Thursday, Nov. 13, was the opening night of Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat. Short scenes of the play were shown in chapel to support the homily that day.
The scenes provided a nice visual of the lesson, and it incorporated students and their art. Instead of having the normal reading of the lesson, students and music were involved.
Chapel should incorporate more events similar to this. It engages students, and we are able to see our fellow students performing on stage.
“I think chapel does what it’s supposed to do, but we can start adding more events in chapel to change it up a bit, especially for those of us who aren’t Christian and don’t believe in all of the Christian beliefs,” freshman Sara Brodsky said.
Last year, there was a chapel where the Chaplain incorporated clips of the movie Frozen. This change to the normal schedule captured the audience’s attention because it was a popular movie that most of us had seen.
The use of pop culture is a way of teaching students the lesson while making it interesting and applicable at the same time.
“I think they could do things similar to the musical preview more often,” Brodsky said. “They could also show more clips of movies like they’ve done before or sing more songs that people know.”
Senior chapel is always a chapel that most students look forward to. The senior students lead the performances and perform more contemporary songs than what are normally sung in chapel. They also lead the lessons and homilies. Instead of only having these differences in senior chapel, we can start incorporating these things into regular chapel services by having performances and showcases. More students would be willing to be involved and to participate in chapel services every week.
“More students should lead chapels or talk about Psalms so the students can relate more. Chapel can also have videos for students to watch to spice things up a little,” freshman Samy Asfoor said.
This year, junior Chas Cook gave a student homily during a chapel service about his mission trip to the Dominican Republic.
It was nice listening to a student give the homily because it gave students the ability to better relate to the speaker and the story. We are able to learn about another student’s experience and maybe even make a homily for ourselves.
“It was good for me to put all of my experiences from the trips on paper and even better to share them with the school. Of course it was a nerve-racking week, but in the end it was a very good experience,” Cook said. “I think that homilies led by [the Chaplain] and other adults are great, but it’s nice to have a student speaker. I feel as though the audience is more engaged when students lead homilies.”
Chapel does a very good job with getting students involved in the services. From having them read verses to serving as acolytes, students are able to be involved. It is especially efficient when advisories host chapel to split up the jobs.
“It would be nice to have the Chaplain narrate while students act out what is happening, or maybe perform contemporary songs that can relate to what the topic at hand is,” Asfoor said.
As students, we should start bringing additions into chapel services and start participating in order to engage the audience, whether it’s participating in a performance, making a video or presenting a student homily.
