From Genesis to Reality: 7th Graders Bring Their Faith to Life on Kentucky Trip
By Samantha DePriest
Middle school years are often the most challenging for students, for a variety of reasons, including the social, physical, emotional, and spiritual battles they may face. At Trinity Christian School, the focus has been and remains that students will thrive, not just survive, during those years between elementary and high school. With great intentionality, each classroom lesson, chapel message, discipleship group devotion, and field trip is carefully curated to meet the needs of our students and “make Him known.” For the past five years, our seventh-grade students and teachers have traveled to the great state of Kentucky to experience the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum. The goal is simple: for students’ faith to be strengthened as they learn about the truths of Genesis that help shape their biblical worldview.
As with everything, each year the middle school team strives for excellence to make this experience even more memorable and impactful. Planning begins months before parent meetings, students packing their suitcases and boarding the buses. Careful attention is given to every detail to ensure maximum student engagement on this overnight trip.
A thirty-two-page “7th Grade Travel Guide” was created thoughtfully by the middle school team to encourage students to slow down and seek out truths during their visit to the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum. Not only does it provide a place for students to take notes, share thoughts and feelings, and answer questions from their teachers, but it also serves as a valuable tool for families to discuss the trip after students return.
Throughout the trip, students met in both large and small groups for discussions led by Mr. Vinson, as well as the seventh-grade teachers. Students were given opportunities to share and connect as they learned from Scripture and explored life application.
The visit to the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum included a variety of exhibits for the groups to explore and reflect on. Students also participated in a scavenger hunt designed by the seventh-grade teachers and included in the travel guide. In addition, they viewed several films, including “The Noah Interview,” “As In The Days of Noah,” and “The Last Adam.”
Students were challenged to reflect on their own faith journeys and consider whether they had embraced the gift of salvation or what doubts might still remain. In closing, students were given the opportunity to write a personal prayer to God in response to what they had learned and experienced during the field trip.
Middle School Principal Mr. Adam Vinson shared, “Our 7th graders had a fantastic trip to Kentucky last week as they visited the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum. Students had a chance to see the “why” behind what we believe as Christians and how the foundational understandings of our faith rest in what God revealed to us in the book of Genesis.”
