By Anne Marie Amacher
DAVENPORT — Students from St. Paul the Apostle Catholic School gathered around the flag pole on the school grounds Sept. 23 to pray for their school, families, teachers, staff and nation and to praise God for his gifts. This was the sixth year the eighth grade and student council at St. Paul’s celebrated “See You at the Pole.”
The annual event began in Texas in the early 1990s and expanded throughout the state and then nationwide as the years progressed, noted Lynn Leming, teacher and student council leader at St. Paul’s.
The school’s eighth-graders and student council members planned the event and chose praise and worship songs that they taught the other students. The event also included Scripture readings.
Student council member Jamie White said, “I think it’s awesome that we can all come together and praise God in song and prayer in this way. It wasn’t just the older students that participated, but the little ones, too! What a great way to start off the school year. I will always remember the faces of the kindergartners.”
Eighth-grader Madeline Frommelt said it was important “that we connect with each other and God through praise and worship. It was such a great feeling to see everyone participating.”
Student council member Ryan Coughlin said, “This is such an important event for our school because we have the opportunity to praise and worship in a setting other than the church. I loved the way that everyone — teachers, students, community members, parents and Father Hai (Dinh) — came together to pray for our school, staff, our families, and our country. I am proud of the leadership we were able to provide our school.”
This year’s theme for See You at the Pole is “Engage: Go and Pray” from 2 Kings 22:13, “Go and pray to God for me and for the people.”
