More than 1,200 Hoover students gather to pray for 2016 See You at the Pole event
More than 1,200 Hoover students gathered before school this morning to pray for their schools, families, communities and the nation as part of the 27th annual See You at the Pole movement.
An estimated 300 students showed up for the prayer time at Berry Middle School, while close to 200 came to the football stadium at Simmons Middle School and 150 came to pray at Bumpus Middle School.
About 100 students prayed in the Hoover High courtyard, while there were 40-45 at Spain Park High and 100-120 at Brock's Gap Intermediate School, according to Debi DeBoer, the Hoover and Shelby County area director for First Priority of Greater Birmingham, a Christian organization that promotes the See You at the Pole events.
Elementary students and parents also participated in the movement. There were about 85 at Deer Valley Elementary, 80 at Riverchase Elementary, 75 each at Bluff Park and Gwin elementary schools, about 60 at South Shades Crest Elementary and about 45 at Rocky Ridge Elementary, according to reports from DeBoer and others.
Students gathered to pray at other Hoover schools as well, but attendance counts were not yet available.
At Simmons, Jesse Shoop, a student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, led students in a few worship songs before Adam Marsch, another UAB student who is a youth intern at Shades Mountain Independent Church, led a devotion.
Then the students broke up into groups on the football field and prayed together.
Sydney Hill, an eighth-grader who is a leader in the Revolution club at Simmons, said her group prayed that God would help them be committed to God and glorify and reflect on Him throughout the day.
Anthony Patterson, another eighth-grader, said he came to the See You at the Pole event to grow closer to God. He thinks it’s a good event because it allows people who may not go to church a chance to come and worship as well, he said.
Wyatt Wilbanks, another eighth-grader, said he wants to see his classmates have a similar faith, too, and events like this might help them want to explore a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Wilbanks said before the event he planned to pray for a cousin who joined the military and his great-grandmother, who keeps falling down. Another student said he wanted to pray for his mom to be able to stay strong as she goes through a divorce and that God would give her strength because she works so hard.
Gwin Elementary School did not have a See You at the Pole gathering last year simply because no student stepped up to organize it, kindergarten teacher Anne Hart said. This year, fifth-grader Karis Moore asked for permission to hold the gathering, and she led it herself.
“My older brother and sister did it at their schools, and I decided that we needed to do it here because we don’t have any Bible clubs,” Moore said.
About 75 people showed up, about half of which were parents.
One of the guest speakers who prayed was Hoover Councilman John Lyda, whose wife teaches at Gwin and whose children attended there in the past.
Lyda asked for blessings on Hoover — that its leaders would have pure, clean hearts and motives and make decisions in keeping with Biblical principles. He prayed for Hoover residents to love one another and to recognize that while everyone was created with differences, they are all created equal.
Dale Keahey, a student at Highlands College, prayed for the school, while Ally Kozlowski, the children’s minister at Green Valley Baptist Church, prayed for the teachers.
Claire Michael Davis, a second-grader, thanked God for loving all the students at Gwin and taking care of their families. She asked for help for all the boys and girls at Gwin to obey their parents and come to know Jesus.
Colin Austin asked God to help students share the good news about Jesus with their neighbors and to love their neighbors, even if they have different religious beliefs.
The See You at the Pole movement began in 1990 with 10 students gathering to pray at their school in Burleson, Texas. Now, millions of students across the world participate in the event on the fourth Wednesday in September.
Students are encouraged to gather at their school’s flagpole — or other designated area — before school to pray for their schools, leaders and families, asking God to bring a moral and spiritual awakening to their campuses and countries.
The event is designed to be initiated, organized and led by students, but other groups such as First Priority, a Christian organization, often promote the gatherings.
First Priority was expecting 20,000 to 30,000 students to gather at more than 150 schools across the greater Birmingham-Hoover metro area this morning for prayer, DeBoer said.
This story is being updated with attendance numbers from various schools as reports become available.