On Sept. 24, students around the nation gather in prayer for their communities, schools, teachers, friends and families. FC students met in the quad at 7 a.m. for prayer and worship at the annual See You At The Pole (SYATP) event.

The SYATP event started in 1990 by a small group of students in Texas, and gradually increased in popularity. Currently there are more than three million students that participate in SYATP. The event was created with the intent that students would organize, plan and lead it.

The 2014 theme verse for the event which speaks about the armor of Christ, to stand tall and share the love of Christ. The SYATP hash tag was #neverstoppraying, encouraging students all over the world that no matter what day it is, to continuously pray, based on Ephesians 6:18.

The early morning time prevented some students from attending; however those that did participated in a unified worship time, then split up into small groups to pray for various things.

Sophomore Sydney Belmont has participated in SYATP for two years and enjoys that the school is able to come together and pray about everything.

“I went to See You At The Pole last year so I knew what to expect, it was pretty much the same this year too because we all prayed about the same things,” Belmont said. “I like that we get the chance to get with other people and pray about things that we all know something about.”

Senior Collin Winegarden led worship during SYATP and admits to being nervous beforehand.

“It was fun to lead worship, I felt that we got a pretty good response from everyone there. Not going to lie though it was a little uncomfortable because there was a giant circle around me,” Winegarden said. “I was pretty nervous because I don’t play or sing in front of people very often so that was different.”

Freshmen and first time attendant, Celeste Counts enjoyed watching the school unify and pray together.

“This was my first year attending See You At The Pole, and I really liked it. It was good to see everyone praying and worshiping together,” Counts said. “I would say that it was pretty much what I expected it to be, I had hoped more people would show up to pray over the school, but otherwise it was good.”

Leadership Adviser Vickey Belmont recently lost her father-in-law and found that SYATP was a very healing experience.

“I think this year went great. There was a big turn out and lots of kids and staff,” said Belmont. “My father-in-law had just passed away, I was very emotional. I felt like I was surrounded with a lot of love and a lot of prayer.”

Follow The Feather via Twitter: @thefeather. This writer can be reached via Twitter: @gaby_siqueiros.

For more features, read Sept. 23 article Guest speaker tells story, delivers powerful message.