San Benito High School students gather Wednesday morning at the flagpole outside the campus to pray. Coach Mark Buddle, pictured in yellow above and below, led the prayer with over 20 students in attendance. (Staff photos by Heather C. Cox)
By HEATHER C. COX
Staff Writer
reporter@sbnewspaper.com
Around 50 students and teachers from San Benito High School banded together at the campus’ flagpole in on Wednesday, September 26. Shoulder-to-shoulder in the early morning breeze, these individuals shared one unified mission – and it didn’t involve studying or causing trouble.
They came to pray.
See You at the Pole (SYATP), a student-initiated, student-organized and student-led event which originated in 1990, occurs annually on the fourth Wednesday in September. Under the umbrella of a group better known as Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) and in honor of SYATP 2012, these folks chose to start their school day by praying for SBHS, the United States, sports teams, their classmates and other matters.
According to SBHS running coach and economics teacher Mark Buddle, “See You at the Pole gives the students an opportunity to pray over their school, in their school and pray together.”
Since 1963, when a woman by the name of Madalyn Murray O’Hair filed a lawsuit against the Baltimore School System, demanding that prayer be banned from school because she felt it was unconstitutional, publicly exercising faith in God through prayer is not an opportunity readily afforded to students at public schools. O’Hair won the lawsuit by a vote of 8-1, in her favor.
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Regardless of changing times… Prayer has always been and will always be needed in school! Let’s not look for faults in each other because we all have them! Let’s just pray for each other!
God Bless the Greyhound Twenty, You are not ashamed of your faith.
While they are at it, they could pray for this Godforsaken City and the elected officials. The Devil is alive and well, and living at City Hall!
What is wrong with prayer in schools. Jesus prayed. As a matter of a fact he showed us how to pray. Only 20 students? What courage they showed.
Jesus went out to the Mt of Olives to pray to his father that he may take his burden away from him. But as Jesus prayed he asked his father to let his father’s will be done and not his. Matthew 26:39 As young people around the world pray it may not change the outcomes of some things but it will surely give you courage and strength to face our realties and live through them with courage and faith. I hope and pray more students will turn out to pray next year.
As long as there is testing in schools there will be prayer in schools. We are primarily and community of Christians, and I count myself among them, too. We believe because of faith. If we knew, then there would be no need for faith. It is simply not His plan for us to have all knowledge, but to walk by faith. I wholeheartedly support any group of believers gathering together in His name. With all that is less than perfect about each one of us, at least we have our creator and savior to turn to. Our youth has good, well-meaning, spirit-filled adults to lead activities such as this one. I would like to see more participate. Imagine what our community would be like if everyone turned to the Almighty instead of turning to things that get people into trouble!
Thanks Mark for continuing the tradition. We need more prayer in school because the times have changed and the need for prayer is there. There is so much hate and greed that it’s unbearable. Some people say that they are Christians, but only in word. You need to live like a Christian and not like a ” wanna be”.