One power-packed week at Upper Columbia Academy. One brand new tradition combined with an ancient one became one of the most powerful weeks for God in recent campus memory. It was already student week of prayer, which is typically a spiritually high week on campus. But this year there was an additional element that made the week even more exciting. It was also dubbed “Creation Week.” All week long, various departments emphasized creation in their classes. A contest was set up in many of the departments, encouraging students to do creation-oriented projects that reflected those disciplines.
The week was kicked off during a Sabbath School special feature with music teacher Jerry Lange and math teacher Marvin Thorman. The two had been working together to explore the concept that Lucifer had sung in eight-part harmony with himself, and that someday we also will.
Thorman had written a computer program that reflects in graphic form the combinations of harmonics or “partials” which sound in an individual note. There are sixteen possible in each one, depending on the instrument. Students took turns playing the musical note “E” (just above middle “C”) into the computer’s microphone. The resulting wave form was projected on the screen for all to see. The more harmonics in that instrument’s note, the more complex the wave form appeared.
“Students were excited about the presentation and were eager to do a project of their own,” observes Lange. “They accepted the Creation Week idea with so much enthusiasm that we are planning to do it again in an even bigger way next year.”
Winners from the various departments were:
• Music: Kiersten Reed wrote and performed a vocal solo, accompanying herself on the guitar.
• Art: Canda Lodge did an oil painting entitled, “The Choice” (see photo caption).
• Computer Literacy: Marlin Thorman put together a Power Point presentation with Bible texts superimposed over samples of his nature photography.
• English: Elliot LaPlante wrote a poem entitled, “He Who Held the Sky.”
• History: Chelsea Moore compared the Greek view of creation with the Christian view, noticing that ours is the one that includes a hope for the future.
• Industrial Technology: Using special metal rods, the welding class created a skeleton of the globe. It is six feet in diameter with continents, styled and cut out using plasma cam technology, welded to it.
The climax of the week came when these students presented their projects during the Sabbath School special feature time. It was an engaging, memorable Sabbath School.
The idea for Creation Week came as UCA staff spent time studying and brainstorming about Journey to Excellence, the goals and essential core elements for curriculum in Seventh-day Adventist schools.
UCA students loved hearing from their peers during student week of prayer. Speakers were, from left: (front) Ryan Billington, Tara Trefz, Brian Belcher, Jessica Swena, Chad Clark, Jenni Kiefiuk; (middle) Montana Conley, Carley Brown, Greta Jarnes; (back) Sam Derting, Joe Jenks, Tommy Poole, Toby Seaton, and Matt Tretheway.
Canda Lodge's inspiration for this painting came from learning that God devised the plan of salvation before creating the world, not after Adam and Eve sinned. She was profoundly moved to realize that God's choice to create was also the choice to die, hence the title of her painting, "The Choice."
