Thirty-three ACS high school students attended a leadership conference in Washington, DC from November 21-23 that focused on human suffering around the world and how to respond to that through the lens of God’s Word. The annual conference was sponsored by the Association of Christian Schools International and drew over 650 students from Christian high schools in the Northeast.
The conference activities featured several keynote speakers, worship, presentations and game time led by entertainer Brandon Rushin, performances by illusionist Brett Myers, and a tour of the Holocaust Museum, led by American Christian Tours. During one of the inter-active game activities, two ACS students — 12th grader Amber Ramos and 11th grade Sam Glancey — joined several other students on stage to participate in the fun.
The students participated in large group sessions where speakers explored five topics — Dignity Through Work; God Loves Justice; Pro-Life Apologetics; Children’s Rights Issues; and Human Trafficking. At the end of each day, the ACS students broke into four small groups to dig deeper into the topics presented.
Upper School Principal Meg McHale, who attended the conference with the students, said the speakers challenged the students to use the inspiration they felt from the conference to take action to address the brokenness and suffering in the world today.
“This was the largest group of students that we have ever taken to this conference and we were the second largest group overall,” McHale said. “We are very excited to see a growing number of our high school students stepping up to become leaders in our school. We have really been praying for that.”
McHale said that in the final small group sessions, ACS students worked on identifying several projects to spearhead at ACS that would bring more awareness to the pressing issues addressed at the conference. She said one group of 9th and 10th grade girls, led by staff member Jessica Martin, decided to organize a fundraiser to raise awareness about human trafficking. Another group of 11th and 12th grade boys chose to start a student-led Bible study on Mondays during lunchtime.
Four adult chaperones who accompanied McHale on the trip and also served as small group facilitators were: staff member Jessica Martin; Sean Griffith, Pastor of Sojourn Community Church; high school Bible teacher Urick Lewis; and high school faculty member Gina Wilson.
