Frequently Asked Questions

As part of the new Children and Youth effort designed to help each young person come unto Jesus Christ and be converted to His gospel, each youth can now attend FSY. S&I is excited to partner with the Priesthood and Family Department and Brigham Young University by serving as session directors and teachers as part of our professional responsibilities.

Assignments for S&I Religious Educators to serve as FSY session directors (SDs) and teachers will be made by region and area directors near the beginning of each calendar year. Teachers and directors should counsel together about teacher availability and FSY assignment expectations.

Contact your region or area director and notify the FSY office via FSYFaculty@byu.edu as soon as possible to allow adequate time to find a replacement.

Area and region directors will track FSY assignments so that all religious educators will have an opportunity to participate. Assignment preference will not be given to those with prior EFY experience. There will be a need for over 200 session directors and 400–500 teachers each year. Consequently, some personnel will have opportunity to direct or teach at more than one session. The maximum number of assignments you could fill each year are 1) Direct a session AND teach at another session, or 2) Teach at up to three sessions. Generally, S&I personnel will be expected to fill at least one assignment each year. See policy below:

Teaching and directing For the Strength of Youth (FSY) sessions are considered part of the regular workload of all religious educators. Assignments will be made by area and region directors and may require up to twenty days of work outside of the normal school year. FSY Policy 17 Feb 2020

Sessions will go from late-May to mid-August each summer. One session director and 2–10 instructors will be assigned to each session, depending on session size. Training and preparation will begin in February.

FSY session enrollments range from 300–1500 youth, with an average of 600 youth per session.

Generally, assignments will be made based on the location of the employee’s S&I assignment. Assignments will typically be within a driving distance of less than 2.5 hours from the employee’s home. Teachers who live 30 minutes or more from the session location may have lodging approved. Lodging will be provided for session directors and session director spouses regardless of traveling distances.

FSY sessions will be led by session directors, young adult coordinators, and counselors. BYU administrators will also be available if needed. Stake and ward leaders do not attend.

Each year new FSY music will be available.

The FSY theme will align with the annual youth theme determined by Church leadership.

As part of the new Children and Youth effort designed to help each young person come unto Jesus Christ and be converted to His gospel, each youth can now attend FSY. By serving as session directors and teachers during FSY sessions you have an important role in being an example of the Savior and teaching the doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Assignments for non-S&I educators to serve as FSY session directors (SDs) and teachers will be made by BYU faculty administrators near the beginning of each calendar year.

Notify the FSY office via FSYFaculty@byu.edu as soon as possible to allow adequate time to find a replacement.

Non-S&I educators are needed most during the week of S&I in-service, when S&I educators are unavailable to fill these positions. However, there may be other positions that need to be filled outside of this week. Sessions will go from late-May to mid-August each summer. One session director and 2–10 instructors will be assigned to each session, depending on session size.

FSY session enrollments range from 300–1500 youth, with an average of 600 youth per session.

Most assignments will be made based on your location. Assignments will typically be within a driving distance of less than 2.5 hours from the employee’s home. Teachers who live 30 minutes or more from the session location may have lodging approved as determined by BYU Travel. Lodging will be provided for session directors and session director spouses regardless of traveling distances.

FSY sessions will be led by session directors, young adult coordinators, and counselors. BYU administrators will also be available if needed. Stake and ward leaders do not attend.

Each year new FSY music will be available.

The FSY theme will align with the annual youth theme determined by Church leadership.

Your responsibilities will begin Sunday night, speaking at a devotional for FSY counselors, and end Saturday morning after an end of session wrap-up meeting (7:45 a.m.). There will also be pre-session responsibilities, including lesson development and online and in-person training. For S&I employees, FSY preparation is part of your responsibilities and can be completed during normal work hours. Travel time may add to the duration of the assignment. More details are provided in the online training.

You will teach 8–9 devotionals (generally 45 minutes long) throughout the week. Topics related to the annual theme accompanied by preparation resources will be provided to session directors.

All session director lessons will be prepared using resources that have already gone through a correlation process. No additional review is required.

Generally, a projector and microphone(s) will be available. PowerPoint presentations can be prepared but you should be able to teach without AV assistance if necessary. Information on resources will typically be given in emails between you and FSY staff before the session. If additional teaching materials are required, such as whiteboards or markers, please work with FSY staff prior to the session.

Good teaching skills and techniques used in seminary, institute, and other gospel lessons are also applicable in FSY devotionals. Since class sizes will be much larger at FSY it is particularly important to focus on ways to engage, and keep engaged, large groups of young people. Although many of the skills we use in other classrooms will fit well at FSY, additional skills will need to be used as well. Online training and a follow-up in-person training will be provided to help develop these skills.

In-person training dates and locations will vary by area. Normally, they will begin 2–3 months before the first FSY session begins.

S&I Employees

As professional exempt employee there is no additional compensation for FSY assignments. Although this work expectation will not follow your typical daily schedule it is considered the equivalent of working in your office. The extra hours worked will be more than offset by the enriching and rewarding experiences you will have with the youth and counselors. The daily schedule does allow for down time if session director couples need to rest or attend to brief personal needs.

Non-S&I Employees

Session directors and teachers, you will be reimbursed the cost of travel and any meals that are not provided during the session.

If you are assigned as a session director, your spouse is encouraged, but not required, to assist at the session. If you are assigned as a teacher, your spouse does not attend.

Where possible, session director spouses are encouraged to attend the annual in-person session director training. Session director spouses are also encouraged to review the handbook and online training. Session directors and spouses also complete FSY-specific youth protection training.

Toddlers 18 months and younger are permitted at the session. For children older than 18 months, childcare arrangements should be made. Spouses should not feel pressured to attend if other responsibilities require their attention.

Youth should follow the plan their stake implements for FSY conference attendance. In some limited cases, youth may be able to attend the session their parent(s) direct if it is one of the assigned options for their stake.

No, campus contacts and logistics will be taken care of by the FSY administrator and coordinators. If additional needs arise while on campus, the coordinators will contact the FSY administrator to make arrangements with the campus contact.

You will receive this information in an email from the FSY office two weeks before your FSY assignment. You should reach out to them at that time to introduce yourself and answer any questions they may have.

Yes. Your copy will have specific session director instructions in addition to the participant handbook.

Teacher responsibilities officially begin Tuesday morning at 8:45 a.m. and end after the final class on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. Female teachers, where able, may be asked to teach an additional class to the young women Thursday morning. For S&I employees, FSY preparation is part of your employment responsibilities and can be completed during normal work hours. Travel time may add to the duration of the assignment. More details are provided in the online training.

Four lessons are taught on Tuesday and four on Wednesday for a total of eight lessons. There are two classes in the morning and two in the afternoon each day. Teachers will need to prepare five different lessons, two of which will be based on the outlines and resources provided by FSY: "Hear Him" and "Finding Answers to Questions." The schedule is as follows:

1. Tuesday Morning—"Hear Him"
2. Tuesday Morning—"Finding Answers to Questions"
3. Tuesday afternoon, taught twice—Topic chosen and prepared by S&I teacher (Non-S&I teachers will have several outlines from which to choose)
4. Wednesday morning, taught twice—Topic chosen and prepared by S&I teacher (Non-S&I teachers will have several outlines from which to choose)
5. Wednesday afternoon, taught twice— Topic chosen and prepared by S&I teacher (Non-S&I teachers will have several outlines from which to choose)

A female teacher or female session director spouse will teach an additional class Thursday morning to the young women.

S&I Employees

A guide will be provided for your lesson outline preparation. A peer (another S&I religious educator of your choosing) will review the lesson outline using a supplied rubric. If the lesson meets the approved criteria, the peer will sign off on it and the correlation process will be complete. You will submit the outline and signed peer review form to your immediate supervisor. Afterward, you will upload your lesson outlines using an online tool that will be provided.

Non-S&I Educators

Several pre-approved teacher outlines are available for your use. Once you have added your personal changes to these outlines, you will upload your lesson outlines using an online tool that will be provided.

Generally, a projector and microphone(s) will be available. PowerPoint presentations can be prepared but you should be able to teach without AV assistance if necessary. Information on resources will typically be given in emails between you and FSY staff before the session. If additional teaching materials are required, such as whiteboards or markers, please work with FSY staff prior to the session.

Good teaching skills and techniques used in seminary, institute, and other gospel lessons are also applicable in FSY devotionals. Since class sizes will be much larger at FSY it is particularly important to focus on ways to engage, and keep engaged, large groups of young people. Although many of the skills we use in other classrooms will fit well at FSY, additional skills will need to be used as well. Online training and a follow-up in-person training will be provided to help develop these skills.

A teacher’s spouse and children do not accompany them to FSY sessions.

A typical class size is 150 participants. Some larger sessions could have classes with as many as 350 participants.

Teachers should not plan to provide handouts. Any aids used in the classroom will be at the teachers own expense and should be very limited in scope and cost.

FSY lessons are 45-minute periods which include a brief teacher introduction, prayer, and song (3–5 minutes) at the beginning of each lesson.

Session directors will provide feedback to teachers using the FSY Teacher Evaluation Form.

No. All information that you will need will be found in the online training course. A PDF version of the handbook including a daily schedule will be available in the course.

Mileage and approved expenses for food and lodging will be reimbursed for session directors, their spouses, and teachers.

Teachers who live close to the FSY session at which they teach will sleep at home and drive their personal vehicle to and from the session each day. FSY will reimburse them for their mileage. Teachers who live more than 30 minutes away from the session can receive lodging Tuesday night (and possibly Monday and Wednesday night if the teacher requires air travel). For teachers approved to stay in a hotel, accommodations will be arranged by BYU Travel and paid by the session director's BYU Corporate Card.

For teachers who require air travel, accommodations will be coordinated through BYU Travel. When a rental car is needed, arrangements are also made by BYU Travel.

You will be sent an email inviting you to register for your FSY session and complete a background check and youth protection training. Once you have completed the required steps to register for your assignment, you will be contacted by the BYU Travel Office to schedule any needed accommodations. You will also receive this information in an email from the FSY office two weeks before your FSY assignment.

Timesheets should be submitted as if the employee worked a normal workweek. Due to regulations, there is no provision for compensation days.

Please refer to the online training.