Getting in the Word

Seminary classes help MLHS students learn about and question religious beliefs

MOSES LAKE — When the bell rings at 11:40 a.m. each day, Moses Lake High School student Sabrina Medina's third period class opens in prayer.

That's because she is one of 180 students from MLHS who attend the Moses Lake Seminary, a program sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Five days a week, Medina walks across the street from the high school, Bible in hand, ready to study the day's scripture and find answers to questions regarding her own Catholic faith and that of other religious beliefs.

"I have a better understanding of the Bible," Medina said of attending the seminary. The experience, she added, has "made me not single out other religions … Mormons have prophets, but so do Catholics, we just call them saints."

And having a diversity of religious beliefs is something that other students say has made the class more interesting.

"I like to have her (Medina) in there to give a different perspective," said sophomore John Fackrell.

Having grown up in the LDS church, Fackrell said having the choice to attend seminary during the school day has allowed him more time to develop a better understanding of his own faith. "Its helped strengthen my testimony of the church," he said.

Providing the option for students to enroll in seminary classes is something that MLHS Principal Dave Balcom believes has worked well and is important to offering a well-rounded education. "We are both in the education business; the seminary focuses on religious education and we focus on academic education," he said. "(Seminary) allows those two interests to happen for our students and it is a relationship based out of mutual respect and support."

Principal of the Moses Lake Seminary, Tadlee Welty, said the LDS church first began offering seminary classes around 1912 in Salt Lake City, Utah., which was the first in a series of seminary programs to be held across the street from a public high school.

Today, as a teacher at the Moses Lake Seminary, Welty said he believes the classes are helping to meet a need in the community by reaching out to youth.

"High school is a tough time of life when (students) are making decisions that will affect the rest of their lives," he said, emphasizing that the seminary is a place to help students learn about values and apply those to their own lives.

"It's become increasingly less popular to do what's right and when kids see other peers doing what's right, it gives them a better resolve to continue doing that," he said.

During the course of the class, students are expected to memorize scripture and read the entire New Testament portion of the bible.

For freshman Kim Smith, studying for seminary class in addition to her other courses at the high school has also helped her know what she believes and to share that with others. "It helps me know I need to share what I believe," Smith said. "I started reading (the bible) and found it was true and it has changed my life," she said.

"Our church really feels it's important (for students) to obtain both secular as well as religious education," Welty said.