Leadership + Service Learning at SFLS
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. …And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” –Colossians 3:12-14, 17
In the fall of 2016, our middle school science teacher, Miss Marli Ockander, introduced an annual 7th Grade Leadership and Earth Science Trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota. As our students tent camp, prepare meals for one another, explore God’s creation and spend time in His word, they learn firsthand what it means to be a servant leader.
“Being a Christian is not something you turn on and off, it’s something that is present in your life every day,” Miss Ockander shared. “That’s a concept I really try to convey to students as we look at Jesus’ example of servant leadership. We also spend time exploring our own strengths and reflecting upon the ways we can use them to serve and lead our neighbors, whether that’s in the classroom, at home, or in a future career or relationship.”
With those goals in mind, Miss Ockander likes to bookend the trip with Scripture from Colossians 3. The words found there do a wonderful job of guiding Christians through learning how to use words and actions to serve one another. This year’s Leadership and Earth Science Trip presented an amazing new opportunity for students to put the concepts found in Colossians to use during a hike up Black Elk Peak.
View highlights from the 2019 7th Grade Leadership and Earth Science Trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Partway through the challenging 7.6 mile hike, as one student began struggling with the trek, nearby peers took it upon themselves to call ahead to the group’s leader and request a break. As they paused to catch their breath, the class formed a huddle and took turns encouraging their classmate. After a few moments of rest and camaraderie, they were able to press on and finish the journey to the top. There, they spent time reflecting individually with God on Paul’s letter in Philippians chapter 4.
“The hike was a new addition to the trip this year, so it was rewarding to watch the class recognize their different roles on the journey,” Miss Ockander said. “The experience was a great illustration of us, as Christians, making up the body of Christ. The students were able to recognize their different strengths, discover how they fit together with the abilities of their classmates, and discern how to use those gifts to serve one another.”
Our administrator, Tia Esser, has had the privilege of tagging along on the Leadership and Earth Science Trip with four different groups of 7th grade students.
“I really enjoy watching each class work in teams to write and give devotions each night, pray together and play together,” she said. “The trip truly cements their relationships with life-lasting memories. And yet, while it’s a true joy to watch those things happen at the summit of Black Elk Peak, I also have the privilege of watching them happen within our classrooms and hallways each and every day.”
While students also spend a fair amount of time exploring science topics in the Badlands, at Evans Plunge, and at the Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, SD, the trip’s overarching theme of servant leadership resonates so closely with our school’s mission of “developing capable, Christian servant-leaders” that it has inspired a school-wide deeper dive into outreach initiatives during the 2019-20 school year.
This fall, SFLS applied for a Harvest Grant through the South Dakota District of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Our teachers plan to use the funds to lead students in service and outreach projects that impact those with connections to SFLS as well as members of the greater Sioux Falls community. Activity ideas range from creating cards for our veterans and visiting elderly members of our association congregations to volunteering at local food pantries and caroling or providing music recitals at local nursing homes and hospitals.
SFLS family groups, which are comprised of students in kindergarten through 8th grade, met to get acquainted in the fall of 2019. Family groups complete service projects together throughout the school year and are led by classroom teachers and 8th grade students.
Our school is also divided up into nine “family groups,” which contain a few students from each of our kindergarten through 8th grade classrooms. Family groups are designed to connect the school vertically, with 8th graders taking on leadership roles alongside a classroom teacher who supervises their group. The family groups also plan to use grant funds to complete service projects together throughout the upcoming year.
“It is our prayer that students develop a genuine love for serving others as they grow up in a school that values service and outreach work,” Miss Ockander said. “We also strive to help them understand why we serve—because we were served first by the Lord’s forgiveness and love through Jesus Christ. By the time students reach 7th grade and depart on the Black Hills trip, we can focus on refining the service skills they have acquired into leadership qualities.”
As employers continue to express the value of workers with soft skills—those personal attributes that enable individuals to interact effectively and harmoniously with one another—we pray that the service learning and leadership experiences available at SFLS will serve our students well as they grow up, graduate, and enter the workforce in this increasingly complex world.