A young man graduating from seminary told Chad Webb, administrator of Seminaries and Institutes of Religion, that he had been in class every day for four years and had never been late.
Brother Webb asked him, "How did you do that?"
The young man responded, "I just learned that when the alarm clock goes off, you get up."
Though that may not be the first blessing to come up when speaking of early morning seminary, Brother Webb said it is a legitimate one.
"To have learned that lesson is valuable," he said. "When the Lord calls you, you get up, and you're where you're supposed to be."
Brother Webb recently shared thoughts about early morning seminary, sometimes referred to as daily seminary, in a Church News interview.
While released-time seminary is common in Utah, and is available in a few other Western states and limited places elsewhere, most high-school-aged students, generally ages 14-18, take what is commonly referred to as early morning seminary. Brother Webb said that in reporting and some conversations in the Church Educational System, it is called daily seminary because a few classes are taught during lunch hours or after school.
Statistics for 2008-09 reported that there were more than 216,000 students enrolled in daily seminary and nearly 116,000 in released time. More than 30,000 students who don't have access to seminary classes take home-study seminary.
Brother Webb said blessings are available to all seminary students.
"There is definitely a blessing associated with the willingness to sacrifice in whatever program they're in," he said. "The young people who make a sacrifice and make a commitment get out of it what they put into it."
For early morning seminary students, an obvious sacrifice is morning sleeping time. Most classes begin at 6 a.m. so students have time to get to their regular school after class.
"It's a lot to ask a student who's involved in extracurricular activities, is doing homework, is trying to do well in every aspect of life, gets to bed a little bit late and then every morning gets up early to go to seminary," Brother Webb said.
He told of an early morning class he recently visited in Africa where eight students were gathered in the dark outside the small home of the seminary teacher. The glow from the home's single light bulb shined through a window so students, holding their scriptures toward the light, could read them.
"The teacher would ask a question and all eight students would raise their hand," Brother Webb said. "They wanted to participate so much."
He added, "You see things like that all over the world, students who are so excited to be there."
All daily seminary classes and home study programs are organized and operated under the direction of local stake or district presidents, supported by the Church Educational System through area seminary and institute coordinators, Brother Webb said.
"Local people know a lot more about the circumstances, so we trust the local priesthood leaders and CES coordinators to counsel together and make the best decision for the students," he said.
The priesthood leaders determine how to organize classes and where to hold them. They can be based in a single ward or by wards combining. He said some wards have enough students for more than one class.
He told of a California meetinghouse he visited where the three wards attending there each have two seminary classes on school days. "It's a pretty lively building at 6 o'clock in the morning," he said.
Classes can have anywhere from 1 to 35 students and are usually split at around 35 students, he said.
Teachers are called by local priesthood leaders. The requirements to be a teacher, according to Brother Webb, are worthiness as determined by the priesthood leader, availability as determined by the priesthood leader and the person being called, and willingness as determined by the person being called.
When a teacher is called, the local CES coordinator begins an ongoing process of training. The teacher uses curriculum from CES.
Brother Webb pointed out that most teachers take about two hours to prepare for each 50-minute class, resulting in a large amount of time sacrificed to the calling.
"Seminary teachers have a huge influence in the life of a young member of the Church," Brother Webb said. "Of those who have the responsibility to help them in the Church, seminary teachers spend as much time with the students as any other person other than their families."
In some stakes, seminary classes can be held at lunchtime or after school. For example, Brother Webb pointed out, there are so many LDS students attending some schools that enough are free from after-school activities that they can attend class then. In cases where it isn't feasible to get students together for a class, usually because of unreasonable travel distances, young members can take seminary by home study. They study the curriculum each day on their own and then report to a teacher once a week, on Saturday, before or after Mutual or at another convenient time.
When stakes plan a class, they have to consider whether or not there is an appropriate location within reasonable distance of the students' homes and schools. Most classes are held at a meetinghouse or the teacher's home, Brother Webb said. Thought has to be given about the sacrifices made by parents and others to get the students to seminary and then to school.
"We feel like it's all right to require sacrifice," Brother Webb said, "But we want to be realistic, knowing that it's not the only thing that's being asked of our young people. So classes are organized for those who can get up at a reasonable hour and join together at some convenient location."
Seminary is offered everywhere the Church is organized, Brother Webb said, adding, "We hope that in every class in the world, the students are studying the scriptures, feeling the Spirit, and are being encouraged and loved and edified in the experience."
