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Two great opportunities are coming up for students to take a stand for their faith at school! “See You at the Pole” and “Bring Your Bible to School Day” are two national efforts designed to help Christians take their faith to school in a winsome and enjoyable way. Student participation in both events is protected under the U.S. and North Carolina Constitutions, as well as a 2014 law passed by the North Carolina General Assembly that clarifies the religious freedom rights of students and school personnel.

See You at the Pole will be observed nationwide on Wednesday, September 23, with other related events planned for the week of September 20-26. This is the 25th anniversary of this event, which began with a small group of students in Texas and now has over three million participants from all over the world each year. The See You At the Pole website has some great ideas for organizing this event at your school, as well as pictures and videos for sharing on social media.

Bring Your Bible to School Day is Thursday, October 8. Organized by Focus on the Family, this annual event encourages students to bring their Bibles with them to school in hopes of sharing their faith with their friends during non-instructional time, such as lunch or recess. Check out the Bring Your Bible to School Day website for great ideas, resources, and to connect with other students around the country who will be participating.

Some education administrators may not fully understand the law regarding the rights of students and religious liberty in school, so be prepared to explain it, if necessary. Several handy resources are listed below that you can share with principals, teachers and other school personnel:

• Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has produced a helpful legal memo for school administrators, which explains students’ constitutional rights to participate in Bring Your Bible to School Day. According to ADF, not only may students bring their Bibles to school, but they may also advertise the event, share Bible verses with their friends, and distribute Bibles to their classmates, as long as this occurs during non-instructional time. This memo provides helpful background information for those participating in See You at the Pole as well.
• For students in North Carolina, a 2014 law offers further clarification of their right to freely participate in religious events like these. The law, S370—Respect for Student Prayer/Religious Activity, was passed to clarify “student rights to engage in prayer and religious activity in school.” A provision of S370 states that both students and school personnel have a right to participate in religious activities “on school grounds that are initiated by students at reasonable times before or after the instructional day so long as such activities are voluntary for all parties and do not conflict with the responsibilities or assignments of such personnel.”

Both See You at the Pole on September 23 and Bring Your Bible to School Day on October 8 offer young people a chance to, as one teenage boy who brought his Bible to school put it, make expressing faith at school “the new cool thing!” See this inspiring story here.

We’d love to hear your stories about participating in these events across North Carolina. Please send us updates on how things went after the event. Send these to editor@ncfamily.org.