At roughly 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 40 minutes before school started at the Plymouth Canton Educational Park, more than 30 students arrived at the Salem High School flag pole to pray. The students attending were mostly strangers to each other, but that didn’t stop them from standing in a large circle, holding hands and closing their eyes while praying.

This event is a yearly phenomenon called “See You at the Pole,” at which schools all around the country gather around their flag pole to pray before classes begin.

““See You at the Pole,” the global day of student prayer, began in 1990 as a grass roots movement with ten students praying at their school. Twenty years later, millions pray on their campuses on the fourth Wednesday in September every year,” said syatp.com, the official “See You at the Pole” website.

Autumn Siddall, Salem junior, said, “We’re here because our goal this year is to create a larger Christian community at the Park. We want to show that it’s cool to worship!”

“A lot of us are a part of the group Campus Christians,” said Chloe Bogicevic, a Plymouth junior. “We meet in Canton on Mondays in room C99 from 2:30-3:30.” Bogicevic and Siddall both highly recommend the club, and wanted to note that you do not have to be a Christian to attend any of their weekly meetings.

Sebastien Ostertag, a Salem sophomore who attended the event, said that he hoped people walking into the building would take notice of them as they prayed.

“It would be really cool if they would ask us questions so we could share what we believe with them,” Ostertag said.

Ostertag also noted that “We need to pray out loud while we still can, and we need to practice our freedom of religion while we’re still able to. This is what we believe and we should stand up for it.”

Some common phrases from the prayers of the many students who spoke included, “Thank you for this opportunity to pray with people we wouldn’t normally be able to,” “Help us to show who You are in everything we do,” “Thank You for all that You do and have done for us” and “Let us be a light here, a beacon, and help us to share Your love and kindness with everyone we meet.”