SNOHOMISH – As buses unload talkative teenagers into a fog-filled morning at Snohomish High School, dozens of students bow their heads and hold hands in a circle around a flagpole, the ring expanding as more students shed backpacks to join in the prayer.
“It’s an awesome opportunity to just start your year off with God and pray for your school,” Amy Damon, 16, a junior, said before linking hands with friends.
Elizabeth Armstrong / The Herald
It was a scene repeated by hundreds of teenagers at high schools across Snohomish County on Wednesday as part of the national See You at the Pole event.
The prayer movement started 10 years ago with a youth group in a suburb of Fort Worth, Texas. Since then, it has expanded to schools across the country, with more than 2 million teenagers participating last year, according to a promotional Web site.
More than 500 teenagers and youth group leaders from churches across the county also were expected to gather Wednesday night for an “after the pole” event at Everett Civic Auditorium to hear from a guest speaker, sing songs and pray. Youth for Christ of Snohomish County organized that event.
Included were students with This Generation, a burgeoning student prayer movement that is seeking nonprofit status, said organizer Rachel Oberto, a senior at Inglemoor High School in Kenmore. The group includes students from Bothell, Kamiak, Mariner, Mountlake Terrace, Snohomish and Woodinville high schools.
New Life Center church in Everett was expected to bring 80 or more middle- and high-school age students in two charter buses to the Wednesday night event. Youth pastor Brooks Rice said such events bring students from various Christian groups together for a common purpose.
Students who organized the flagpole prayers said the event was more a kickoff to activities throughout the year. That includes acting like a Christian in lunchrooms as well as in church youth groups, they said.
“It’s cool just to see how many Christians are on your campus,” said Branson Anderson, 17, a senior who organized the prayer at Bothell High School.
Christian students say they sometimes feel picked on by other students who don’t share their religious beliefs.
“You get over the people making comments,” said Snohomish senior Katie Fannin, 17. “The hardest part is just the hurting I have for people walking down the campus. … I want them to know that I care and that ultimately God cares.”
As Fannin led the prayer outside her school Wednesday, some students slowed their pace or paused to ask others what was going on.
“I’m not a pro-praying-in-school kind of person,” said Michael Pay, 17, a senior. “It’s sort of forcing it upon people.”
Pay wondered if students would ever try to organize such prayers during lunch instead of outside before classes start. It highlighted the often fine line between religious expression and public schools. Students in general are allowed to get together for prayers or other religious activities during noninstructional times.
Fannin said she and others want to share their faith, but also are sensitive about how to do it.
“We’re not necessarily going to stand on the lunch table and (yell), ‘Hey! Jesus!’ ” she said with a laugh.
Reporter Melissa Slager: 425-339-3465 or mslager@heraldnet.com.
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