OC HIGH: STUDENT NEWS AND VIEWS : ‘See You at the Pole’ Gains Momentum as Campus Event

By 7 in the morning, more than 160 students had gathered in a circle around the flagpole outside Los Alamitos High School for the fall’s fourth annual See You at the Pole, a national prayer event that has been gaining momentum at high schools across the country.

Los Alamitos students began with the song “Live to Tell.” Then senior Andrew Poe, leader of the Christian club on campus, Cross Bearers, led the students, with heads bowed, in prayer for their school, community and country. Students read verses from the Bible, and a time of silence was given for personal prayers. The chorus from “Our God Is an Awesome God” closed the event. Then it was time for school.

“It’s amazing to see what God can do with just a few people who want to be used by Him,” Poe said about the prayer event.

See You at the Pole was played out at other Orange County high schools, including Capistrano Valley, Villa Park, Troy, Canyon, Esperanza, El Dorado and Valencia, to name a few.

The youth prayer event started as small gatherings in Texas. But as word spread, so did participation at junior high and high schools and college campuses. See You at the Pole is coordinated by the National Network of Youth Ministries, a nonprofit, interdenominational networking ministry for youth events based in San Diego.

Although there is always debate about prayer on campus, the Network of Youth Ministries says that See You at the Pole is constitutionally protected because it is student-led and held during non-instructional time, and attendance is voluntary.

The ministry estimates that more than 2 million youths participated in the 1994 program across the United States and in 25 counties, including Russia, Canada, Ecuador, Australia, Japan and Belgium. In 1993, there was an estimated turnout of 1 million.