Eighth Graders Help Launch “Rooted in Christ”

Campus was anything but quiet this July. While most students were still enjoying summer, a group of our eighth graders showed up ready to work, and the day turned into a preview of everything the new school year is about.

The morning started in front of a camera. Set up around a mock campfire, complete with log stools and a circle of chairs, our eighth graders sat down to answer questions about their years at Epiphany: how long they have been here, what has shaped them, and the moments they still talk about. Some of these students have walked our halls since their earliest school days. Others joined only a year or two ago. As Principal Schleicher put it, to a person, every one of them had a story to share.

That campfire setting is no accident. Our theme this year is Rooted in Christ, drawn from Colossians 2:7 and shared by Lutheran schools across the country. Many schools take the theme in the direction of trees and roots. At Epiphany, we are leaning into something a little different: the life experiences God has rooted us in, and the stories that come out of them. Stories get told best around a fire, in small groups, with people who know you.

When the camera was off, the work began. Eighth graders spent the rest of the day cleaning out lockers, sorting library books headed for classroom shelves, and helping receive a delivery of additional lockers donated to the school. It was ordinary, unglamorous, genuinely useful work, and it was done by our oldest students without much fuss.

That is exactly the role we are asking them to grow into this year. As the oldest students in the building, our eighth graders will be stepping up in chapel family groups and in other places where younger students are watching. Their voices matter here, and this year we intend for everyone to hear them.

Watch for their video soon, and keep our students, teachers, and families in your prayers as the new school year gets underway.