A group of participants from last year’s High School Festival and Preaching Conference pose for a picture.
BJU to host annual HS Festival
More than 900 high school students representing 20 states will spend Monday through Friday sharing rooms with university students, visiting classes, meeting faculty members, and essentially focusing their talents and gifts through competition in the 35th annual High School Festival and Preaching Conference.
High school students compete in preaching, music, speech, art, photography and video production. The most popular competition is music, which has 17 different categories for participation. Those participating in the competition can also experience a large group: Concert or Wind Band, String Orchestra, Festival Mixed Chorus and Ladies Chorus. Groups practice together for five hours throughout the busy week of competition.
Mr. David Orr, guest services coordinator, said the highlight of the competition is the feedback the students receive from the judges. The purpose of competition is that judges can encourage students with helpful comments on how to improve their talents.
Jeremy Woodruff, a freshman Bible major, competed as a homeschool student in the High School Festival all four years of high school. His senior year, he preached to his church the same message he preached in the Preaching Conference, improving it by watching the recording and using the critique judges gave of his preaching.
Mr. Paul Jantz, a member of the music faculty, has coordinated all festival musical events and concerts for 29 years. He said that winning is not the sole goal of competition. Out of all the high school students who compete, fewer than 30 will win. “[It is to] give them a personal goal to practice and develop their talent that the Lord has given them, whatever area that is in,” he said. By practicing toward a goal, students can refine their talents. “It’s the process of striving for something higher,” Mr. Jantz said.
Callie Summer, a freshman dramatic production major, also participated as a homeschool student for four years. She described herself as “very competitive” and said that the competition to win was challenging and taught her how to lose graciously. “It just made me realize that this is a talent for the Lord and that I need to use it for Him,” she said.
Mr. Jantz acknowledged the inconvenience for university students that comes with hundreds of visitors: lack of space and less time. Regardless, university students will be mingling with potential university students and can use the time as an opportunity to encourage visitors.
“Any opportunity for someone in high school to visit is critical,” Mr. Orr said. Welcome signs on residence hall doors and society members who volunteer as welcoming committees can help high school students feel more at home when they arrive.
When Callie first arrived, university students seemed old and scary. In the residence hall, she felt in the way and wanted to stay in her own area so she wouldn’t bother anyone with studies. As she got older, she felt at home staying with her older sister who welcomed her with a sign and candy. “I know it’s probably stressful having high school students in your room, but the impact that you make on them can determine whether they’ll come or not,” Callie said.
Jeremy said that he felt welcomed when he visited, but also felt out of place at first because everyone knew each other and he didn’t know anyone. In his later years he stayed with his brother, who introduced him to the prayer group and made him feel accepted right away. He has a younger sister, Laura, who is in ninth grade and will be coming this week to compete in dramatic narrative and violin. He encouraged university students to reach out and encourage the visitors, even though it may be awkward at first.
Jeremy and Callie met during the BJU summer drama camps. Their final year in high school festival, Callie won first place in dramatic narrative and Jeremy won first place in interpretation of Scripture. “I kind of miss it—the excitement of that first night when you’re waiting for your schedule to come back to see when you’re going to be performing, seeing if you made finals, and then the adrenaline rush when they announce your name,” Jeremy said.
“[It was] through High School Festival that the Lord helped me decide on what I wanted to major in and what I would use it for,” Callie said. She said she wants to teach drama at a Christian school or university.
Mr. Orr said the greatest impact made is showing the love of Christ. “Christ welcomed us as strangers when we were outside of His grace, and we should do the same for these students,” he said.
