tons of new and disrupting things. They listened to theology talks, volunteered at different organizations, participated in prayer tours and more! Much more than participating, however, your student developed new experiences from it, experiences that present great opportunities for you as a family to theologically reflect and grow in their faith. As your student gets settled back home, helping them routinely see their own daily experiences and disruptions as space to grow in their faith can transform the conversation from what they learned on the trip to how they desire to continue to grow from the trip. We have provided you some questions to do just that: 

• What were some of the disruptions you experienced this week?

• What stories did you hear or places you went to that surprised you?

• How are they the same or different from what you experience here at home everyday?

• Why were those moments so disrupting to you?

Questions that Explore

Your student had many conversations, met many people and participated in different experiences. Experiences help us develop a worldview outside of our own to help us grow personally. Traditionally, family conversations have centered around the dependence of you, the parent, having an answer to a question your student asks about God and the state of the world. It can be hard having those conversations with the expectation of you knowing the answer and without connecting them to shared experiences. In this way, experimenting with experiences gives your family opportunities to create action steps and blueprints that can impact the way you not only talk about faith, but how you live it out together too. These questions will help develop those conversations into those actions steps: 

• What needs did you see on your trip this week? Was the need community/society based, justice and equity based, etc.?

• Where do you see this need here at home and how can we create an opportunity to meet the need?

• What would you do if you could change it? What would you create

• What is the first step we can take together?