SHIELD is free to departments, schools, and students alike. Below is what a partnership involves for each of them, what we would need from you, and how to begin one.
Everything we need to begin is listed alongside. Send it by email and we will respond with either a school that has agreed to host you and a proposed date, or an account of which districts declined and where we intend to try next.
That is the extent of the commitment on your side. There is nothing to sign, no schedule to guarantee, and no obligation to continue if the first visit does not prove worth your crew's time.
The service is the same whether you are a twenty-member volunteer company or a career department with an established explorer post.
Four details are enough to begin. There is no application and no paperwork.
Any one of these, or all three.
This is career and technical exposure that costs the district nothing and takes one class period. There is no curriculum to adopt, no vendor agreement, and no budget line.
Health teachers, CTE coordinators, counselors, and administrators are all in a position to start this. Tell us your school and which of the three would suit it, and we will find a department able to cover it.
If it is easier, we are willing to approach your district office directly rather than have you raise it internally.
Two separate paths, depending on what you are after.
Read what the commitment involves and decide whether it suits you, then find the closest program that accepts junior members. You are welcome to do that search yourself, and we will do it for you if you would rather.
A SHIELD chapter is a student club that promotes these programs to your classmates. It requires two or three founding members and a teacher willing to sponsor it, the same as any other school organization. Send us your name, school, and town, and we will provide the starter materials and put you in contact with existing chapters.
Parents, teachers, and anyone else with questions about SHIELD or about junior programs generally. Everything reaches the same inbox and is read by a person.