Student-Led Chapels—Good or Bad?
The student body is rushing into an era of independence. The first step? Student led chapels.
Every fourth period on Tuesday, high school students crowd in a single room, voices joined in song, ears attentive to the speaker of the week...and eyes drooping in boredom. Every week spells the same routine. For some, it's enlightening. For many others, it's monotonous.
Enter: student-led chapels.
"We want to encourage students to be more active in worship. It's hard for the students to prepare [for chapel], and I understand that challenge, but I want to see the good side: motivating the students to be more active in their faith."
-Mr. Kim, High School Chaplain
"We want to integrate what the students learned in their personal lives as well as in school...and also to help them grow in their knowledge of God."
-Ms. Portem, High School Chaplain
"Student-led chapels are a really good opportunity for students to step up and experience leadership. They can be something new that people can enjoy watching and reminiscing on, and they add diversity to our normal chapel days."
-Joy Choi, senior
The goal of student-led chapels is to increase student interaction, independence, and community-building. These chapels doubtlessly succeeded on that front. Throughout the allocated homeroom hours, cliques broke apart and new groups formed, their combined efforts accumulating into their vision of the ideal chapel (and saving face in front of the student body). During chapels, underclassmen learned more about their upperclassmen, friendly rivalries sparked, and new bonds were forged.
But even more than that, student-led chapels force students to reflect on the Word of God. How is Christianity related to the allotted theme? What exactly is God's character? How are the students going to present their information? Students were nudged from a stance of passively learning to actively integrating their studies, pondering the Bible, and pursuing their faith. Needless to say, their knowledge of God grew from the experience.
"While preparing for the student-led chapel [and the silent skit], I've learned that no matter how far away you drift apart from God, He will always be reaching out to you. Although this is not necessarily new information to me, sometimes we just forget that God will always be there."
-Soneath, junior
Of course, nothing is perfect. Not every student was engaged, and each chapel had its mess-ups.
"The senior chapel was more interactive, but the junior chapel's vision was easier to see. You can see what they were aiming for, and the result was good, especially the skit. The senior's worship was definitely better, though, no offense."
-Anonymous Student Review
"Because it's not done by the teachers, it's not as perfect, but the mistakes make it fun. It's difficult to get the games, though."
-Anonymous Student Review
"Student-led chapels are a good addition. If you have to go to a chapel where it's just teachers talking, people might not listen. [nervous chuckling] But if it's student-led, where there are fresher ideas from the younger generation, then it will be more interesting."
-Anonymous Student Review
"I don't think these student-led chapels are bad, but I don't think they're good yet."
-Anonymous Student Review
"Seniors had a lot planned and did not consider the time, while the juniors considered the time too much. [laughs] There were a lot of things happening, and they were all good, but they had too much planning. Don't overthink, and don't over-plan."
-Ms. Portem
As they say, "Variety is the spice of life." Look forward to future student-led chapels with the rest of the student body, and good luck to all the classes still planning! Next student-led chapel: sophomore-led on December 6. :)