Area Lutheran schools celebrated National Lutheran Schools Week from Jan. 23 to 27 with an all-day event Friday at Trinity Lutheran High School in Seymour.
Trinity welcomed fourth through eighth grade students from Immanuel, St. John’s Sauers, St. John’s White Creek and Lutheran Central to join in a variety of activities and a chapel service.
Trinity Principal Clayton Darlage said National Lutheran Schools Week provides a network of more than 1,800 Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod schools, from preschool to high school, with a nationwide opportunity to praise God for his work in Lutheran schools.
“The longstanding tradition of excellence in developing a child’s mind, body and soul throughout the history of Lutheran schools is evident, and we praise God for the opportunity to share Jesus’ love with these youngsters every day, and God willing, creating disciples for life,” Darlage said.
The past week, Trinity students participated in different dress-up days for their school. Monday was Zoom Day, where students and staff could wear business clothes on top and comfortable clothes on the bottom. Tuesday was Soccer Moms and BBQ Dads. Wednesday was Salad Dressing Day, where students dressed up as their assigned dressing for each grade. Thursday was College Day, and Friday was students and staff dressing in their Trinity apparel.
Throughout the week, students also competed for the Cougar Cup by earning points for the percentage of each class that is dressed up on any given day as well as a series of dodgeball games to earn points for their class.
As students from surrounding Lutheran schools walked through the doors of Trinity, they were greeted by representative from Lakeview Ministries and TLHS guitar class students singing a variety of fun and upbeat songs.
All of the students were then treated to a show by magician and comedian Daniel Lusk.
After the show ended, students from different grades moved to different areas of the school for various activities with Trinity students guiding them along.
In the choir room, fourth grade learned songs for the worship service and served as leaders later on that day. The children also experimented with other musical instruments and had the opportunity to play along with the guitar class at Trinity.
In the FFA building, the fifth grade students made cross wall hangings with rubber bands.
Erin Brooks, admissions director for Trinity, said she loves seeing all of the kids come together in one place.
“I think it’s important because they get to come here and possibly see who their future classmates are and who they will be spending their high school time with,” Brooks said.
In the science labs, the sixth grade students put on their safety goggles and learned about reactions from teacher Justin Vorthmann. These students had the opportunity to learn how to build film canister rockets.
In the cafeteria, seventh grade students gave back to the community by participating in a service project for the Hearts Restored Program offered through Clarity Pregnancy Services in Seymour. The past few weeks, Trinity students and other Lutheran schools have been collecting items, such as diapers and wipes, to donate to the program as well as preparing goodie bags.
Brooks said the collection has become Clarity’s single biggest donation of the year.
Located in the commons area, eighth grade students created a group art project that showcases how to share the good news. Multiple Trinity students led different groups made up of other local Lutheran schools into creating this art project.
Jake Holland, a sophomore at Trinity, said his favorite dress-up day of the week was Salad Dressing Day, where his class was assigned house dressing and decided to wear pajamas that day to fit the theme.
“I really love seeing all the kids come together with us, and we can all be here together to praise Jesus,” Holland said.
Charlie Hackman, a junior also leading a group of students in the art project, said his favorite dress-up day was College Day.
“My favorite part is this right here, helping the kids and getting to know them since I might see them next year,” Hackman said.
Brooks and Darlage both said they remember this weeklong celebration since they were in school, showing that this tradition has been around for a few generations.
Brooks also has an eighth-grader who will be attending Trinity next year and is excited seeing all of the students interact with each other.
“I think our students here at Trinity do a great job of including the younger kids. I have an eighth-grader, so I kind of get to see that firsthand,” Brooks said.
Darlage said the celebration of National Lutheran Schools Week is a great pride of his, and he hopes it carries on for the future generations.
“The importance of sharing God’s love and the continuance in raising God-fearing children who will be able to do the same is what we are placed on this Earth to do is utmost important; therefore, celebrating this is wonderful,” he said. “Carrying on this rich and successful tradition of Lutheran education I pray will carry on for all generations to come.”