Faculty hosted individual gender chapels, in hope of creating a bond as brothers and sisters in Christ. While the girls’ peer counseling class organized a fashion show and a makeover, the boys played games and discussed the struggles of Christian male teens on campus, Sept. 18.
The annual meeting occurs once each semester. Senior Sean O?Neal, drama club member, acted as the MC for the gender chapel in the Peoples Church gym.
?I thought gender chapel went well,? O?Neal said. ?It was good to see everyone involved and also see them participate in the activities.?
The events started with a game of modified freeze tag. Each player must act out different situations while another student prepares to shout, “freeze.” At this point a peer could recreate a new scene or dilemma with the frozen players.
After 10 minutes of freeze tag, the drama club introduced another game called ?four corners? where club members stood in each corner of the gym. They held up signs saying different categories of a subject, which was called out by O?Neal.
Following the scrambling to the corners, the announcer declared a random subject and all the students in the group had to return to their seats.
?I thought the games were awesome and exhilarating,? John Dinsdale, ?09, said. ?In the four corners game I got to see my classmates favorite subjects, which is something I have always wondered about. I liked it so much so I didn?t sit down at all.?
After the games, Tom McEntee, drama adviser, separated the students by their last names. The divided groups were sent to different teachers to discuss the topics a young Christian man struggles with.
?The questions I used were some of the same questions we used at Hartland Christian camp,? McEntee said. ?Since it was successful there I decided to bring it to our school. I really enjoyed the outcome of this years gender chapel.?
Faculty also participated in the gender chapel by the directing the separate groups.
?Anytime you can connect with students in a small group setting it provides opportunities to be honest and authentic,? Chris Shultz, athletic director, said. ?I really appreciate the boys in my group for sharing and being open about the issues discussed.?
Students were able to share their thoughts with both their teachers and peers.
?The discussions were great,? Joey Combs, ?10, said. ?What I really liked was that the teachers didn?t turn it into a forced conversation. The teachers even shared some stories with us.?
The girls had their own gender chapel the same day and Madison Dooley wrote “Make-over promotes female maturity” for those who want to check out what the other sex were learning.
