Community Life

Leadership Opportunities

At CCES, every student is encouraged to develop their own potential for leadership – by running for an elected position, championing a new idea or simply setting an example for their peers. Opportunities abound for students to act as instruments of change in their school community.
 

Lower School Leadership

In the Lower School, leadership is taught as a form of service to others and to our world, and students are encouraged to notice the needs of the world and respond. In each grade students are given the opportunity, training, and skills needed to be leaders in small groups, their classroom, the school, and the community. 

Students serve as leaders in a variety of ways, such as: Mentors or Book Buddies for younger students, Patrols for carpool, Worship Leaders, Morning Devotion Leaders, assisting with technology for chapel/school events, and in community efforts. Within each of these groups there are captains or student-led committees that coordinate the efforts and assist teachers with decisions and actions for the school. Students leave the Lower School with an awareness of service, the importance of leadership, and the skills to implement ideas.

Middle School Leadership

In the Middle School, students have the opportunity to participate in various leadership roles.

  • Chaplain Team -  assists the Chaplain in the Middle School weekly worship services.
  • Acolyting in Chapel is done each week by different advisory groups once a year. 
  • Morning Prayer - eighth grade students lead the weekly Middle School assemblies, by creating and presenting Meaningful Messages.
  • Social Committee - students can apply to represent their peers through planning and facilitating social events, and various student body initiatives.
  • Cavalier Crew is a group of 8th grade students who mentor 5th graders through the facilitation of social skills workshops and the fun found in spending recess and lunches together.

Upper School Leadership

Leadership opportunities for students abound in the many clubs and activities in the Upper School.

List of 4 items.

  • Student Council

    Student Council serves as the liaison between the student body and the administration and faculty. These student leaders also support healthy student life by advocating various student spirit and community activities. The Student Body Executive Officers lead student portions of weekly assemblies, and Class Officers lead monthly class meetings. Vice Presidents promote student service learning activities. Student Council helps plan New Student and 9th grade Orientations to open every school year, and Publications Day to celebrate the end of each school year.

    Perhaps most significantly, Student Council plans annual Homecoming and Homegoing celebrations, including class spirit competitions, Powder Puff football, faculty/student games, movie nights, and school dances. Student Council also helps to organize and promote service opportunities with local charities. Finally, these students are rewarded with a practical internship in the nuances of representing peer constituencies and collaborative decision-making.

  • Youth in Government

    Members of CCES Youth in Government (YIG) participate each year in a statewide conference in Columbia with over 1,100 other South Carolina students to experience a hands-on understanding of the legislative process. Students spend several months preparing for the conference by researching topics and writing bills, and researching bills written by other students. Student attorneys work in teams to prepare their trial cases, and write briefs and prepare oral arguments for their appeals cases.

    The students then embark on a trip to Columbia, where they take over the South Carolina Statehouse, Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court.

    For more information, visit www.scymcayig.org.

  • Honor Council

    A System of Honor is essential in order for members of a community to work together in an atmosphere of trust. When there is an individual breach of honor, not only the educational process but also the moral fiber of a school community is threatened. Living in an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect is a privilege not to be violated and not to be taken for granted. 

    A personal sense of honor ensures that a student can think for himself and share a sense of pride in his own work. Although it would be convenient and less complicated to concern ourselves solely with honor as it applies to academic work and testing, we must recognize that honorable conduct must pervade all of our actions and relationships with others. A student is accountable for his behavior first and foremost, and as a corollary, becomes a steward of the health of the school community. The student recognizes that it is in his best interest to guard jealously the safety and trust of that community. 

    The Honor Council is composed of seven students: three representatives from the senior class, two from the junior class, and one each from the sophomore and freshman classes. The Honor Council, supported by faculty and administration, hears cases in which a violation of the Honor Code is suspected and makes a written report with recommendations for further action by the administration. These responsibilities ensure that students take ownership of their Honor Code. 

  • Student Ambassadors

    Student Ambassadors are selected by Ambassador Chairs. They host prospective students who are visiting during the school day, greet at school events such as Parents' Night and Open House, give campus tours to visitors, and assist new students as they enter Upper School. Student Ambassadors make a one year commitment in 9th grade and have the opportunity to continue throughout their time in the Upper School. They are eligible to be chosen as a Chair during the spring of their junior year.
Christ Church Episcopal School (“CCES”) admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at CCES. CCES does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, national or ethnic origin, creed, religion, or sexual orientation in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, financial aid, scholarship or other programs, or athletic or other school-administered programs and activities.