Brailey Teipen had just finished constructing a new birdhouse in the FFA building at Trinity Lutheran High School but had not given much thought on where she would hang it.

“I want to hang it somewhere,” the St. John’s Sauers Lutheran School fourth-grader said. “But I need to find a spot.”

The project was part of activities to celebrate the final day of National Lutheran Schools Week at the high school in Seymour.

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Teipen was one of more than 800 students from area Lutheran schools to attend the fifth-annual celebration Friday.

During the event, students were split by grade level into different groups for activities and a worship service. All fourth-graders who attended made a birdhouse.

Nearly 2,300 Lutheran Church Missouri Synod-affiliated preschools, elementary and high schools across the nation take part each year in the week-long celebration to acknowledge their faith and Lutheran education.

At St. John’s, students had dress up days, spirit days, made ice cream floats, watched movies and more. The school also collected cereal to donate to Anchor House. The school collected a total of 839 boxes. But before making the donation, they decided to have a little fun with the boxes first.

The school posted a video on its Facebook page of students setting up the cereal boxes like a line of dominoes that coiled through the gymnasium. With a push of the first box, all 839 boxes fell one at a time.

“That was fun,” said Hailey Hobson, a fourth-grader at the school.

Kevin Vaughn, a fourth-grader at Immanuel Lutheran School, agreed and said National Lutheran Schools Week always is a fun time.

“I like that we get to learn about God, have fun and spend time with friends,” he said. Immanuel had a special chapel service, guest speakers, participated in spirit days and had a day where students had the opportunity to jump on bouncy houses.

Trinity Lutheran High School Principal Ben Stellwagen said the high school students joined in the celebrations throughout the week too, with spirit days, activities and a student versus faculty basketball game, which the faculty won.

“It’s really fun to see all the schools come together and see them be a part of a larger community in this area,” he said. “It provides us with an outreach too and to come support each other in our various missions of Christian education.”

Michelle Bauman, an English teacher at Trinity, helped organize the event this year. Trinity students served as mentors to assist younger students with their projects.

Bauman said it helps the students build character.

“First, they share the love of Christ with our guests, and one of the goals we have at Trinity is to teach our students to be leaders and servants in the world,” she said. “This is a prime opportunity to do that.”

Marci Leinart, another fourth-grader at St. John’s, said she enjoyed the assembly of multiple Lutheran schools.

“I like that all the Lutheran schools get to come together and worship God,” she said. “I like that we all get to learn together about Jesus.”